The Preachers’ Pledge
SermonCentral.com is encouraging preachers to take the following pledge:
I will make the Bible my primary resource in sermon preparation and preaching.
I may use other resources such as commentaries and web sites to enhance, not replace, my personal interaction with Scripture.
As I study I will strive to accurately understand and honestly apply God’s Word, allowing Him to uniquely proclaim His truth in a relevant way through me.
To go to the internet on Saturday for a sermon to preach on Sunday is simply cheating and stealing. You are stealing other people’s material and you are cheating yourself from the joys of studying the scriptures. You are cheating the congregation from listening to fresh information found from one’s own personal journey in the scriptures. Listening to a person preach another’s material is like eating cold leftovers. We want fresh spiritual food.
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. (James 3:1; ESV)
Do the work of preaching and teaching right, with joy and zeal, or don’t do it at all.