Alright, we're here in Ezekiel chapter 6, and we're going to be finishing up our sermon series on teaching principles.
And it's been a three-part series, and if you remember, the first sermon we talked about basically just being understandable when you preach.
That your main job as a preacher is when you preach a sermon or when you teach, or when you teach anything,
whether or not it's a sermon or outside of that, the person who's listening needs to be able to understand what you're saying.
So you don't use these Bible college terms that nobody knows.
You actually use words that people actually understand, because their goal is they can understand the sermon and apply it to their lives.
Now last week we talked about being bold but gentle and meek when we preach,
and we talked about how there's a certain way we should say things even if we are preaching very hard.
And today's sermon is going to be basically on educational but interesting.
So the balance of we're actually teaching people, but you do it in an interesting way.
Because the Bible teaches both of these things that obviously we're the pillar and ground of the truth.
We need to be teaching, but we should try to do it in an interesting way.
Also, this would apply outside of when you're preaching sermons and when you're teaching anything,
but I wanted to preach the sermon series to help you young guys out that are looking to preach from time to time.
I wanted you guys to get some experience and learn some things that I didn't know when I was a new preacher.
Now turn to Ezekiel 25. Ezekiel 25.
And if one of you guys could get me maybe a cup of water, I forgot to get some.
And we're in Ezekiel chapter 25. Actually, go back to Ezekiel 6 for a second. Sorry about that.
Keep your place in Ezekiel 25. Go back to Ezekiel 6. I forgot to show you the verse I wanted to.
Ezekiel chapter 6. And I want to show you a verse here real quickly in Ezekiel 6, and we'll look at Ezekiel chapter 25.
Thanks, brother.
And in Ezekiel chapter 6, verse 11, notice what the Bible reads.
Thus saith the Lord God, smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say,
Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.
And so the Bible says smite with thine hand, and that would basically be similar to basically pounding the pulpits.
That's what the Bible's teaching. You say, why do you pound the pulpit?
Well, it gets people's attention. So when you're falling asleep during the sermon, it's like, ah!
What was he talking about? It wakes you up. And so the Bible says that you smite with your hand.
This is a technique you use when you preach. And the Bible says you stamp with thy foot.
Basically, you're passionate or loud about something, and it's a technique you do to get people's attention.
Now, obviously, when you're preaching a sermon, you shouldn't just the entire time be doing that.
What you're trying to do is highlight certain times. Look, if the entire sermon I'm screaming, the result is you're just going to drown me out.
If the entire time I'm quiet, you're going to drown me out. What you do is you pick certain moments to get passionate about something.
And honestly, this is hard to fake. And so usually when you're preaching hard against sin, if you really mean it, it causes you to be passionate.
And this is what the Bible teaches, but I want you to turn to Ezekiel 25. Here's what you need to understand.
If you're preaching a sermon and you are not that excited about it, the listeners will not be that excited.
When you preach a sermon, you must make it very important in your own head, or people are not going to grab attention to that.
You want to hear somebody who's actually passionate about what they're saying, so every single sermon you've got to find a way to be passionate about.
Now, this is not the easiest thing, because, quite honestly, there are certain topics I'm more passionate about than other people.
And so if there's something I really care about, I'm going to be more passionate, but it's something you need to learn how to do when you're teaching anything,
but especially when you're preaching sermons. But the first point is this, that false prophets, they tend to be interesting.
False prophets, they tend to be interesting. In Ezekiel 25, verse 6, the Bible reads,
For thus saith the Lord God, because thou hast clapped thine hands, and this is similar to smiting with your hand, but clapping your hands,
and stamped with thy feet, which is the same, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite against the land of Israel.
And so what the Bible says about these false prophets is they are interesting.
You say, why? Because what makes them successful as a false prophet is because they're interesting.
That is how they get people's attention, and you must realize false prophets, they do tend to be interesting.
So we're teaching about how to preach sermons and how to teach things,
but I'm also trying to show you something, that just because somebody is interesting, that doesn't mean they're right.
There are a lot of people that are interesting speakers that are ungodly and wicked people.
In America, T.D. Jakes is the great example. T.D. Fakes is very dynamic.
I mean, he will preach, and you can take a 20-second clip, and if he doesn't say any heresy,
you're going to think, man, he's on fire today. That is great. Who is that preacher?
Oh, it's a Pentecostal preacher. It's like, oh, whoops.
He sounds great when he speaks. You know, you say, why? Because successful false prophets,
they are going to mask the fact that they're not teaching anything in their heretics by being interesting, okay?
He is a very good speaker. You can look at history at a guy by the name of Jim Jones.
Who knows Jim Jones? He's the famous cult leader who went to Guyana,
and I remember hearing a 30-second clip of him preaching,
and I remember I basically saved that on my phone, and I was giving it to other people to listen to,
because he sounded like the greatest preacher I've ever heard for 30 seconds.
So this guy said he was the son of God on earth. There's no new thing under the sun.
You say, you know, I'm not going to say anything else, but look, that's always existed, okay?
He said he's the son of God on earth, Jim Jones, okay?
But you could hear a 30-second clip in his younger days before he got really into drugs,
and he just was way out of it, and he sounded very dynamic,
and I could see why he'd get so many people to follow him, okay?
He was very interesting, but what was he actually teaching?
Well, he's teaching, I am the son of God here on earth.
I remember when Barack Obama, before he became the president,
I was visiting my parents from college, and they were watching Fox News,
and I didn't know who this guy was, but he started, you know, teaching or saying whatever,
and the crowd just started chanting, Obama, Obama.
This was right after Osama, Osama bin Laden, and I'm like, what are they saying?
