I love to preach.  God called me to preach.  For the last 13 years of my life, I’ve had the wonderful privilege of serving on staff at Mud Creek Baptist Church.  We have one of the greatest preachers in America (in my humble opinion), filling our pulpit on Sundays and Wednesdays – Dr. Greg Mathis.  As a result, I don’t get a chance to preach weekly, but I did get to supply at our second service yesterday.  I’m certainly not an expert, but I do have some thoughts on the importance of preaching.

First, preaching is important because it is communicating what God has said.  When a preacher stands in the pulpit, he’s not there to give his opinion, but to say “thus says the Lord.”  Power in preaching comes through the Word of God and through the Holy Spirit.  As a result, taking the time in preparation to learn, understand, explain, and apply what God has SAID is a tremendously important task for the preacher.  In ministry, I think its actually one of the hardest things I do – making sure that I interpret Scripture accurately.

Second, preaching is important because of the time invested.  A word of insight from Dr. Kenneth Ridings that I’ve never forgotten.  He said, “When you preach, you’re not just taking up 30 minutes of time.  Your taking up 30 minutes of time multiplied by ever person hearing you.”  So, there were probably about 700 people or so in our second service yesterday .  700 people times 30 minutes is 350 hours of time that I took up yesterday in the second service at our church. Dr. Riding’s reminder is a somber challenge to be prepared and ready when we stand to preach.  I try to take the investment of time seriously to prepare, understand, and communicate what God has SAID.