Thursday, April 01, 2010

Jim Cymbala on Authentic Preaching

I'm re-reading parts of Jim Cymbala's Fresh Power. I'd forgotten how good, and how prophetic, it was. Here's Cymbala on authentic "preaching."

"We have all seen preachers who fake emotion and put a tear in their voice. This is just an alternative form of stagecraft. Preachers should humbly present Jesus and then sink out of sight so people can get to Christ at the throne of grace. Instead, we often see preachers as the centerpiece of the action, directing attention to themselves, boastful, proud, and often using sacreligious gimmicks to feleece the sheep out of their money. This is all millions of miles from what God intended the preaching of the gospel to be." (Fresh Power, 61)

I hardly ever watch TV preaching. What little I have briefly watched has made me wish such nonsense was not on TV. Most of what I see on TV is a million miles from the Real Jesus. While there are some authentic preachers on TV, authentic preaching rarely catches the media's attention. I just want the real thing, avoidance of fakery, and God to be worshiped.