And I told my parents, he will become the next president,
and my parents said he's not even in the running.
But in his early days, which I don't know what happened to him either,
he was a very good speaker, and that is why so many people followed him,
and people that are phonies, oftentimes they are good speakers.
When I was in Guyana on a missions trip,
I preached at this school to about this classroom of 50 people,
and I preached to them, but they had double-booked us,
so right after me was a Pentecostal preacher.
Now, the way the room was, it was very crowded,
so I really couldn't get out of there after I got done preaching.
So I had to listen to this Pentecostal priest for 15 minutes,
but he was so dynamic, and you could hear clips of what he was saying,
and you're thinking, amen, and everybody's screaming amen,
but he mentioned so much heresy in what he was saying,
and he actually wasn't really saying much at all.
It sounded like he was saying something because he was passionate,
but in reality, if you paid attention to his words,
he didn't really teach anything.
And see, that is what false prophets do.
They get very excited and energetic,
and people think they're a good speaker,
but number one, what are they teaching you?
See, we as Christians, whenever we hear sermons,
you better make sure what you're hearing is true,
no matter how interesting it is.
Turn to Deuteronomy 13.
You say, how does that apply to us?
It applies to us because of the fact
you will listen to a lot of sermons online.
There's a lot of like-minded pastors,
and as far as I know about these people,
they are like-minded, but you better make sure
what they're saying is true,
because I promise you there have been phonies before.
There will be phonies in the future.
You better make sure that, well,
just because everybody loves them,
you better make sure what they're saying is actually true,
that every word coming out of their mouth is true,
and that is true whether it's with somebody who's a phony
or someone who's a saved person,
because the Bible says you search the Scriptures
and make sure those things are correct.
Just because they're energetic and excited,
what are you actually learning from them?
Look, what I've always said and what I believe
is that my favorite sermons are the ones
where I learn something.
Now, when people are kind of at the younger stages
of Christianity, oftentimes they get really excited
about sermons, but honestly, if you've been saved
for a long time in soul winning,
you want to learn something.
Isn't that true?
And so the truth is that the most important thing
that you're doing when you're preaching
is to actually be teaching something, okay?
Not just screaming, but actually teach somebody something new.
Now, look at Deuteronomy 13, verse 1, where the Bible reads,
If there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams,
and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
and the sign or the wonder come to pass,
whereof he spake unto thee, saying,
Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known,
and let us serve them.
And so what we see here is a false prophet
that makes a sign that actually comes true.
That doesn't change the fact they're a false prophet, though,
because what are they saying?
They're saying, go serve some other god.
Look, false prophets, they make predictions all the time.
There's a famous false prophet in Africa,
and he really went out on a limb several years ago,
and he said that, you know, I had a vision,
and there's going to be a woman
that's the president of the United States.
Now, here's the thing about this.
It seemed like a sure thing
because nobody thought Donald Trump was going to win.
So he had this vision that this woman
was going to become the president the next week,
and then, of course, Donald Trump became the president,
and that made him look like a fool.
You say, even if it had come true, though,
that doesn't mean he's a good person, though.
Just because you say something that happens to be right
that doesn't make you a good person.
Everybody who's a false prophet
believes some things that are right, okay?
You have to look at everything that they're saying.
But it talks about giving a sign or a wonder,
and a sign or a wonder is something
that you're going to see and say,
man, he must be from God.
And false prophets, they mask the fact
that they're not teaching you anything
by being entertaining.
You say, what exactly is this?
That is the Pentecostal church.
That is their whole church.
They teach you nothing, but they're interesting.
They're entertaining.
Yeah, it's entertaining watching someone
roll around on the ground and scream.
Well, it's really entertaining.
It must be of God.
It's like, are you kidding me?
And it's like, yes, that's their whole religion.
They teach nothing, but they're very entertaining.
They practice at a young age
to learn how to be entertaining,
but they don't have to worry about
actually teaching something.
If you preach a real sermon,
you have to actually think about
what am I actually teaching people?
I can't just get up here and scream
and throw stuff and just,
Brother Ehrman, come here.
I'm just going to deck you.
It's like, but that's what
the Pentecostal church does.
It's very interesting,
but what are they teaching?
Verse number three,
Thou shalt not hearken unto the words
of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams,
for the Lord your God proveth you
to know whether ye love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul.
Ye shall walk after the Lord your God
and fear him, and keep his commandments,
and obey his voice,
and ye shall serve him and cleave onto him.
Now, notice what it says in verse three
how God is going to prove us.
You say, why does God allow
all these false prophets to exist?
He allows them to exist
because He's testing us.
That's what the Bible teaches.
God allows wickedness and sin out there
because, quite honestly,
the world is going to be difficult.
God does allow the devil
to have some sort of reign here on earth.
He's the God of this world,
the Bible says, about the devil.
Obviously, God is in full power,
but He does allow us to go through tests
and trials in our lives.
And so what He always tells us
in the Word of God is,
no matter what you're hearing,
you make sure that what is being said is true.
Even for people that are good people,
they are going to preach things
that are not always 100% right.
I promise you,
I've said things that are not 100% right.
I can't remember the example offhand,
but I listened to my sermon from last week,
and it was put on YouTube,
and there was something where I was preaching about something,
and I said the exact opposite.
I misspoke.
And it's like, you know what?
Guess what?
People that are men of God
can misspeak sometimes.
I've been preaching against
repentance of sins for salvation,
and then just said the exact opposite
in one snippet.
Now, for five minutes,
I was ripping on it,
but sometimes you just misspeak.
And so when you're listening to the sermons,
I want you to test
and make sure everything I'm saying is true,
because everybody makes mistakes, okay?
