by David Gibson<\/p>\n
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 lives to God and make Christ our Lord in every area of our lives. When the preacher tells us we’re wrong, he may be doing us a tremendous favor, even if it hurts at the time. “Have I therefore become your enemy by telling you the truth?<\/em>” Paul asks (Galatians 4:16 NASB).<\/p>\n Paul, who at one time was the violent persecutor of the church, had to realize how wrong he was before he could get right. And so must we.<\/p>\n If the preacher is true to God’s word, then those who resist the message are resisting God Himself (Luke 10:16). The preacher is simply the messenger.<\/p>\n It’s been said that preaching should comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Sometimes we need to be afflicted. Paul urged Timothy to “preach the word…reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction<\/em>.” The time will come, Paul says, when people will reject the truth and turn to those who will tell them what they want to hear (II Timothy 4:2-4; see Isaiah 30:9-11).\u00a0Does this happen in our day? A lot!<\/p>\n So what do we want? Pleasant words that make us feel good, or the truth we so desperately need? To receive God’s marvelous grace, we must renounce our sins, then humbly submit to God’s revealed will in trusting obedience (Acts 2:36-38; 22:16).<\/p>\n If truth is what we need most, can we afford to accept anything else?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 lives to God and make…<\/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_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[536],"class_list":["post-89679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-preaching"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":42038,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-aim-of-preaching\/","url_meta":{"origin":89679,"position":0},"title":"The Aim of Preaching","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Frank Himmel Churches that are all about numbers gladly alter their activities to accommodate popular demand. While music usually gets special attention, preaching is no less targeted. Perhaps it would be timely to remind us all what God intends preaching to accomplish. Preaching is to Instruct In His wisdom,\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\/2022\/01\/arrow-and-target-203x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":86006,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ezekiel-and-preaching-truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":89679,"position":1},"title":"Ezekiel and Preaching Truth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Ezekiel had a most challenging job, preaching the truth to people who were not ready to appreciate it. God gave Ezekiel the vision of God's awesome greatness, and when a preacher preaches because he has a great concept of God, he can preach the hard truths\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":14509,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-i-become-a-preacher\/","url_meta":{"origin":89679,"position":2},"title":"Why Did I Become a Preacher?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 31, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mark Stinnett After having preached full-time for only a few years, a good friend exclaimed excitedly at the end of a worship service, \u201cNow, that is what I call preaching!\u201d A visiting preacher spoke that day. My friend was not intentionally unkind, and I did not take it personally,\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\/2019\/10\/praying-over-Bible.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20242,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/toning-it-down\/","url_meta":{"origin":89679,"position":3},"title":"Toning It Down","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Robert Turner A \"Country Meeting\" had gone exceedingly well, and elders from another community asked the preacher to work with them in a meeting the following year. He came at the appointed time and found his reputation had spread, and the building was packed. The elders met him at\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\/Shush.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":29246,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-purpose-of-preaching\/","url_meta":{"origin":89679,"position":4},"title":"The Purpose of Preaching","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 30, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Nehemiah 8:1-8 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In the past, we have talked about various positions or duties in the church (elders, teachers) \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Today, I would like to address the purpose of preaching. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There seems to be much confusion about what a preacher\u2019s duty is \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many denominations refer to their ministers as pastor,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20246,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/hard-preaching\/","url_meta":{"origin":89679,"position":5},"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":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89679","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=89679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89679\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Why it makes sense to listen<\/h2>\n
The choice we make<\/h2>\n