What Makes for a Good Preacher?

Hi, this is Bill Meyer, and I want to let you know we are so thankful for our podcast audience, and we want to hear from you. Give us a call Monday through Friday at 1130 a.m. Pacific Time at 833-843-2673.

That's 833 the CORE. What makes for a good preacher? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Well, hi, I'm Bill Meyer along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

Happy Friday to you. This is the radio show where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day, and we would love to hear from you. Our phone lines will be open for the next 25 minutes or so, and you can call us with your question at 833 the CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. By the way, you can also watch Adriel live in the studio on YouTube right now and send us a message through our YouTube channel, and you can always post your question on one of our other social media sites or email us, and our email address is questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to a voicemail we received from one of our listeners named Joanne. My question is, and a concern, my brother and his wife are Jehovah's Witnesses, and my brother used to talk about Jesus all the time, and this has really been a thing in our family. Is it actually a cult? Because I know he doesn't eat pork anymore, and there's just all kinds of things, and I want to kind of talk to him about it to find out what was the switch. You know, I don't know if he's going along with his wife, you know, to keep peace in the family. I just don't want him being drug off to hell for not being a believer.

So anyway, thank you. Joanne, I think we should begin just by praying for your brother, for his wife, praying for you, asking the Lord to give you guidance in your conversations with him, and then certainly to be at work in your brother's life and his family. Heavenly Father, we come before you right now. I want to pray for Joanne and specifically, Lord, for her brother. Lord God, we know that you are the one who opens the heart, Lord, that God, it's only by the work of your Holy Spirit, and I pray for this man that you would open his heart to understand your word, to know your son Jesus as he's revealed in scripture, not as the Jehovah's Witnesses teach Jesus to be, but as your word proclaims Jesus to be.

Father, would you open his heart, would you open his wife's heart, and I pray that you would be at work in them, and would you please give Joanne wisdom, understanding in your word, the ability to have conversations about this, Lord, and to bring your gospel to bear in the midst of those conversations, and so would you be with her, I pray in Jesus' name, amen. Joanne, you asked the question, you know, are Jehovah's Witnesses in a cult? Is the Watchtower organization a cult?

And I would say yes. I mean, there have been different ways that people have defined what a cult is. Things that I see in and among Jehovah's Witnesses that I see as Jehovah's Witnesses that raise concerns in my mind, besides the doctrine. I mean, the doctrine is the most concerning thing, but it seems to me in the times that I've had conversations with Jehovah's Witnesses that there really isn't a lot of room to question. I've sat down on multiple occasions with Jehovah's Witnesses, times with the same group, trying to dig into the scriptures, and I realize that especially if you're challenging them, if you're asking hard questions, if they're beginning to doubt, they're immediately told to back away, not to continue to have that discussion. They're taught exactly how to believe, how to think. There's not a lot of room for questioning, and if you do begin to question or if you leave, they have this disfellowshipping process that makes it really scary for people that are a part of this organization to leave.

They're just basically cut off from everything. Those things concern me, but the most concerning thing is I think that they don't understand who Jesus is, and because they don't understand who Jesus is, they don't have the true gospel. People who embrace the doctrine, the beliefs of the Jehovah's Witnesses cannot be Christians or not believers because they reject core tenets of the Christian faith, like the deity of Jesus Christ. Jehovah's Witnesses basically revived what is known as the ancient Arian heresy, this idea. Arianism was an ancient heresy that was essentially responded to by the church early on, confronted with the truth of scripture, and it's this idea that Jesus is not God the creator, but that he himself is a created being. He was the first creature created by God, and they'll try to go to certain passages like in Colossians chapter one and elsewhere and sort of twist those verses around to make that point, but they really can't. The key focus I think in your conversations with your brother and with his family, it has to go to who Jesus is and what the gospel is. Only the eternal Son of God could be the perfect representative of mankind, come in the flesh and provide the perfect atonement for our sins. If you misunderstand who Jesus is and you misunderstand his work, then you cannot be saved. I would say praying for your brother, opening up the scriptures with him, talking about these things.

One resource that I would recommend to you is a book that we've recommended on this broadcast many times. It's called Core Christianity, written by my friend Dr. Michael Horton, and I think it's the first chapter. It's just about the identity of Jesus Christ, Jesus is God, and it goes through a number of passages of scripture. It talks about some of the ancient heresies that the church had to deal with, including the Arian heresy and why it's false, and again, that's sort of what Jehovah's Witnesses are trying to revive essentially.

