In this video, Augustus Nicodemus Lopes explains how a love for God’s Word can be cultivated in local churches.
If pastors preach the Bible with passion, clarity, and brevity, the pastor will make the congregation love God’s Word. If you just preach your experiences and just give them your ideas, that won’t work. They may fall in love with you but not with God’s Word.
So if the preacher expounds the Bible and teaches his people how to read the Bible, to interpret the Bible, and to obey the Bible, then they will learn to love God’s Word and God’s work as well.
I think that the lack of expository preaching today is the root of all evil in the churches. You don’t teach them how to interpret and how to love the Bible. The pulpit is central to that. We have just one hour, two hours at the most, with them during the week, and the rest of the time they are on TV, social media, listening to other voices. So we only have one shot every week, and we should use it to teach people about the Word of God so that they may love it.
We can start from the pulpit. I think it’s the best way.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on August 3, 2020.