It amazes me that there are people who claim they love God but don’t want to hear His word preached any longer than 30 minutes. That they truly believe they can love the Lord with all their heart and put limits on their interactions with him. When the truth is those who love God do not see the things of God as a burden.
1 John 5:3 (ESV)
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
I truly do thank God that my pastor has not given in to today’s culture and started to preach shorter messages. That his focus on is not on time or pleasing people but solely on pleasing the Lord by delivering all that God has laid on his heart. Not to mention the fact that every message I have heard preached that goes only 30 minutes seems to never go very far. It starts to get good and then immediately ends.
More important than my opinions about 30 minutes sermons falling flat. This is not the time for less church. If there was a time for more church it would be now. The Bible tells us that in the last days we should not neglect our coming together as some do but should get together as a church body even more.
Hebrews 10:25 (ESV)
25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
I must also say that I am glad my pastor does limit his sermons because they build my faith more every minute. Scripture tells us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Preaching is the means by which we hear the word and it is what builds our faith.
It should also come as no surprise that faith has diminished year over year when the amount of time in church has done the same. We know that faith comes by hearing and hearing from the word of God. Less preaching every week means there is less faith being built. But praise God that is not the case in my church.
Romans 10:17 (ESV)
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
You may assume that I am speaking about a pastor who is presiding over a small church. One that hasn’t seen growth in years because he is unwilling to preach in the window people want. But that simply is not the case.
Our churches, yes we actually have two locations, welcome new visitors, every week, and they often return the following week. Our main campus moved into our new building, which seats about 800, around two years ago with ample room to spare. Now we find ourselves running out of space once again and preparing to enter the next phase of expansion.
I believe the growth we have seen truly lies in the willingness of my pastor and our whole church body to honor God with our time. We choose to spend more time with Him while others are spending less and less. Our church embodies the statement made by David in the psalms when he said he was glad when it was time to go to the house of the Lord. In fact, many are so glad to be at church sometimes it’s hard to get them to leave after service.
Psalm 122:1 (ESV)
1 I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord!”
Culture can keep it’s shorter 30 minute or less sermons. I choose to stay in a church that loves to spend time in the house of the Lord and loves the preached word. I will always think God for a pastor who preaches without the worry of a time constraint and who does not get tossed around by every new preaching trend.
Ephesians 4:14 (ESV)
14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
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