"Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine." — 2 Timothy 4:2
Paul's charge to Timothy reads like a job description for every preacher who has ever lived.
Preach the word. Not your opinions. Not the latest cultural trend. Not what the crowd wants to hear. The word. The whole word. Nothing but the word.
Be instant in season, out of season. Preach when it is popular and when it is not. Preach when the church is full and when it is empty. Preach when they say amen and when they walk out.
I stood in that pulpit at Northside Community Church and felt the weight of every preacher who stood there before me. The wood was worn smooth by hands that had gripped it through hard sermons. I was just the latest voice in a long line of voices saying the same ancient truth.
Reprove. Rebuke. Exhort. Three words we do not like. We want to skip to 'exhort' — the encouraging part. But Paul puts reprove and rebuke first. Because love tells the truth, even when the truth stings.
With all longsuffering and doctrine. Not with anger. Not with arrogance. With patience. With teaching. The goal is never to win an argument; it is to win a soul.
Here is what I have learned about preaching: the sermon that changes lives is rarely the clever one. It is the faithful one. The one where the preacher got out of the way and let the Word do the work.
Seasons change. Culture shifts. Opinions evolve. But the Word remains. Preach it in season. Preach it out of season. Just preach it.
I am a preacher of the Word.
You are a preacher of the Word.
We are preachers of the Word.