The Preacher the Church Needs

What kind of man does the church need to be their preacher?

1. He must be a man who loves God.

First and foremost, the preacher must love the Lord. He must love the Lord so much, that when there is no motivation to preach from the human standpoint, he will still be motivated to proclaim the great gospel of God. If the preacher has a strong love for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, he will aim to do the will of God, and the commandments of God will not be burdensome (1 John 5:3).

2. He must be a man who loves people.

I once heard a young man say that he wanted to be a doctor because he did not want to have to deal with the common people. That made me laugh! What did this boy think doctors are supposed to do? The church is like a spiritual hospital. The hospital needs a good doctor. Jesus is the great physician because he cares for us and has the remedy for our sin. Preachers must want to save and heal souls. When preacher sees a person, he should see God's child. To him, there are only two kinds of people: Christians and potential Christians.

3. He must be a man of the book.

A preacher is a Bible man. Perhaps Paul's greatest statement or instruction to the young preacher, Timothy was simply - "Preach the word!" (2 Tim. 4:2). People cannot worship or have a relationship with a God that they do not know. The God of heaven has left his greatest information about himself in the pages of the Bible. His character is found there. His will is found there. His plan is found there. People desperately need to know the God of the Bible. There is no other God.

4. He must be approachable.

The greatest downfall of preachers over the years has been that when they leave the pulpit they don't know what else to do. Your preacher should also be able to be your best friend. You should be able to relax with him and tell him anything and see him as your closest relative. Young preachers need to know that the majority of their ministry will have nothing to do with public speaking. It will be about caring, building relationships, and genuinely loving people and the church. Preachers are not meant to have authority, that is where the elders come in. They simply need to be the kind of men that every person wants to know and love.

"And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will." ~ 2 Timothy 2:24-26