Now turn to Romans 16.
Romans 16.
Romans chapter 16.
Romans 16.
Now, this does not just apply
when preaching sermons,
but when you're hearing somebody say
whatever it is,
somebody's teaching you something
or talking to you about something,
make sure that what they're saying is true,
and it's not just some eloquent speech
that they're making.
Notice what it says in Romans 16, verses 17 and 18.
Now, I beseech you, brethren,
mark them which cause divisions and defenses
contrary to the doctrine
which ye have learned,
and avoid them.
For they that are such
serve not our Lord Jesus Christ,
but their own belly,
and by good words and fair speeches
deceive the hearts of the simple.
The Bible speaks about someone
who would come into a church
and destroy it,
and by using good words and fair speeches,
they basically cause all kinds of havoc.
Look, you know, the Bible says
that if you're deceived by this person,
you're a simple person.
It means you're ignorant.
It means you're naive.
Look, our church, as it grows,
we will have false people
come into this church
and try to cause problems behind the scenes.
That is inevitable.
You say, why?
Because that's what you see in the Bible.
And if you are naive,
you're going to fall for it
because the Bible says
they're going to deceive the hearts of the simple.
How are they going to do it?
By being very eloquent in what they say,
and people are going to fall for it.
Look, if somebody comes and just says,
well, you know,
I don't know, Brother Stuckey,
he shouldn't have done that,
and they start to subtly cause problems in the church,
watch out for that person.
Why?
Because inside their heart,
they might be doing it intentionally
trying to cause problems.
And if you are a simple person,
and you're naive,
you're going to fall for it.
Just because somebody sounds eloquent
when they speak,
you must make sure
that the words they're saying are accurate.
Okay?
The most important thing is
what are the words,
not how are those words delivered.
Okay?
It says fair speeches
because this is a speech
or something they're telling someone
that's done in a very eloquent and deceiving way.
Turn to Proverbs 7.
Proverbs 7.
Proverbs 7, verse 21.
Right after the book of Psalms,
Psalms is in the very middle of your Bible.
The next book is the book of Proverbs.
Proverbs 7, verse 21.
And there's one other time
it mentions fair speeches in the Bible,
and it's here in Proverbs 7, verse 21,
where it says,
with her much fair speech,
she caused him to yield.
With the flattering of her lips,
she forced him.
And it talks about a woman
who is a harlot.
Okay?
Here's a woman who's trying
to deceive a guy
into basically committing fornication.
Fornication, adultery, or whatever.
And she does it with a fair speech.
But be very careful
if there's some woman
that just says,
oh, I just care about you so much.
What is she actually trying
to get you to do?
You say,
why does the Bible mention this?
Because of the fact
it's a real issue in the world?
There are plenty of guys
that are Christian guys.
They lose their virginity
because of some woman
with a fair speech.
Now, obviously,
we know there's guys
that do the same thing to women.
But what's what
they're actually saying?
It doesn't matter
how eloquent they are
in what they're saying.
What are they actually
trying to get you to do?
And it's interesting
because it says,
with the flattering of her lips,
she forced him.
That is the same terminology
the Bible uses
for raping someone.
Forcing someone.
And yet, with her words,
and you have to understand,
especially you guys
that are single guys,
be very careful
until you're married.
And if you are married,
be very careful.
Make sure that you're not
spending time with someone
you're not married to
or you could cause problems.
Make sure, look,
I don't hang out with girls
that I'm not married to.
I hang out with my wife
and that's it.
You say,
well, for a second,
it's just for a business thing.
You better be very careful
because the Bible speaks
about how you can lose
your virginity.
You need to keep your purity.
And it says,
with fair speech.
And this is something
that people do.
They mask what they're saying
with how they're saying it.
Now turn in your Bible
to Hosea 4.
Hosea 4.
And so that's kind of
a bit of an introduction,
but let's go to point number 2
where the fact is
when you are teaching something,
the number one primary thing
is that you are educational.
Okay?
That does not negate the fact
that you should be interesting.
We'll talk about that
later on.
But number one is this.
We must be educational.
This is our second point.
We must be educational
when we're teaching something,
especially when we're
preaching sermons.
Hosea 4, verse 6.
My people are destroyed
for lack of knowledge.
Because thou hast rejected
knowledge, I will also
reject thee that thou shalt
be no priest to me,
seeing thou hast forgotten
the law of thy God,
I will also forget thy children.
The Bible speaks about
God's people being destroyed
for lack of knowledge.
You say, why is it
that people grow up
in Baptist churches
here in the Philippines,
and yet they basically
forsake the ways of God
and don't live for God?
Because they learn
nothing in church?
They're destroyed
for lack of knowledge?
We've all been to those
churches where you know
you show up on Sunday morning,
you're going to learn
nothing, absolutely nothing.
You will learn nothing,
and you won't even be
motivated to do something
in your life.
Absolutely nothing
you learn in church,
and you just simply go
because of obligation.
And the Bible says
in Hosea 4,
God's people are destroyed
for lack of knowledge.
Church is the pillar
and ground of the truth.
And yet most churches,
they don't really
care about that
because they're more
interested in pleasing people.
Okay?
Now turn to Hosea 6.
Hosea 6.
But you know,
even outside
of preaching a sermon,
look, when your kids
are growing up,
they need to be
educated and learn.
Because if you don't
have knowledge,
you will destroy your life.
You need to have knowledge.
Look, when my son
gets older,
I was homeschooled
starting in middle school,
and our son will be
homeschooled
once he's of age.
It's like, you know what?
I'm going to take it
very seriously though.
