This week a report was released about gross and horrifying mishandling of sex abuse allegations by the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) Executive Committee. Frankly, I find this report incredibly disheartening. I can’t imagine the pain of these victims and how it tainted their view of God and His Church.

Preaching is explaining and applying the Bible. The Bible calls us to “preach the word” (2 Timothy 4:2). We need to read the Bible, but sitting at home alone reading it is not sufficient for a healthy spiritual life. Every Christian needs the preaching of God’s Word. Therefore, we need a renewed understanding of preaching as a spiritual discipline or a means of grace. Spiritual disciplines are biblical habits that promote spiritual growth. These biblical habits are how God pours out his grace in order to conform us to the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29). If preaching is a means of grace, how can everyday Christians be equipped through listening to the preaching of God’s Word?

Preaching is explaining and applying the Bible. From Genesis to Revelation we see that communication of God’s Word leads to life. In fact, the biblical model of someone experiencing new life and being born again is through the avenue of the preaching of God’s Word. Therefore, the Bible itself calls us to “preach the word” (2 Timothy 4:2). We need to read the Bible, but sitting at home alone reading it is not sufficient for a healthy spiritual life. Every Christian needs the preaching of God’s Word. Therefore, we need a renewed understanding of preaching as a means of grace.

If the Bible comes from inside God and is thus truthful and useful to equip us for good works, then what should we do with it? 2 Timothy 4:2 says we are to “preach the word.” We are to proclaim or herald the good news of the Bible. It is truth and it teaches us how to live faithfully. We should urgently tell the world what it teaches. People need to know, therefore the church has a mission to “preaching the word.” But, what does preaching really mean?

It is common to wonder about the role of sermons in the lives of everyday Christians. Why do pastors spend so much time preparing a weekly sermon? Wouldn’t it be better if he spent more time in meetings with teams of leaders, counseling the hurting, building relationships with visitors, or discipling young believers?

When we are in pain over what has happened to us, we need hope for a better future. We need hope in the Lord that things will not always be as they are. 1 Peter 1:13 explains we are to acknowledge the realities of this broken world, but also hope in the world that is to come. It reads, “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Genesis 1:26 says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’”

God has created all humans in his image. Therefore, all people, no matter their race, are equal in their dignity. Biblically, it can be argued that different races, nations, and cultures begin as a curse at the Tower of Babel. However, the Bible also celebrates diversity because God promises to bless the nations, the Church is called to evangelize and disciple the nations, and all ethnicities and nations are represented in Heaven…

Last year a group at our church quietly formed what we called a Diversity Study Group. Our prayer was to have some honest and healing conversations…

The Deacon office was established in Acts 6:1-6. It helps us understand the nature of the Deacon ministry.

(1) Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. (2) And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. (3) Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. (4) But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” (5) And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. (6) These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.” (Acts 6:1-6)

Who are Deacons? They are faithful brothers and sisters. What do they do? They serve. Let’s look at their ministry of service, why it is important, and how their ministry relates to the Elder’s ministry.