Where Does Your Pastor Get His Message?

I used to wonder where pastors got their message. I wondered if they were going in a certain order through the scriptures. Did they read something during the week? Did they need to be great writers or have a lot to say? Where did it all come from any way?

I really hope your pastor gets his message from God. I hope he presents the message each week that God has for that particular week for that particular flock. Although God has a universal message for His church, God also speaks to the individual flocks according to their needs.

If you have ever opened your Bible and that verse you read a hundred times in the past spoke to you differently that day because of a need in your life, that is what I mean. You may have understood it more clearly because you were able to apply it to you life more fully. God gave you what you needed at that time.

Have you ever been talking to someone and you referenced a verse of scripture or maybe just something that is taught in scripture and the person you were talking to commented that they were wondering about that just the other day. That was not a coincidence. That’s the Holy Spirit working.

Just like the Holy Spirit speaks to our hearts, He speaks to pastors much the same way. When a need arises that needs addressing, the Holy Spirit will give a pastor both the scripture and the particular message that goes with it. The pastor may or may not be aware of the specific need, but God knows.

I hope you have not ever thought that the pastor tailored his message to offend you by preaching his opinion from the pulpit. I hope that you found his message based in the Word. Part of what Paul told Titus was the following:

But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.
Titus 2:1-6

These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.
Titus 2:15

Although a preacher can exhort, they are not always called to do that. There’s a lot of room in there for a preacher to step on your toes. If your preacher is preaching the Word, it’s not your preacher that is doing the offending. It’s the Word of God. When the Word offends us, it is usually because we need to face the sin in our life.

LIFE APPLICATION

Today’s challenge is to take a closer look at yourself when your pastor steps on your toes. Check out that scripture he referenced. When you apply God’s Word to your life, what does that look like?

Before you get upset with your pastor for preaching it, and before you assume your friends ratted you out, consider the message to have been from God.

What then will you do with that?