-14 differences between motivational speaking and preaching of the gospel.
Preaching of the gospel is God's method of communicating His message.
You know Jesus was the preacher, so was apostle Paul.
Preaching has a great power and potential
and capacity to bring about change in individuals, institutions and societies.
And preaching is one of the most effective ways of winning people to Jesus Christ.
Historically, preaching has become the principal means
of leading, teaching and feeding the church of God.
But today we are living in the age and time of motivational speakers.
Instagram is filled with sound bites of inspirational videos.
Facebook has trending content from public figures
who inspire and motivate us to be better humans.
That's a good thing.
But preaching is more than motivational speech.
We are called to go into all the world and preach the gospel,
In Mark 16:15
Not just to inspire people to do better.
Or to motivate them to feel better
And so these are 14 differences.
Some of them I came up with.
Some of them I borrowed from other people,
as I was teaching our younger people concerning preaching
and our team.
I shared them with them,
and I would like to share this with you as well.
Number one is motivational speaking tends to be men-centered
and people pleasing.
Preaching is Christ-centered and God honoring.
Everything about motivational speaking is about men.
Everything about preaching is about Christ.
Number two is motivational speaking requires charisma,
preaching requires anointing of the Holy Spirit.
So you have to be a gifted communicator
to be a motivational speaker.
But you have to be anointed by the Holy Spirit to be a preacher of the gospel.
Number three,
motivational speaking influences emotions in direction of self-actualization.
of self-actual actual actualization.
(It tells you I'm not super gifted.)
Motivational speaking influences emotion in the direction of self-discovery.
Preaching influences the soul in the direction of godliness.
Really in self-denial.
so everything in motivation is about you discovering yourself,
you being actualized.
But the preaching of the gospel is about godliness,
denying yourself and picking up your cross.
Number four,
preaching is about the cross and the kingdom of God.
Motivational speaking is about our works and about our life.
Everything about motivational speaking,
and I'm not against it,
there's some awesome videos on motivational speakers.
But a lot of preachers they would watch that they're like,
"Man, I just want to be like TED Talk speaker.
I just want to be like one of those you know,
speakers on Facebook and Instagram."
But you're a preacher of the gospel
and your center message is not people's feelings and works,
it's the cross and the kingdom.
Number five,
preaching proclaims the good message
the gospel message, the good message of Jesus's death
resurrection,
for our salvation.
Motivational speaking might tag on the sinner's prayer,
at the end, of how to message.
So motivational speaking is really how to messages.
They would put a little tag at the end, of a sinner's prayer.
But the preaching of the gospel,
it really centers on Jesus' death,
on Jesus' resurrection,
and then His second coming as the center message of the preaching.
Number six,
preaching produces a holy awe of God,
and a deep hunger for His word.
Motivational speaking tends to be light,
fun,
humorous,
and entertaining.
Number seven,
it's a show time when the motivational speaker steps to the podium.
But it's a flow time when the preacher steps forward.
Meaning it's a time for the Holy Spirit to flow.
It's the time for God to move.
It's the time for the presence of God to come.
Number eight,
preaching freely discusses hell, heaven, and the eternity of the soul.
Motivational speaking never addresses hell.
It addresses hustle,
getting happy,
and reaching your goals.
Motivational speaking will never address the issues of eternity,
the wrath of God,
or those topics that are included in the whole counsel of God.
Number nine,
preaching is like salt.
Motivational speaking is like sugar.
When people listen to God's word, they want more of God.
When people listen to motivational speaking,
they want more of the motivational speaker.
Sugar creates an appetite for more sugar.
Salt creates an appetite for water.
Number 10,
preacher presents God as a goal.
Motivational speaker offers God as a means for people to reach their goals.
Meaning the goal is happiness,
the goal is health, wealth,
the goal is good life,
and God is just a means to help you reach those goals.
But preaching makes God as the goal.
Number 11,
preaching brings heart transformation
but motivational speeches simply affect and focus on behavior modification .
So we don't need behavior modification.
We don't need these external changes.
We need internal changes.
And that could be done by the preaching of the gospel.
Number 13 or number 12,
preaching is an act of impartation.
Motivational speaking is simply an inspiration.
There's an impartation that takes place when you listen to a preacher.
An impartation of whatever he carries.
The grace of God upon his life.
You begin to carry that.
When you simply listen to a motivational speaker,
you leave inspired.
When you listen to a preaching, you leave impacted and imparted.
Something is imparted into your spirit.
You'll be pregnant spiritually.
13.
Preacher works more on his soul than his sermon.
Motivational speaker always works more on his speeches than his spirit.
And this is a big deal breaker between a preacher and a speaker.
If you're just a motivational speaker,
you will always work more on your content than on you.
A preacher works more on his life and his heart
and his walk with God,
and he works on his sermon.
14.
Preacher feeds on the Bible
motivational speaker will only read the Bible to find a sermon.
Meaning, you will only use the Bible,
you will not feed on the Bible.
And that's the difference between the preacher and the motivational speaker.
We see,
Paul tells Timothy,
he says,
"Watch your life and doctrine closely."
"Persevere in them."
"Because if you do,
you will both save yourself and those who hear you."
1 Timothy 4:16
And I paraphrased the later part of that verse.
I want you to notice that Paul says to Timothy to watch his life closely.
He talks about Timothy's life before he talks about Timothy's doctrine.
And why is that?
Because it's easier to present messages that are doctrinally correct,
than to live a holy life.
But both are necessary for the life of a preacher
and the speaker of the gospel.
If a minister is living in the flesh,
by intentionally feeding his sinful nature or sinful mindset,
his messenges will not be saturated,
or dripping with the grace of God.
They will not be spirit-filled
and they will not produce hunger in people for God.
You don't need to walk in the Holy Spirit to be a motivational speaker.
But you can't be a preacher of the gospel without walking in the Holy Spirit.
If we want our preaching to change lives,
we have to allow God's word to change us.
Charles Spurgeon said,
"Visit many books but live in the Bible."
If you as a preacher,
do not feed yourself on God's word,
you will not produce hunger in others for God's word.
You will slip into being a motivational speaker who inspires
but who doesn't produce change.
Because the Holy Spirit's grace will be lifted,
and you will simply operate on your gift,
and your ability to connect,
humor,
entertain,
and keep people engaged.
Love for the things of this world,
will not produce hunger for God in people,
and also in those who will later on listen to us.
D. L. Moody said,
"This book will keep me from sin,
and the sin will keep me from this book."
I pray today God will give us fresh hunger for His word.
And I pray today that our preachers, myself included,
will become preachers of the gospel,
instead of simply following the trends of this world
and being motivational speakers.
When people come to our churches,
they are dead in their sins.
They need resurrecting power to bring them back to life.
They don't need a funny sermon,
I'm not against jokes,
I'm not against humor.
But they need the power of resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And they need Jesus preached,
Jesus glorified,
and we as preachers to draw them closer to Christ.
That afterwards they feel hunger for God.
Not just, "Hey, I like this guy.
I want to come back and listen to him."
God bless you.
For those of you who are listening,
I want you to tag your pastor.
Send this to your leader.
Send this to your pastor.
Not as a condemnation but just as an encouragement.
And if your pastor is the preacher,
you know, send this to him and say,
"Hey, I thank God for your life.
That you are the preacher of the gospel.
And I appreciate you staying true to that calling."
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God bless you
until the next time.