Old Timey Preaching

I just got a CD of early Pentecostal Holiness preachers. This is great stuff. These messages were originally recorded between 1926 and 1941. I can’t help but think about the differences in preaching over the past 70-85 years. All of these old sermons were full of the need to be baptized and to be changed by the power of God. Above all, they were full of preaching about hell. I mean serious preaching. Sinners are going to hell. Liars are going to hell. Cheaters are going to hell. The list of those going to hell is extensive, of course that would coincide with the Bible. Narrow is the gate…

The other major difference I could hear was the freedom of the preachers. There was no hesitancy to say anything they were feeling. And… the people responded to it all. These preachers were dancing on peoples toes and they were shouting all the louder. Talk about empowering. It is politically correct in 2011 for the preacher to empower the people of God to live for Christ in a way that is comfortable for them. This is not the case everywhere obviously. But what would the church look like if that empowerment was reversed and the people of God empowered their pastor to preach WHATEVER he felt from God without fear of offending people or getting voted out at the next business meeting? From a small sampling of these 28 messages I can’t help but think we’d be much better off setting our preachers free to preach as the Lord leads. And we have that authority. For whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Matt 18:18). Why don’t we loose our pastors today and let them PREACH!

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