My wife is going to
take it very seriously
and make sure our son
is actually learning.
You say, why?
Because he needs
a good education
because if you don't
have knowledge,
you're going to be
in trouble in this world.
And look, it's not easy
to make it here
in the Philippines.
You need to be educated
at a young age
and prepare yourself for life.
You say, why,
Brother Stuckey,
do you preach so much
about finances around here?
Because I want you
to be able to make
the choices
that you want to make.
I want you to be prepared
for life.
The Bible says God's people
are destroyed for lack
of knowledge,
but even outside of sermons,
just not having knowledge
in life is going to
destroy you.
But even when you're older,
you should never reach
a point in your life
where you're not trying
to learn something.
We should always be
learning new things
and be educated,
be smart people.
Hosea 6, verse 6,
the Bible reads,
For I desired mercy
and not sacrifice,
and the knowledge of God
more than burnt offerings.
Notice how what God desires
is that you have knowledge
about Him.
That knowledge is found
in the Word of God.
You say, Brother Stuckey,
would God rather
that I put, I don't know,
50,000 pesos in the offering
or that I read the Bible
every day?
He'd rather you read
the Bible every day.
Now, yes,
I believe in tithing.
I believe the Bible
teaches that.
But look, you don't have
to go above
what the Bible says
and say, well, you know,
I'm forsaking
my Bible reading.
I don't pray,
but here's more money
to church.
No, that's not acceptable.
He'd rather that you
have knowledge of Him
and you're expected
to read the Bible.
Now, look, of course,
we love when people donate.
We love when people tithe.
But more important
than just giving your tithe,
more than just going
above and beyond,
is just having knowledge
of God.
It's more important
that you read your Bible
according to what God says.
Turn to 1 Samuel 2.
I will do my very best
at Verity Baptist Church Manila
to give you the truth
of God's Word
in heavy doses,
to teach you
as much as I can,
but you're gonna learn
more about the Bible
if you go home
and study it for yourself.
Look, I have learned
a lot of great things
from great preachers
that are men of God,
but I have learned more
by reading the Bible
for myself.
When it comes to sermons
I preached,
over 90% are just things
that I got from memorizing
or reading the Bible,
or an idea
that came to my mind.
Every once in a while,
I'll listen to a sermon
and think, man,
that's a good sermon.
I should preach something
similar sometime.
Most of my sermons though,
I'm reading the Bible
or I have something
that comes to my mind,
and you in your life,
you will learn
more about the Bible
if you go home and study it.
You say, why?
Because an hour sermon
three times a week
equals three hours,
but if you spend an hour
reading the Bible a day,
you're gonna be reading
a lot more,
and it's like, quite honestly,
when a sermon's being preached,
everybody kind of fades in and out.
That's why you stamp
with your hand, right?
You fade in and out,
so you're only getting
so much of that.
But if you go home
and read the Bible
for yourself,
you're gonna learn
new things, okay?
You need to go home
and read therein
all the days of thy life
like the Bible tells you to do.
1 Samuel 2, verse 3.
1 Samuel 2, verse 3,
the Bible reads,
Talk no more,
so exceeding proudly.
Let not arrogance
come out of your mouth.
For the Lord is a God
of knowledge,
and by Him,
actions are weighed.
The Bible says God
is a God of knowledge.
Look, God expects you
to be an educated
and intelligent person.
You say, how do you do that?
Look, the more you read the Bible,
the more intelligent
you're gonna become.
God expects you
to be someone
who loves knowledge
and wants to read
the word of God
and learns.
Now, for us
that are raising kids,
we start that
at a young age
with our kids,
get them to love
reading God's word,
because when I first
started reading God's word,
I didn't really enjoy it,
as I mentioned last week,
because it was all new to me
and I didn't know it,
and it was something
that took a lot of effort.
We need to start our kids
out on the right foot
where they learn
the word of God,
and so when they open this,
they already have
a general understanding,
so it's gonna be
more interesting to them.
God is a God of knowledge,
and so the primary thing
at a church
or when you preach sermons
is are you teaching
something to the people?
Now, I don't want you
to misunderstand this,
because your goal
should not always
to be teaching something new,
like some new doctrine,
but did you know
you could preach a sermon
on soul winning
and say the exact same thing
but use a different example
and say it in a different way
so it still impacts people
and people are still learning?
See, I think really great preaching
is when you take something
that's been preached 20 times
and you use a story
no one has ever
thought of applying
and it kind of drives home
the same point.
Look, when you preach sermons,
you're really preaching
the same 25 sermons
over and over again.
You're just kind of
repackaging them,
kind of changing it
a little bit,
using different stories,
using different examples,
in reality though,
you're just preaching
the same thing
over and over again.
I preach against drinking
alcohol all the time.
I preach against
worldliness all the time.
I preach about how you
should go soul winning
all the time.
It's the same thing,
but you got to learn
to repackage it differently
so people are still learning.
And you say,
how do you do that?
Well, you don't pick out
a Bible commentary.
What you do is
you pick out your Bible
and you learn
and you use new examples.
You say, why?
Everyone's heard
that Bible commentary
sermon before.
It's not something new.
Everybody's heard it before.
It's not interesting.
It's pretty boring
when you've heard it
20 times.
You need to learn
something new from your Bible.
And if you're going to be
someone who preaches
the Word of God,
you must always be
learning something new
and growing.
Turn your Bible to
Malachi 2, Malachi 2.
What you have to understand
is that when churches
are so focused on entertainment,
rather than education,
it shows what is inside of their hearts.
All they care about
is just entertaining the people
and fun and games.
And look,
we have soul winning
and afterwards we play
board games as a church.
We do these things.
