{"id":437,"date":"2013-05-22T20:29:33","date_gmt":"2013-05-22T18:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/?p=437"},"modified":"2014-11-25T12:37:05","modified_gmt":"2014-11-25T10:37:05","slug":"seven-preaching-topics-you-should-repeat-often","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/?p=437","title":{"rendered":"SEVEN PREACHING TOPICS YOU SHOULD REPEAT OFTEN"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Seven Preaching Topics You Should Repeat Often<\/h1>\n

Joe McKeever\u00a0Date Published:<\/strong> 5\/22\/2013<\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/div>\n
Don’t be afraid of repeating yourself. Repetition is the mother of learning — and sometimes a pastor’s best friend.<\/div>\n
\n
\"Email<\/a><\/div>\n
Email this article<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"Print<\/a><\/div>\n
Print Friendly<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cTherefore I remind you to stir up the gift that is in you\u2026.\u201d <\/em>(II Timothy 1:6)<\/p>\n

\u201cOf these things put them in remembrance\u2026.\u201d<\/em> (II Timothy 2:14).<\/p>\n

Recently I spent the morning hours in a school in North Carolina giving my little presentation we call \u201cLessons in self-esteem from drawing 100,000 people.\u201d I sketch a lot of students, then segue into the talk which, among other things, urges the kids to stop comparing themselves with others, accept themselves as the persons God made them to be and to smile. Then it happened again.<\/p>\n

Only five minutes after the talk, we invited the students to crowd around, and I would sketch as many as possible in the remaining time. \u201cLook at me and smile,\u201d I said to the first teenager. \u201cI don\u2019t smile,\u201d he said. I stopped, looked at him sternly and said, \u201cYou didn\u2019t hear a thing I said, did you?\u201d<\/p>\n

In truth, he had heard, but the lesson had not penetrated.<\/p>\n

I said to the young teacher, \u201cMy telling the students these things once is not enough for them to get through. The only way to change their behavior is for you to say it over and over again. Eventually the lesson will \u2018take\u2019 with some of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some lessons have to be repeated ad infinitum.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me remind you \u2026\u201d is a phrase that shows up a lot in the epistles of the Apostle Paul.<\/p>\n

The most important spiritual truths need to be emphasized again and again if the hearers are to truly learn them and benefit from them.<\/p>\n

Here are seven biblical truths we pastors need to keep telling our people in the hope that eventually most will \u201cget it.\u201d\u00a0(The list is not meant to be exhaustive. You\u2019ll think of other essential truths that need hammering home again and again.)<\/p>\n

1. Jesus Christ Is The Savior Of The World And The Only Savior.<\/h2>\n

That is the theme of so much Scripture anyway, isn\u2019t it? How could we not keep the focus on the Lord Jesus \u2014 His identity, His life and ministry, His teachings, His headship over the church and His place in our lives \u2014 if we are being true to the Word?<\/p>\n

Pastor, keep telling them \u2014 over and over again, the theme never wears out \u2014 \u201dwhy we make so much of Jesus.\u201d Recently, a man here in North Carolina (where I\u2019m in revival) told of the state legislature voting to make a certain Baptist preacher their chaplain, then firing him when he refused to take \u201cIn Jesus\u2019 name\u201d out of his prayers. And they call this perversion \u201cinclusiveness.\u201d Go figure. (Note: Many a New Testament prayer did not use the actual words \u201cin Jesus\u2019 name,\u201d and we should not feel ours must always, either. However, tell me that I must leave Jesus out of the prayer and I\u2019m gone.)<\/p>\n

Jesus Christ is Lord, for now and for eternity, and no one else is. Always stay focused on the Lord Jesus with your people.<\/p>\n

2. The Church Is An Essential Part Of The Lord\u2019s Plan, For Now And Forever.<\/h2>\n

And we are most definitely not referring just to your local congregation. As important as that is \u2014 this will come as a surprise to a lot of lonely myopic pastors\u2014the Kingdom of God is more than your church.<\/p>\n

When Jesus saved you, He knew something you were about to find out:\u00a0\u201cYou cannot live this new life in isolation. You need the family of God.\u201d\u00a0They hold onto you; you hold onto them. They instruct and nurture you; you turn around and do the same. This symbiosis has been God\u2019s plan from early on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will build my church,\u201d<\/em> the Lord said in Matthew 16:18. It\u2019s His and He builds it. The Christ-follower who claims to be able to live for Christ better without the church is insulting His Lord. The church-leader who would run the Lord\u2019s church \u201cfor Him\u201d is asking for big trouble fast.<\/p>\n

3. Salvation Is All About The Cross.<\/h2>\n

Salvation is not by works of righteousness but humility, repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and what He did on Calvary.<\/p>\n

The threat to turn salvation into a matter of works will never go away. It\u2019s grounded in man\u2019s way of thinking, his human (and thus self-centered) reasoning. To my knowledge, most of the religions of the world teach variations of \u201cdo this and you\u2019re saved\u201d or \u201cdo not do this and you are saved.\u201d Only one, to my knowledge, proclaims that everything necessary has already been done and our task is to repent and receive it (\u201cHim\u201d).<\/p>\n

When people tell me they believe their good works will get them to Heaven, I ask, \u201cThen what was the point of the cross? If all God had to do was tell us \u2018Y\u2019all be good now, hear?\u2019 then He sure went to a lot of trouble for nothing by sending Jesus into this world to die on a cross for our sins.\u201d (They have no answer since they have never given these things the first thought. If you need further evidence of man\u2019s sinful heart, there it is.)<\/p>\n

