SermonIndex Audio Sermons
SermonIndex - Promoting Revival to this Generation
Give To SermonIndex
Discussion Forum : Revivals And Church History : THE POWER & the PAIN of TRUE PROPHETIC PREACHING by J. Lee Grady

Print Thread (PDF)

PosterThread
sermonindex
Moderator



Joined: 2002/12/11
Posts: 39795
Canada

Online!
 THE POWER & the PAIN of TRUE PROPHETIC PREACHING by J. Lee Grady


No true message from God will flow through a person who is smug
and self-confident. If you want to speak for Him, prepare to die!
I did it again. This past Sunday I stood in a pulpit, looked out over
a congregation of mostly strangers, cleared the lump in my throat
and preached a message that the Lord had laid on my heart from the Bible.

Thousands of men and women speak publicly like this every week.
It's what preachers do. No big deal.

But even though I speak often, I've found that preaching the gospel
is one of the most difficult, frightening and painful assignments
anyone could possibly attempt. It is not fun. I feel as though I die
a thousand deaths right before I do it, and I die several more
times after I go home and evaluate what happened.

After one particularly discouraging experience in which an audience
stared coldly at me with their arms folded, I determined that
preaching surely must not be my calling. I shared my struggle
with an older pastor.

"Sometimes I feel really discouraged after I speak," I told my
friend. "Does that ever happen to you?" I was sure he would
counsel me to stop preaching, since it obviously was not my
spiritual gift.

His answer shocked me. "Son, I have felt like that every Monday
morning since I've been in the ministry."

When I tell my friends that I never felt I was gifted to speak, and
that I stubbornly resisted the call of God on my life because of my
lack of confidence, they act surprised. Most of us assume that
people who stand in pulpits want to be there.

Think again!

The power of prophetic preaching actually works in the opposite
way we assume it should. If we view things carnally, we believe
God chooses gifted orators who hone and shape their skills like
a doctor who learns surgery or an actor who learns to perform on
stage.

But true preaching is not a natural exercise—it is actually one of
the most supernatural tasks anyone can ever be called to do. It
requires an imperfect human vessel to yield himself (or herself) to
speak the very words of God. If we do it in the flesh, the results
will be miserable; but if we wholly trust the power of the Spirit,
prophetic preaching will unleash God to move however He desires.

If we fail in this process, we are humiliated. Why would anyone
want to preach?

No wonder most of the leaders we encounter in the Bible were
reluctant to speak. Moses made excuses about stuttering,
Gideon tried to disqualify himself and Jeremiah complained to
the Lord about the weighty responsibility of carrying a prophetic
burden. Jonah bought a one-way ticket to the other side of the
Mediterranean Sea so he wouldn't have to give his unpopular
sermon.

And the apostle Paul, who was a silver-tongued Pharisee before
he met Christ, was stripped of his worldly eloquence before he
preached throughout the Roman Empire. He told the Corinthians:
"I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,
and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words
of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that
your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power
of God" (1 Cor. 2:3-5, NASB).

Charismatic revivalist Arthur Katz, who died three years ago, wrote
about the power of true preaching in his 1999 book Apostolic
Foundations: "The only one qualified to preach ... is the one who
wants to run the other way, like Jonah. The man, however, who
loves to talk, loves to be public, and enjoys being seen and heard,
need not think that a word like this will ever be emitted from his
mouth. The man who sighs and groans when called upon to speak,
who does not want to be there, who feels terribly uncomfortable,
who knows that he is not going to be understood, is the man out
of whose mouth the word of true preaching is most likely to come."

That is certainly not the way most of us view pulpit ministry in
contemporary America. We celebrate the smooth and the polished.
We measure the impact of a sermon not by whether hearts were
slain by Holy Ghost conviction but by how loud the preacher
shouted or how high the people jumped when the preacher told
them what they wanted to hear.

That kind of carnal preaching may win the accolades of men,
boost TV ratings and even build megachurches. But the kingdom
is not built on smug self-confidence. We need God's words. The
church will live in spiritual famine until broken, reluctant, weak and
trembling preachers allow His holy fire to come out of their mouths.

If this is your assignment, die to your fears, doubts and excuses
and drink the cup of suffering that accompanies the genuine call
of God.


_________________
SI Moderator - Greg Gordon

 2010/7/21 13:52Profile
Lysa
Member



Joined: 2008/10/25
Posts: 3699
East TN for now!

 Re: THE POWER & the PAIN of TRUE PROPHETIC PREACHING by J. Lee Grady



I'm surprised that no one has commented on this honest description of prophetic preaching... all the people on here, it's discouraging actually.

I, for one, wholeheartedly agree with him.

