Churches need clear and precise teaching, not winsome personalities. More than anything else, preaching needs to be biblical and Spirit-empowered— preaching that rebukes, encourages, and edifies the church. When the church hears true preaching, it hears something supernatural—that is, the church hears from God Himself. True preaching is authoritative, corrective, edifying, and ultimately, sanctifying. 

Jeffrey D. Johnson is the teaching pastor of Grace Bible Church and president of Grace Bible Theological Seminary in Conway, Arkansas, where he resides with his wife, Letha, and their four children. He is the author of several books, including The Pursuit of Glory and The Absurdity of Unbelief.

The following article is adapted from The Church Bible Study.

Sadly, too many decide men to enter the ministry because pastoring sounds like a good career opportunity or because they don’t have any other good ideas of what they should do with their lives. Even worse, churches are too eager to call these types of pastoral candidates. Churches often choose a new pastor based upon his management skills, personality, looks, and charisma rather than on the biblical qualifications of personal godliness, doctrine, and his ability to handle the Word of God. Because of this, churches are full of unqualified pastors who haven’t been spiritually gifted or called of God.

Good preaching that nourishes souls includes both skill and spiritual gifting. A certain level of training and skill is needed to exposit the Word of God properly. It is amazing how many preachers lack the basic knowledge and ability to exegete a passage of Scripture properly and to give application without distorting the intended meaning of the passage. Sadly, many sermons coming from pulpits across the globe do not even come close to being an exposition of Scripture but resemble a self-help motivational speech with a few Bible verses sprinkled in for good measure. Furthermore, the lack of biblical and theological knowledge many of today’s pastors have is amazing.

Even more important than natural ability and biblical training, true preaching is accompanied by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. Much of today’s preaching is lacking in power. Sermons seem more like a discussion than an authoritative word from heaven.

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