Those are fun.
We have fellowship activities,
but they will never
replace the soul winning.
They'll never replace
long sermons
when you're learning
the Word of God.
It will never replace
the things that God
tells us we need.
Now, in Malachi 2,
the Bible reads,
verse number five,
My covenant was with
Him of life and peace,
and I gave them to Him
for the fear wherewith
He feared me,
and was afraid before
My name.
The law of truth
was in His mouth,
and iniquity was
not found in His lips.
He walked with me
in peace and equity
and did turn many
away from iniquity.
Here it speaks about
a priest who would
actually be teaching
the Word of God,
and it says the law
of truth was in His mouth.
He's actually teaching
the Word of God.
No iniquity found
in His lips.
He helped turn people
away from iniquity.
This would apply
both as you're
teaching God's people.
You're helping them
turn from iniquity
in their lives.
Verse seven,
For the priest's lips
should keep knowledge,
and they should seek
the law at His mouth,
for He is the messenger
of the Lord of hosts.
It says they should
seek the law at His mouth.
You see, when you
come to church,
you ought to be coming
excited to learn
the Word of God.
You come to Verity Baptist
Manila, you say
it's an hour away,
but you're coming
because you're seeking
after hearing the truth
of God's Word.
And that's why people
come to this church.
Look, we have a lot
of great things
at this church,
but the primary thing
is you want to learn
the Word of God.
That is why you come here.
Now, many people
go to churches, though.
It's not to seek
the Word of God.
It's just for entertainment,
fun, or they don't
want to feel guilty
about not going to
church or whatever.
But a true church,
people are coming
because they want to
hear the Word of God
preached.
They want to learn
something new,
and they want to
make changes in their life.
And if that's not
why you go to church,
there's a problem there.
You ought to come
to church because
turn to I Timothy 3.
I Timothy 3.
And so in I Timothy 3,
I Timothy 3, verse 15,
it says,
But if I tarry long
that thou mayest know
how thou oughtest
to behave thyself
in the house of God,
which is the church
of the living God,
the pillar and ground
of the truth.
A church is meant to be
the pillar and ground
of the truth.
The primary thing
this church is built on
is the truth.
That's what you're learning.
That's what a church
is about.
When you preach sermons,
you must be thinking about,
how am I going to preach
something so people
are actually learning?
Now, sometimes
when you write sermons,
you might have
a lot of good information.
It does not mean
that it's packaged
in the right way
so people are going
to learn very well.
It's like if you're
teaching anything,
you're going to learn
structurally in a good manner
for people to learn.
And so when you're
preaching sermons,
you must look at your sermon
and make sure,
is this organized in the right way
so people can actually learn?
Turn to Ezekiel chapter 6.
Ezekiel 6.
And so when you're preaching,
yes, you need to be educational.
We don't deny that.
That's the primary thing
that people are actually learning.
But you should be interesting
when you preach sermons.
That is an important
part of preaching.
We'll go back to preach
Ezekiel chapter 6.
We'll see this.
Ezekiel chapter 6.
And it says in
Ezekiel 6 verse 11,
Thus saith the Lord God,
smite with thine hand
and stamp with thy foot,
and say,
Alas for all the
evil abominations
of the house of Israel,
for they shall fall
by the sword,
by the famine,
and by the pestilence.
And it says,
smite with thine hand
and stamp with thy foot.
This is something
you should do
when you preach.
Basically, you get excited
about certain parts
of the sermon.
You preach against something.
If you are at a church,
and the person preaching
never preaches against something,
they never lay down the hammer,
there's a problem there.
Let me show you a difference too.
Because what most Baptist churches
will do is just this.
Hey, you know what?
Sin is still bad in 2019.
Now what did I say?
Nothing.
Sin is still bad in 2019.
Wow, every single church
would agree with that.
The Muslims would love that.
Yeah, amen.
The Hindus would love it.
Sin is still bad in 2019.
So what are you actually teaching?
That's exactly what I'm talking about.
How preachers will pretend
to preach hard,
but they're not.
They'll pretend to preach
against something,
and they're not.
You have to be specific.
You have to actually teach something,
but you should have certain things
that you're willing
to cry aloud about
and get excited about.
You say, why?
Because that is what
makes people make changes
in their lives.
You must be crying
against something.
And if the person preaching
is never doing that,
it shows either that
he's not trying to do that,
he's just a phony,
or he's trying to do that
to the spirit.
Because you should be preaching
hard against things.
Turn to Isaiah 58.
Isaiah 58.
Now look, this is something.
These teaching principles,
I'm giving you these things
because quite honestly,
a lot of these things
are going to be kind of new to you.
You know, many people
when they first start preaching,
being dynamic is just
not very easy for them.
For some people,
it comes easier than other people.
All of these lessons,
these are things
you want to work on
if you want to get
better at preaching.
This is a very important
part of preaching.
Now look, most people
when they start,
they're very nervous
when they preach sermons.
When I started
preaching sermons,
I was very nervous.
You know, honestly,
the way I learned
to basically cry aloud
is when I drove in the car,
I would basically preach
sermons for practice
when I was by myself.
Now, the problem is here,
if you're writing
in a jiffy,
screaming,
then I don't know,
it's probably going to
not work for you.
But I would drive in my car
and just kind of practice yelling
because it didn't
come naturally to me.
And it's something
that I learned how to do.
So these are things that,
yeah, you might have
to learn these things,
but these are things
that if you want to
preach regularly,
or if you want to be
a pastor one day,
it's something you need to learn.
There's many parts
to preaching.
Now, here is the thing though,
most people,
when they start,
they're most concerned
about being entertaining
when they preach.
