Be Amazed

FRESH Official Podcast

I don’t know how many church services you’ve sat through in your life but I’ve lost count. It all began for me as a young child. Sitting still for an hour was excruciating. The guy droning on up front bored me witless.

Okay, so I was a child and a lot of that was probably down to my immaturity. But these days, with hi-tech at our fingertips, with all the Christian teaching that we now have access to … man, there’s still a lot of powerless preaching going on out there.

Some of it is that droning that we’ve all heard; some of it … well, the preacher may be yelling or tickling our ears with things we want to hear, but there’s no power in it to transform our lives. And yet, there’s nothing new in that.

Mark 1:21,22 Jesus and his followers went to Capernaum. On the Sabbath day, Jesus went into the synagogue and taught the people. They were amazed at his teaching. He did not teach like their teachers of the law. He taught like someone with authority.

What’s the point of preaching – have you ever wondered? The point is to get the life-changing, eternity-up-ending Word of God into our hearts. The point is for our lives to be transformed. The point is to enable us to lay down our lives, take up our cross, and follow Jesus. That’s the point, so seek out preaching that has that effect on you.

Look, if you don’t want to be challenged, to have your life turned on its head, go play golf on Sunday mornings instead. But if you’re serious, you don’t need vacuous teachers of the law. You need someone who teaches with authority … like Jesus.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.