Celebrate the grace of God, preacher, with your people. Keep them at the cross.<\/p>\n

4. We Are Not Saved By Good Works, But Saved \u201cUnto\u201d God Works. (Ephesians 2:10)<\/h2>\n

Good works have a definite place in the plan of God for His people. But they are the results\u2014the fruits, the evidence\u2014of our salvation, not the means. One wishing to become a member of the military does not do so by wearing a uniform and saluting officers. But once he is officially inducted, he wears the uniform, obeys commands and salutes officers.<\/p>\n

What good works does the Lord want to see in our lives? Scripture answers that again and again in places like Micah 6:8, Jeremiah 22:16 and of course, Matthew 25:35-36. I enjoy telling Harold Bales\u2019 story of the time his church in uptown Charlotte, NC, was bringing in the homeless from the park across the street and feeding them breakfast before the morning worship service. A woman who had belonged to that church for generations and resented the presence of the unwashed in their services approached Pastor Harold one Sunday and said, \u201cPastor, why do we have to have those people in our church?\u201d He said, \u201cBecause I don\u2019t want to see anyone go to hell.\u201d She said, \u201cWell, I don\u2019t want them to go to hell, either.\u201d He said, \u201cI\u2019m not talking about them. I\u2019m talking about you.\u201d<\/p>\n

5. If You Have Faith, You Will Pray.<\/h2>\n

In fact, nothing tells the story about your faith like your prayer life. Nothing.<\/p>\n

Consider that you are praying to a Lord you have never seen and cannot prove. You say things to Him you would say to no one else and believe that He hears. Furthermore\u2014and this is the clincher\u201490 percent of the requests you make, you\u2019ll never know whether He answered them or not since He may choose to do so in subtle ways or at another time. But there you go, praying to Him day after day, as though He were occupying the chair next to you and everything you do today is dependent on His presence and guidance.<\/p>\n

It is.<\/p>\n

Pastors keep prayer before their people by encouraging them to pray at the altar during the services, by having a prayer room at the church and by encouraging prayer for specific people, needs, events and concerns.<\/p>\n

6. A Church Exists By Evangelism And Missions As A Fire Exists By Burning.<\/h2>\n

Sharing our faith is not an option, not for the gifted only (although admittedly some are more fluent and effective than others in this), and not to be done sporadically.\u00a0\u201cAs you go, make disciples\u201d<\/em> was the command of our Lord in Matthew 28:18ff.<\/p>\n

I stood in the foyer of a church of another denomination one day, reading their poster on evangelism. (You do not need my help in identifying the denomination by what follows.) The poster said something like, \u201cSpread the word. Tell people about John Wesley.\u201d I thought,\u00a0Wesley? Tell them about Wesley? That\u2019s not evangelism!<\/em> That\u2019s the sort of in-house instruction one might wish to do with those who have been converted to United Methodism. But it\u2019s no way to reach the unchurched, uncommitted or uninterested.<\/p>\n

Churches must be creative in finding ways to mobilize their members in spreading the faith, must be aggressive in supporting those who are getting it right and doing it well, and must be alert to the distractions which would push evangelism down the list of priorities in the church\u2019s ministries.<\/p>\n

7. The Bible Is The Inspired Word Of God And The Spiritual Nutrition Of Believers.<\/h2>\n

If you thought other church programs would crowd evangelism off the agenda, know that life has a way of pushing God\u2019s Word out of the minds of believers.\u00a0 The process seems to be the same for everyone, and works like this …<\/p>\n

You go a few days without reading your Bible, and soon you find yourself resisting the inner urge to get back to it. The more you cave in to that laziness that resents picking up the Word and opening it, the more you will find yourself saying (or thinking, or both): \u201cI\u2019ve read the Bible. I know it already. There\u2019s nothing new there. It\u2019s boring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those are all lies out of hell. You do not know the Bible. You have not read it. (You may have read \u201cat\u201d it, but there is a world of content there which you have not yet mined.) It is not boring. You are boring, not the Word.<\/p>\n

Job said,\u00a0\u201cI have esteemed the words of thy mouth more than my necessary food.\u201d<\/em> Jesus said,\u00a0\u201cMan shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.\u201d<\/em> David said the godly man\u2019s \u201cdelight is in the Word of God and in that Word (law) doth he meditate day and night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keep telling them, pastor. Keep preaching its insights and delighting in its treasures, and eventually they will get it.<\/p>\n

Repetition is a great teacher. In fact, it may be the best teacher on the planet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\"Joe<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

Joe McKeever<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
JoeMcKeever.com<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
\n

Dr. Joe McKeever<\/strong> is a preacher, cartoonist and the retired Director of Missions for the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans. Currently he loves to serve as a speaker\/pulpit fill for revivals, prayer conferences, deacon trainings, leadership banquets and other church events. Visit him and enjoy his insights on nearly 50 years of ministry atJoeMcKeever.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.sermoncentral.com\/pastors-preaching-articles\/joe-mckeever-seven-preaching-topics-you-should-repeat-often-1582.asp?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=scnewsletter&utm_content=SC+Update+20130522<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seven Preaching Topics You Should Repeat Often Joe McKeever\u00a0Date Published: 5\/22\/2013 Don’t be afraid of repeating yourself. Repetition is the mother of learning — and sometimes a pastor’s best friend. Email this article Print Friendly \u201cTherefore I remind you to stir up the gift that is in you\u2026.\u201d (II Timothy 1:6) \u201cOf these things put […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artikels"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}