I hate to admit this, but a man once told me he did not like my sermons and wanted me to change the subject and content of my preaching. I asked him to identify my errors, and he said I was preaching the truth, but he was afraid of “what it might lead to.” (I was preaching on the work of the church, and congregational independence.) I replied that I realized one might make a “hobby” of truth and “beat to death” a subject (he did not accuse me of this) but that I could not see how truth<\/strong>, properly balanced, could lead to anything but that for which it was given, viz, to make men free from error and sin (John 8:31-32).<\/p>\n On the other side of the coin, we frequently find timid souls who hibernate in inactivity and equate doing nothing with soundness in the faith. They may acknowledge that the work proposed is in keeping with the Scriptures, but if it calls for some unaccustomed activity — a change from the status quo — they fear “what it might lead to.”<\/p>\n Life itself is a movement — we exist in a state of flux — and direction is influenced by every facet of life. Change (even in that which is good) will affect attitudes and viewpoints and could evolve new temptations. But remaining at rest also affects attitudes and viewpoints, and could involve new temptations. The monastic life is no guarantee of sinlessness. It may be <\/b>a sin in itself.<\/p>\n No man steps twice in the same flowing stream. The stream is moving, and his second step is into water that was yet above him when the first step was taken. We may begin to do something in good faith, with ample authority, and find later that circumstances are now such as to make the continuation of our work wrong. It takes a good man to face this and let divine authority, rather than his own traditions, guide his life. Many will let tradition overrule the application of God’s Word to their life. But fear of what may happen (when no Scriptural principle is violated, nor Scriptural warning is ignored) makes for “False Soundness.”<\/p>\n Truth never “leads to” error, and right is not the father of wrong. This is the point of James 1:13-18 and I John 3:6ff. We sin when we quit following God and follow Satan.<\/p>\n Although “times change” and new circumstances constantly arise, we have an unchanging standard suited to all ages. We are faithful only when we act <\/b>upon its teachings. The church is the “pillar,” not the “pillow” of God’s truth (I Timothy 3: 15).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Robert F. Turner via\u00a0Gospel Power, Vol. 14, No. 44, Nov. 4, 2007 I hate to admit this, but a man once told me he did not like my sermons and wanted me to change the subject and content of my preaching. I asked him to identify my errors, and he said I was preaching…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[536],"class_list":["post-60895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-preaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20258,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-hard-hearts-need-hard-words-of-truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":60895,"position":0},"title":"When Hard Hearts Need Hard Words of Truth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry W. Benton The preacher was all alone in his stand for truth and right because the assembly had become so worldly, and now he was the \"troubler in Israel\". He was so discouraged that he decided to quit preaching. He was miserable when preaching the truth because no\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/HardHearted.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20246,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/hard-preaching\/","url_meta":{"origin":60895,"position":1},"title":"Hard Preaching","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Guy F. Hester Recently someone told me that I am a hard preacher. This could be either good or bad, depending on what is meant by hard preaching. In the context of the conversation, I took it as a compliment to my firm stance for my convictions. Many people\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/hammer-and-rock-300x300.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":54014,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/preaching-and-performance\/","url_meta":{"origin":60895,"position":2},"title":"Preaching and Performance","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer There is a difference between preaching and performance. This is not to say good preaching does not involve solid delivery or shouldn't use any aids. It is to say there is a difference in focus, and the preacher does well to understand this. Performance aims at the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89679,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-place-of-preaching\/","url_meta":{"origin":60895,"position":3},"title":"The Place of Preaching","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson Why some won't listen Have you ever heard someone say, \"Don't preach to me!\" Preaching is not always appreciated. The rebellious inner self, the Bible says, must be put aside. In its place, there must be childlike humility. We must be willing to yield control of our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59822,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/starting-over-from-scratch\/","url_meta":{"origin":60895,"position":4},"title":"Starting Over from Scratch","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 10, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Jeremiah had become very disillusioned at his job of delivering God's message. He had become the most unpopular preacher in town. At this point, he is disillusioned with God. \"You induced me\" to preach this very unpopular message, he said to God. Then he decided that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28501,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-we-know-the-truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":60895,"position":5},"title":"Can We Know the Truth?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 11, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ward Hogland Not too long ago I received a phone call from a young preacher in Tennessee. He said, \"Brother Hogland, I am in a quandary. My elders called me in on the carpet and told me to stop saying that I preach the truth. They advised me to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60895\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}