That should not be
the first thing
to preach.
This is important,
but you see,
this is the third
lesson out of three.
You say, why?
Because I think
it's the third most important.
I don't think
it's as important as
basically just being
understandable when you preach.
I think last week's
sermon about being bold
but gentle and meek
is more important.
Most people, though,
when they start,
they're so concerned
with their presentation.
This is something
you should work on.
Quite honestly though,
you better make sure
your sermon actually
makes sense.
And people are actually
learning before
you focus on this.
Cry aloud,
spare not,
lift up thy voice
like a trumpet
and show my people
their transgression
in the house of
Jacob their sins.
Now,
in Isaiah 58 verse 1,
the Bible says
we are to cry aloud
and lift up our voice
like a trumpet.
You say, why?
Because you're showing
people their transgression
in the house of Jacob
their sins.
When you're preaching
against a sin,
that is when you
cry aloud.
When you're preaching
for people to make
changes in their life.
But most of sermons,
you're just teaching
people.
Like I said,
you don't spend
the entire sermon
just screaming.
There's certain things
that you are yelling about,
but certain things
you're just kind of teaching.
But when you're
preaching against sin,
you're going to
cry aloud about it.
Now obviously,
we don't believe in this,
but think of the
street preachers that
preach against
repentance of sins.
They're always
screaming because
when you're preaching
against sin,
it's natural to yell.
And that's why
it looks so crazy
because the average
person just sees
somebody screaming
That's why when we
go out there,
we go soul winning
and just talk to people
one-on-one.
We don't scream at
people when we're
going soul winning.
You say, why?
Well, because we're
not telling them
to repent.
We're telling them
to believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ,
so we don't need
to scream at them.
We're just telling
them to believe.
But in church,
there's a difference
because I'm not trying
to get anybody
saved here this morning.
As far as I know,
everybody here
knows the gospel.
I'm just trying
to show you
this principle, though,
you can take outside
the word of God
because think about
if you're teaching
anything and there's
a certain part you're
really trying to highlight.
You kind of lose
somebody's attention.
What do you say?
You know, students,
listen up to this.
You say, why?
Because you're trying
to get their attention back.
It is important not to
just be monotone
the whole time.
You want to have ups
and downs in your voice.
Now, this is not
something that's easy.
It's something that
takes a lot of practice,
but it is something
you should work
towards doing.
Notice what it says
in verse 13.
But woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites!
For ye shut up
the kingdom of heaven
against men,
for ye neither go
in yourselves,
neither suffer ye them
that are entering
to go in.
Now, when Jesus
is preaching this,
he is preaching
against the Pharisees.
Do you think
he's just talking
or he's basically
crying aloud against them?
He's crying aloud
against them.
He's preaching
against something.
Now, I have listened
to a lot of audio
Bibles before,
and I've listened
to them go through
Matthew chapter 23.
And here's the thing
about audio Bibles,
they probably usually
go along with the fact
of a long-haired Jesus
and a really wimpy Jesus.
And I've heard them
go through Matthew 23
to try to make Jesus
just so loving
and never hateful.
And they're just like,
but woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites!
For ye shut up
the kingdom of heaven.
Look, I'm sorry,
but I don't think
Jesus was talking like that.
I think he was
actually crying aloud.
Look, when you call
somebody a hypocrite,
look, that's
pretty strong language.
And so he's crying
aloud against them.
Why?
Because they're phonies
and they're not allowing
people to go to heaven
because they're false prophets.
And look, if there's
anything we want
to cry against,
it's the false prophets
out there.
There's nothing that's worse.
You say why?
Because they're leading
people to hell.
Look, as much
as I hate Vice Pangit,
he's not leading
people to hell
like some of these
false prophets are.
And in the Philippines,
all the false prophets
are evangelizing.
And KESO Memorial
Circle every week,
there's tons of them
out there,
tons of different
churches preaching
a false gospel.
Resolve Park,
there's tons of them
out there.
They're all preaching
a false gospel.
Those are really
the enemies destroying
people from getting saved.
And that's something
Jesus is crying against
in verse 13.
Verse 14,
woe unto you,
scribes and pharisees,
hypocrites, for ye
devour widows' houses
and for pretense
make long prayer.
Therefore ye shall receive
the greater damnation.
Woe unto you,
scribes and pharisees,
hypocrites, for ye
compass sea and land
to make one proselyte.
And when he is made,
ye make him twofold more
the child of hell
than yourselves.
Now, I want you to
notice verse 15.
I want to show you something.
In verse 15,
when Jesus is preaching
against these false prophets,
notice how it says
ye compass sea and land
to make one proselyte.
And when he is made,
ye make him twofold more
the child of hell
than yourselves.
What Jesus is saying is
that these false prophets
were very zealous
to make one proselyte.
Now, one thing
you'll commonly see
people say is that
if somebody basically
gets mad at church
and turns out to be a phony,
people defend it by saying,
he can't be a phony,
he's so zealous.
He went soul winning
more than anyone.
Well, actually,
that lines up with the Bible.
Matthew 23, verse 15,
the most zealous people
are oftentimes the one
that are the false prophets.
Look, if somebody gets
kicked out of this church,
hey, if you've got
an actual reason why
you don't think they're
a bad person, that's fine.
But don't tell me,
they're more zealous
than everybody.
I'll say, well,
Matthew 23, verse 15.
Just because they're zealous,
they're zealous
to mask the fact
they're a false prophet.
Just like a false prophet
will be entertaining
to mask the fact
they're not teaching anything,
oftentimes the ones
that are the most zealous
people turn out
to be the bad people.
You say, why?
They have ulterior motives.