God bless,


_________________
Lisa

 2010/7/21 18:02Profile









 Re:

by Lysa on 2010/7/21 14:02:44:
I'm surprised that no one has commented on this honest description of prophetic preaching... all the people on here, it's discouraging actually.

I, for one, wholeheartedly agree with him.
------------------------------------------------------------

This Ordained carpenter just got home from working (sun-up to sunset of late)... and this was the first post opened.

Mr. Grady speaks true.

The first time God caused me to 'bubble up' and told me to speak forth was at the tender age of 16. It was in the Nazarene Church i attended in Hendersonville, TN.

What started as a few words ended with the pastor calling me to the pulpit, then giving a message on God's Word. Scripture came to mind so swiftly and what i was to say just poured out like a Gatlin' gun.

Afterwards, i was exhilerated; but, nobody else was. In fact, after that message given, people there kept their distance from me. Those i thought were friends would have nothing to do with me except one, and we became fast and feathered. The pastor would stop and talk with me whenever we crossed paths ...but other than those two, i recieved the left foot of fellowship.

Over the years up to age 21, i was more and more one of those ostracized guys, exept for a few instances where leaders would call on me to preach. After a message was given, more people just shyed away from me.

Never once have more friends been made speaking God's message. In fact, the few who are sincere about being faithful to God find you, and talk seriously about our relationships with God... not an inquisition kind of thing, but sharing.

It's better fellowship with the few than the whole group anyway.

...but ya' gotta' keep your sight fixed on the Author of the message, cause most people are fickle.


The benefit gained is a close walk with Jesus, and today that would not be traded for anything in the world: even if chastisement is more sever and the unexpected trials that are more extreme than than most will ever know.

It's now just not a concern whether people recieve me or not because of what He has me say. I now realize that those who show rejection are not really rejecting me, but my bestest friend ...and when it comes right down to it, i'll get in peoples face about just that if they are proud about it. (Don't get me upset about my bestest Friend like that. Even though He doesn't seem to get upset with many, and sometimes tells me to leave them alone, or even laughs... it sometimes is just so bothersome.)


i used to get discouraged. It has been a long time since that has happened.

i once ran from God but couldn't get away from Him or what He wanted me to do, and i literally faced death and severe damage to this body as a result. i repented and he healed me of some things immediately, though other things i think He left with me to contend with just to make me quite a bit more dependent and to continually listen for His voice.

Today, the healing is complete, yet it was over 20 years for some things to be restored.

The healing is complete ...and i am completely dependent on Him, and we spend the days, -(no matter what i am busied with,)- walking and talking together.

He daily calls me aside to just be with Him, and listen.

Thinking now, it's been, and continues to be a process of growing into having all things in common with Him.


Yeah, the article can be dientified with alot from the past, however, there comes a point where to a major extent, your sights are fixed on Jesus, and everything else, bad and good pales. It keeps getting better, even though being despised and rejected is part of it ...just like Him: my bestest Friend and big Brother ...He makes everything more than alright.


Continuing always in prayer
...like a bad cough:
Agape,
phaney
Acts 20:32


 2010/7/21 22:03
Miccah
Member



Joined: 2007/9/13
Posts: 1752
Wisconsin

 Re:

Very good word. Thank you for posting.


_________________
Christiaan

 2010/7/22 0:57Profile
Areadymind
Member



Joined: 2009/5/15
Posts: 1042
Pacific Ocean

 Re: THE POWER & the PAIN of TRUE PROPHETIC PREACHING by J. Lee Grady

"But true preaching is not a natural exercise..."

1 Corinthians 2:4


_________________
Jeremiah Dusenberry

 2010/7/22 1:09Profile
StarofG0D
Member



Joined: 2007/10/28
Posts: 1232
United States

 Re:

Quote:
No true message from God will flow through a person who is smug and self-confident. If you want to speak for Him, prepare to die



This was a very good article!

the foolishness of preaching. Who can boast except in Christ crucified.


_________________
Michelle

 2010/8/6 23:58Profile
pdizzle
Member



Joined: 2010/5/6
Posts: 8
Lexington, KY

 Re:

I was touched by the words he spoke. However, I DO enjoy preaching the Gospel. though not always easy and often times it is a terrifying task, I still cannot express the joy that it brings to think that God would use a sack of garbage such as myself to deliver His word to the people.

Am I wrong? I would like to think I'm not--but please if you feel as if I am say something. I have been preaching for the past 10 years and often feel as he described after the message--but there are also times where I can feel God smiling because He accomplished the task at hand using an imperfect vessel.

I think we need to heed the call and realize that its not about personality or charisma, there are plenty of slicksters in the world that can sell a ketchup popcicle to a woman in white gloves--and I certainly don't want to fall into that group.


_________________
Dave

 2010/8/7 0:49Profile





©2002-2024 SermonIndex.net
Promoting Revival to this Generation.
Privacy Policy