I think that resource, that book will help you in thinking through how to have these discussions with your brother, and then other passages of scripture maybe that you could go to. The one actually that I mentioned Jehovah's Witnesses will often go to is in Colossians chapter one, which is all about the supremacy of Jesus Christ, the preeminence of Jesus. What they'll say in Colossians chapter one, they'll quote verse 15 where it says, he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions, rulers or authorities. They'll say, it says he's the firstborn of creation, but they misunderstand that. The word firstborn, especially in light of the context, doesn't have to do with being the first created thing.

It has to do with preeminence. David is called the firstborn, Psalm 89 verse 27. Even though he wasn't the firstborn amongst his brothers, why is he called the firstborn?

Because he had the preeminence, the power. That's what Paul is highlighting there in Colossians chapter one. Paul makes it clear that by Jesus all things were made. That is, he is not a creature. He isn't in the category of creature like we are, created being. He is in the category of creator. He is the creator God. John in the beginning of his gospel, John chapter one, is by him all things were made and apart from him, nothing was made that was made.

There isn't one thing that exists in the universe that wasn't created by the true and the living God, by Jesus Christ. These are a number of things that you could bring up, but certainly sister, continuing to pray, to provide resources, to keep the doors open for conversation, and just see what the Lord does. God bless you. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Our phone lines are open right now. If you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, doctrine, or theology, maybe a question on what's going on in our culture right now and how the Christian faith intersects with that, we would love to hear from you. You can call us for the next 15 minutes or so, and here is the phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. By the way, we have a great Bible study that we are offering today, and it really is perfect for starting off a new year. Yeah, if you've started reading the Bible as a part of your New Year's resolutions, I think this resource will really benefit you. The study is called How to Read the Bible, and one of the reasons it's so beneficial is because it helps to unpack the significance of the different genres that we see in scripture, the relationship between the Old and the New Testaments.

That's something that trips a lot of people up. What rules are we supposed to follow? How are we supposed to interpret the prophecies in scripture, apocalyptic literature? It's important that we study the scriptures, that we're in the Word of God reading, but it's also important that we understand how to read the Bible.

Get ahold of this resource. It's yours for a donation of $20 or more over at corechristianity.com. It's really an excellent study, and if you find that you have become discouraged when reading the Bible or kind of get stumped by some of the more confusing, challenging parts, this is designed to help you with that. You can get the new study for a donation of $20 or more at corechristianity.com forward slash Bible. Again, corechristianity.com forward slash Bible. We mentioned one of the ways that you can submit a question to us is through our YouTube channel.

That's what Eduardo did earlier. He's watching us on YouTube right now, and he says in Matthew chapter 5, Jesus seems to speak a lot about the kingdom of heaven, and he's wondering how important is it for Christians to know what that kingdom is, and is it here now? Yeah, sometimes the way people will talk about this is that the kingdom is already and not yet. That is that Jesus in his first coming did inaugurate the kingdom of God through preaching, through binding Satan, through establishing his church, and that the church here on earth really is a manifestation of God's kingdom.

Local churches in your community, we might refer to them as kingdom outposts. It's where the powers of the age to come, the powers of God's kingdom are breaking in already now in this present world. In a real sense through what Jesus Christ has accomplished in his life, death, and resurrection, the kingdom of God is here, present today, in our midst, Jesus said. But we're also looking forward to the consummation of God's kingdom, the new creation, and so we say that the kingdom is already and that it is also not yet.

Now, it is important for us to understand this, one, because I think it's just how the Bible speaks. Jesus talks about the kingdom of God here, now, present through his ministry, through the church, but it's also clear that we're looking forward to something. We're looking forward to the second coming of our Lord, to the finalized establishment, if you will, of the new creation where the whole world is glorified, where the kingdoms of this world are done away with. That's the best way to think about it. It's not that the kingdom of God is just something that's for the future, that we don't experience the power of God's kingdom now, and it's not that it's fully here today already.

No, there's still a lot that needs to happen. There's still the new creation, the resurrection of the dead in the life of the world to come, and so we're in that sort of already not yet space where we get to see the kingdom of God advancing and we pray for its fullness to come. Isn't that what Jesus taught us to pray? Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.