Now, look, absolutely,
be zealous for soul winning.
I'm not saying,
oh, brother, second,
I'm so afraid to do
extra soul winning now,
you'll think I'm
a false prophet.
Hey, by all means,
soul winning.
Praise the Lord,
that's great.
But just because
somebody is zealous
does not make them
a good person.
They could just be doing
that because they're
trying to fool you.
Because the Bible says
in verse 15,
they compass sea
and land to make
one proselyte.
That is a lot of zeal
where they're going
to make one person
a false prophet.
Now turn in your Bible
to Jeremiah 28,
Jeremiah 28.
And she said,
brother Stuckey,
why are so many
Baptist pastors
very boring
when they preach?
Well, number one,
they're not teaching
you anything.
Right.
And honestly,
people generally
like to learn.
You know,
you see people get bored
in public schools
and they get bored.
Look, I used to be
a math teacher
and I noticed something
when I taught math,
that there are basically
three groups of people
in the classroom.
They're the ones
that found the
material very easy.
They're the ones
that found it
extremely difficult.
And there were
those that were
in the middle.
Do you know the ones
that acted up
in class were the ones
that found it very easy
and the ones that found
it very difficult.
The ones in the middle,
they never acted up.
Because people
generally like to learn.
And I thought back to
when I was in,
because I was in
public school
before homeschooling
and I was thinking
there was one class
that I always got
in trouble in
and it was math class.
You say,
why?
Because that's
my favorite subject.
It was a subject
where it came
more naturally to me
than grammar
and other things
like that.
Generally they want
to learn and yet
church is boring
because people
aren't learning anything.
It's the same way
in public schools.
People get bored
if they're not
learning anything.
That's one reason.
And the other reason
is they're not
actually preaching
against anything.
They're not doing
what we just talked about
and so they end
up being boring.
So not only should
we be crying
against something
when we're being
entertaining,
but we should also
use memorable examples.
Now I should probably
do this more than I do.
And this is something
that people
have to remember.
Get them to remember
pictures and things
like that will
have more of an impact.
But if you remember
when I was talking
about our life
fading like a vapor,
I use the example
of dropping water
on the ground
saying you can't
gather it up
because that's
what the Bible teaches.
But it's an example
that people can remember.
Or when Brother
Ehrman came up here
and I put on a book bag,
those are probably
things that you're
more likely to remember.
You say,
why?
Because people
remember examples.
I remember one of those
words in the US
like 10 years ago.
It was a good sermon.
And the reason why
I really remember it
is because he had
this giant branch.
And Jeff Owens
is a decent guy.
I'm not praising him
or criticizing him.
He's a saved guy.
But he had
a giant branch
he was using
talking about how
pastors would basically
be fighting off
the false prophets.
I don't forget that.
You say,
why?
Because it's something
you just remember.
And memorable examples
are actually
a good technique.
Now in Jeremiah 28,
I'm giving you
a heads up,
but we can actually
learn something
from this false prophet
of why he's successful
because he uses
an example that people
can resonate with.
Jeremiah 28 verse 5,
then the prophet Jeremiah,
and no,
the prophet Jeremiah
is not the false prophet.
He's the good prophet.
Then the prophet Jeremiah
said unto the prophet
Hananiah in the presence
of the priest
and in the presence
of all the people
that stood in the house
of the Lord,
even the prophet Jeremiah
said, amen,
the Lord do so,
the Lord perform thy words
which thou hast prophesied
to bring again
thee away captive
from Babylon
into this place.
Nevertheless,
hear thou now this word
that I speak in thine ears
and in the ears
of all the people.
The prophets
that have been before me
and before thee of old
prophesied both
against many countries
and against great kingdoms,
of war,
and of evil,
and of pestilence.
And if you're gonna preach
the word of God,
you should be somebody
preaching against false things.
If you're a man of God,
you should be preaching
against the country
you live in.
You say,
many countries got problems.
There are a lot of problems
in this country.
And if you're gonna be
someone who actually
preaches the word of God,
you need to try it out
against that country.
Now remember,
Jeremiah was told
that he was put above
basically the leaders
and above the country.
God puts us in a position
where he can actually
impact those people.
In today's world,
we have the online ministry
that brings people
all over the world.
Brother Matthias
just moved here
from Denver.
This preaching goes
all over the world
with people here.
But you know,
even before
the online ministry
God found a way
to get his word out
to the entire world.
He puts us above
the kings and leaders.
He gives us the opportunity
to actually preach
and the word of God
gets out there.
Notice what it says
in verse 9.
The prophet
which prophesied
the peace
when the word of the prophet
shall come to pass,
then shall the prophet
be known
that the Lord
hath truly sinned.
And so look,
if you're gonna
prophesy in peace
and it does not
come to pass,
then you're going
to the Bible teaches.
Now if you're gonna
Now here we see
Hananiah
and Hananiah
is basically
Joel Osteen's
distant relative.
He's his
great, great, great,
great, great,
great grandfather.
Cause if you ever
heard Joel Osteen
he doesn't preach
against anything.
He was on
Larry King
and he was
talking about sin
and he said
I don't like to use
the word sin
in church.
It's like
you don't like
to use the word sin.
It's like
you obviously don't
like to use
the word sin
cause it can be
offensive
when you talk
about sin.
Yeah, it really
can be offensive.
But church
can be
thrown around
for the truth.
And so here
we have the
distant relative
of Joel Osteen.
Notice what it
says in verse 10.
Then Hananiah
the prophet
took the yoke
from off the
prophet Jeremiah's
neck and
break it.
