John Wesley along with George Whitfield were pioneers in field preaching. This was preaching, not to the rich and educated, not even inside the church. Their preaching was delivered to the poor, the laborers, in poor and uneducated neighborhoods. Yet, examine the depth and coverage of their sermons and countless messages. Even the educated people of today, many cannot really comprehend their teaching, and I believe I have found the reason why.
These pastors I mentioned above, NEVER assumed that their congregations were not intelligent nor were they uneducated despite what they see. So, they never prepared "simple" sermons, or simplified sermons or even inspirational sermons like many preachers today. Yet, they were the reason why people who have turned over their lives to Christ through their ministries had a level of comprehension of the things of the Spirit that was way beyond the average person even from the popular churches of their day.
I believe that the profoundness of their messages is one great reason why people were easily drawn towards home bible studies and extra sessions throughout the week outside of the regular church service. They spent more time with hermeneutics (Bible interpretation) than they did with theology (philosophical foundations). The sermons were so profound that that the listeners wanted to search for the deeper meanings behind the message of the preacher. The people just WANTED TO KNOW MORE about this Jesus whom Wesley preached.
People today do not hunger and thirst to learn the word of God because many of the sermons today are too simple and inspirational that people leave with the false assumption that since they understood the "simple" or simplified message, in their minds, there is nothing more to learn from the Bible! Who made them think this way? The preacher! Since they are now implicitly encouraged by the preacher to have simple minds and simple thinking, they have a "feel good" experience instead of a deep conviction of the Spirit. By conviction we mean, the unsaved are drawn to Christ and the saved hunger and thirst after righteousness. And because the messages do not have enough substance to chew on, the people leave the worship service thinking they got the point, and mostly getting the point is more intellectual than spiritual and so the heart was not moved by the word and very little transformation takes place, if at all!
Wesley and Whitfield preached with the anointing power of the Holy Spirit. They had very little marketing or advertising of their events or sermons. Just basic word-of-mouth. Yet they drew thousands toward their preaching. They spent less planning and more praying before any of their deliveries. They believed that they needed the Spirit's presence MORE THAN the right words and terminologies to put into their sermons. After that, and this may shock many pastors today, they spend more energy believing what God will do than praying for what God has already promised he will do! Yet, not only were their sermons too profound for the understanding of today, history shows that the Spirit was present, hearts were convicted and lives turned over completely to Jesus, churches were formed and the people of God flourished!!!
Because of their example, the people hungered to have the same experience and to know the same God they prayed to for the same power, the power of the resurrection. History shows that people congregated together for prayer, even overnight or days at a time, and the "baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire" promised by John the Baptizer in the gospels and demonstrated at Pentecost in Acts 2. Revivals ensued and churches were planted and flourished.
Today, preachers show or speak so little about miracles and answered prayer. It is no wonder that prayer meetings today turn up only a few people and most of prayers focus on self-centered needs instead of desiring the power of the Spirit and the expansion of the kingdom. There is very little in their church and in the preaching that makes them believe that they have a powerful God and even just the name of Jesus drives away demons and heals the sick, or better yet, frees them from the dominion and power of sin so as to experience full sanctification, the "abundant life" the experience of the true filling of the Holy Spirit with the manifestation of charisma (the gifts of the Spirit) instead of just human talent.
There is no other formula or pattern that we can study to emulate these people other than to follow their example in the same way that St. Paul instructed the "weakling pastor" Timothy to do so. Today, pastors attend seminars and training and we come up with more education than the power of the Spirit and all they really need to know is follow the example of anointed people and do what they did and risk what they risked in order to " to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead." as St. Paul expressed in Philippians 3:10,11.
Finally, evangelism in church preaching, is not biblical. In fact, it shows more desperation about bringing people to God than it shows faith in the Lord of the Church. Preaching in church should always be addressed to the elect of God if it is intended for "equipping the saints" and if it comes with true conviction and power, the elect are responsible to lead the unsaved to Christ. The reason evangelism is done as a sermon demonstrates that the congregation is totally unequipped to fulfill the Great Commission. The Great Commission tells pastors to disciple people bringing them into full knowledge of the love of God and the rest of Scripture tells the elect, like St. Stephen who was just a deacon and not a pastor, to be Christ and Christ-like to everyone inside or outside the church.
St. Francis of Assisi understood Matthew 5:16 and John 15 completely when he said,
"Preach the gospel and, if necessary, use words".
People are drawn to Christ not by words but only when they see the "good works" of kingdom people. By good works, Scripture declares and means, Christ-likeness and the power of the Spirit evident in their lifestyle.
Francis Shaeffer once said that if he had only one hour to share Christ with a fellow passenger on the train, he would spend 45 minutes talking about sin, righteousness and judgment (the BAD news) and the last 15 minutes sharing the gospel (the GOOD new). The present emphasis of preachers today is 99% gospel and only 1% about sin, righteousness and judgment, if they even have the courage to do so.
Pastors, do we have this today? Yes read Scripture, but read church history too because that is the Acts 29 of the New Testament. The true people of God, whom you may be leading and pastoring, are still in the process of WRITING SCRIPTURE HISTORY.
Pastors, your comments, positive or negative are quite welcome...
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