Bring the new creation, Jesus, and so we pray in that way. Thank you for that question, Eduardo. God bless. Thanks, Eduardo, and thanks for being a regular listener to Core Christianity. By the way, you can email us your question anytime.

Here's our email address. It's questions at corechristianity.com, and we're open to pretty much any question you might have about the Bible or the Christian life. We got this email from Eric, and he says, I'm wondering how I should express myself when I'm writing about the Bible. Passages in Timothy and Corinthians warn against clever words and departing from the straightforward teaching of the Bible. Does this mean it's wrong to say things in a memorable way? I consider myself as having something of a way with words, but I'm wondering if this is really legit. I don't want to go against God's word, but I also don't want to give up articulateness and saying things in a memorable way either.

Can you please help me? Yeah. I've wrestled with this myself because as a preacher, you're wanting to communicate in a way that's clear and also in a way that is going to keep people engaged, and they're going to be interested, and they're going to remember the things that you've said. But we also know that preaching is not supposed to be all about the preacher. You don't want people to walk away from your sermon and think, boy, he has just such a great way with words. The passage of scripture that you mentioned, I just want to read what Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. I think that this is key.

This is fundamental as you think about this. He says, when I came to you, brothers, chapter 2 verse 1 of 1 Corinthians, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom, for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. In other words, central to our preaching has to be the cross of Christ and the Gospel, so that people are walking away thinking, wow, God is powerful. My faith is in Him.

My faith is not in this individual, how entertaining they are, how well they can string words together. No, I'm walking away with the clear image, if you will, of Jesus Christ that's been placarded before me. It's what Paul said he did for the Galatians. He billboarded Jesus for them through the preaching. And that's what good preaching does.

It applies the law of God to the people, to the world, it convicts us of sin, and it also applies the balm of the Gospel, the hope that we have in Christ, the forgiveness of our sins, so that we leave thinking, Jesus is amazing. Not this person is amazing, but Jesus is amazing. Now, does that mean that your preaching should be incoherent?

Let's just try to take away everything, and no, no. I think it's still important to, if you want to use illustrations, I think that's helpful. I use illustrations in my preaching. You're wanting to communicate the word clearly, and you're wanting to help apply it to the people that you're preaching before. And so, ask God for wisdom.

Make sure that Christ and His cross is central, and communicate in ways that are understandable, ways that are clear, ways that draw people in and appeal to the needs in the community where you're serving, and apply Christ to the people there, preaching Jesus into the hearts of the people there. And may the Lord bless you as you do that. You know, Adriel, one of the things I've noticed about your preaching is you have a lot of illustrations about Mexican food. Yeah, yeah.

That's actually not true, Bill, but I do love Mexican food. Now, I got to try to think of some, you know, like, well, we were talking about the new creation earlier, and everybody knows that the new creation is going to be a huge taco bar, and it's going to be super good. So, there are, you know, applications, but I don't frequently make those kinds of illustrations in my sermons.

Okay. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We still have our phone lines open. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, you can give us a call at 833-843-2673.

That's 833, the core. You can also leave a voicemail on that number as well. Let's go to Linda in St. Louis, Missouri. Linda, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Hi, Adriel. I have a question. I was listening to a minister on TV, and he said that the angels today still have a choice, and I didn't believe that, but could you answer that question?

Yeah. Hey, thanks for that question, Linda, and thanks for listening to our broadcast. I don't see anything in Scripture that would indicate that angels are sort of going back and forth making a choice now. It seems to me that their number is set, and so you have angels that fell with Satan and who are currently wicked angels, demonic beings, and there's no repentance for them. There's no hope for them, and then the angels who are good. The author of the Hebrews refers to them as ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation. That's Hebrews 1, verse 14. We know that they minister for the sake of God's people.

That is, they come to our aid. We can't see it. I wonder if when we're in the presence of the Lord, when we're in heaven, we're just going to be shocked at how God used angels to strengthen us, to sustain us, to keep us, and to encourage us in our walk with the Lord. You can't see it, but Jesus even makes us clear in the Gospel of Matthew, in Matthew chapter 18, verse 10, when Jesus is talking about the little ones who believe in him. He says that their angels always see the face of the Father in heaven. This is sort of the closest proof text that you're going to get for this idea of guardian angels, if you will, but they serve, they guard, they protect. You see this throughout the Bible in the book of Genesis.