And Hananiah
has spake in
the presence
of all the
great
yoke of
Nebuchadnezzar
king of
Babylon from
the neck of
all nations
within the
space of
two full years
and the prophet
Jeremiah went
his way.
And so he
and I
basically uses
a visual example.
Now we do the
same thing
when we go
slowly.
Think about
how we're
explaining the
gift and
we'll explain
how eternal
life is
a gift.
We're gonna do
a Pentecostal
free for all
of them.
I'm not saying
that every
single sermon
you just do
these crazy
examples.
I talked last
week about
one-upping
people.
Jeff Owens
had a branch.
We're gonna
cut down
a tree.
We're just
gonna carry
a tree in here.
Obviously
you do it
within a reason.
Obviously things
are decently
in order.
But visual
life is
a gift.
And
that's
what we
do.
And
that's
what we
do.
And
that's
what we
do.
And
that's
what we
do.
And
that's
what we
do.
And
that's
what we
do.
And
that's
what we
do.
And
what you
do.
And
that's
what
you do.
And
that's
what we
do.
And
you
know
you're
gonna
fix
this
thing.
Right?
You're
gonna
fix
this
thing.
And
that's
what
I want you to notice what it says in 2 Timothy chapter 2.
This is the verse that we looked at last week.
2 Timothy chapter 2.
And it says in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse number 24,
And the servant of the Lord must not strive
but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach.
See, what the Bible says is that when we are preaching the Word of God,
we must have an aptitude or ability to preach the Word of God.
Now, there are many different things that will make you have more of an ability to preach the Word of God.
It's something that takes effort.
Your number one thing I would say,
and I'm kind of giving a recap of the series,
the sermon will be a little bit shorter.
There's just not as much to it.
We've got a lot of stuff to do today as well.
But, you know, obviously the number one thing for you guys that like to preach,
or if you're teaching anything,
is you just need to know what you're teaching about.
And so basically, number one, read the Bible a lot.
That's why a very Baptist church, there's a standard,
and there's other rules as well,
but you must read the Bible ten times cover to cover before you can be ordained.
You say, why?
Because you need to have an ability to teach.
And quite honestly, if you've only read the Bible one time,
you're going to run out of sermons really quickly.
Now, you need to be reading the Bible every single week,
but you need to have read the Bible quite a bit
because you need to have the knowledge to actually teach something.
Otherwise, it could be like, for example,
if I went back into math tutoring,
and let's say all I knew how to do was algebra.
How am I going to teach calculus or geometry or trigonometry
if I don't know how to do it?
You have to actually know what the Bible says.
Now you say, Brother Stuckey, how do I know what to preach
if I'm preaching a sermon?
You preach on something you really know very well.
Look, there's nothing wrong with preaching a sermon on salvation,
especially if it's something you know very well.
Now, there is something wrong with preaching
a sermon on, I don't know, like,
n times Babylon if you don't know much about it.
You say, but that's very interesting.
Well, you have to actually be able to teach something accurately.
You don't think something you don't know.
Whenever people talk about, you know,
what sermon should I preach?
It's my first sermon on my preaching night.
I usually tell people to preach on salvation
so when you're in the King James Bible.
You say, why?
Because generally, the first things people learn
are salvation so when you're in the King James Bible.
Preach on what you know.
It doesn't have to be something new.
You have to learn.
Pick a topic that you know very well
and try to teach something in a new way.
I'm not saying a new doctrine.
Try to teach and make it interesting.
Use a story that people maybe aren't familiar with.
I remember hearing Pastor Jimenez preach a sermon
before he was a pastor called Borrow Not a Few.
Has anybody heard that sermon before?
Borrow Not a Few is a great soul and sermon
and what made it such a great sermon is
I never thought about soul when I was reading that
but when I heard it preached, I was like,
man, I'm trying to get it to re-preach a full sermon on it
because it's a very interesting sermon.
But you take something that you know very well,
okay, when you're preaching.
That's part of having an ability to preach.
And so as a recap of the sermon series,
the first sermon we talked about,
number one, you make sure that people
actually understand what you're saying.
That's the most important part of the sermon.
If everybody were to walk out of the sermon and say,
I don't know what Brother Scott was talking about here today,
there's a problem with what I said or how I said it.
Now if you walk out of here mad because of what I said,
it is what it is.
It happened on the floor, it will happen again.
That's not my fault.
There is a fault, though, if you leave
and nobody understands what I was even talking about.
I'm not even saying whether they agree,
I'm saying they don't even understand.
So it'd be like if you're going soul winning
and you're preaching the gospel to people
and nobody ever understands again.
There's something you're doing wrong soul winning.
Now there are some times they're not gonna understand
because the Bible speaks about people
that just don't understand and are terrible to the soul.
A lot of people that don't get saved,
they just don't fully understand
because they've been growing Catholic for 30 years
and it's hard to get rid of 30 years in 15 minutes.
But if nobody ever understands, there is a problem with that.
So number one, you have to make sure
you're understandable and not edifying yourself
and trying to edify other people.
Number two, you need to be bold when you are preaching
but also preaching a way that's gentle and deep.
And number three, you need to be educational
but at the same time you want to learn
how to do it in an interesting way.
Let's go to the Lord first.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us
to be here today.
We just ask you to bless and serve in your lives.
Help us to apply this whether we're preaching sermons
or preaching the gospel or teaching anybody,
teaching your kids and training them.
Help us to learn to be the number one educational God
but help us to learn how to be the more interesting God.
I ask you to help all these young preachers
that are learning God.
Help them to get practice preaching and learn how to preach
and work and always become more bold
but also gentle and deep.
And be educational God but also interesting
and at the same time God.
I pray this Jesus name, amen.
Amen.