Not long ago, I was preaching through the situation of Sodom and Gomorrah, where God judged it, and you had angels that came and delivered a lot out of Sodom and Gomorrah, and so you have good angels and you have bad angels, and the good angels are sent out to minister for the sake of those who are going to inherit salvation. That's you and me, Linda, and so I don't see any warrant for what this pastor on TV was saying. The Scripture doesn't teach that anywhere, and so I think you're right for rejecting it. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Just a reminder, we have this great Bible study available on how to read the Bible. If you've just started reading the Bible for the very first time, man, this is a great resource that will really help you understand the Bible more clearly and then apply it to your life, and you can get it for a donation of twenty dollars or more by going to corechristianity.com forward slash bible.

Again, corechristianity.com forward slash bible. Well, let's go to a YouTube question that came in from one of our listeners. When is the right time to leave the church? Seems like this is a question that a lot of people have because we answered a very similar question earlier this week.

Well, here's what I'll say this time. It's the right time to leave a church when Jesus has left that church, and you'll get Revelation chapters two and three. You have these letters given to the seven churches there in Asia Minor. Jesus is speaking to them and calling them to repentance. Some of them were really going off the deep end the deep end in terms of what they believed and how they were living. Some of those churches, Jesus even threatened to close them down, to remove their lampstand.

Why? Because they were rejecting the truth. They were living in ways that were not honoring to the Lord. If a church has the name of church, I've said this before, just because it's called a church doesn't mean it's actually a church. It doesn't mean Jesus is present there. How do we know Jesus is present? Well, he's present by his word and spirit through the ordinances that he gave for the body of Christ. If you have a church that they get together and the word of God is not being faithfully taught, worship is not being conducted according to what Jesus said in his word, there's no accountability, they don't take sin seriously, those kinds of things, well then you really need to ask yourself the question, is Jesus here? If the word of Jesus isn't being preached and the presence of Christ is communicated to us through the word, through the ordinances, the sacraments, if those things aren't happening, then is Jesus here or is this just a fun sort of group of people?

They like to get together and maybe talk about moral issues and whatnot or have a nice sort of self-help talk that they hear that makes them feel good about themselves. If that's what it is, then I would say leave the church. Don't be a part of it, but if the word of God is being faithfully taught and you have sinners that are gathering there under the gospel seeking to grow together in the word, I would say strive to continue to be a part of that body, to grow together with the people there, to serve with the gifts that God has given to you.

Each of us are gifted by the Lord in unique ways. Paul makes this clear in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and that the church is healthy as each of us with the gifts that God has given to us are contributing to the building up of the body. You need the church and in a very real sense the church needs you, your gifts, the ways in which Jesus has gifted you specifically. If it's a faithful Bible teaching church where Christ is exalted, where sin is dealt with, where people are growing together, you may not like the style of music, they may not have all the programs that you enjoy or would like for them to have, but I would say stick it out and fight to grow together there under the word with other believers. God bless. By the way, we have a great core question on this topic, How Do I Choose a Church? You can find that at corechristianity.com forward slash downloads.

Just look for How Do I Choose a Church? Adriel, here's a question that came in via email from Kristen. She says, How do we know which son Abraham really took up to the mountain to sacrifice, Isaac or Ishmael? Why does Genesis 22 say, Take your only son to be sacrificed? That is why Muslims believe it to be Ishmael as he was the firstborn.

How can we be sure which scripture is correct? Yeah, well I mean I think that Genesis 22 and following, it's pretty clear that the son that was was taken up was Isaac. Let me just begin in verse 1 of chapter 22, After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am. He said, Take your son, your only son Isaac whom you love and go to the land of Moriah. So I mean right there it's identified, the son is identified as Isaac, but if your question is why is he called the only son when we know that before Isaac Abraham had Ishmael? Well it's because Isaac is the son of promise. Ishmael was the son that was born as a result of Abraham's relationship with Hagar. It was him trying to take God's promise into his own hands and God said, This is not the child through whom my promise is going to be carried.

The only son in whom that's going to happen is Isaac and ultimately through Isaac comes the son of God, Jesus, who died for the forgiveness of all of our sins. Thanks for listening to Core Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at CoreChristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together.