Power Of Positive Preaching By Jimmy Stevens
INTRODUCTION: Positive outlook is refreshing. All Christians should have it, Rom 5:1-2, 11
I. Our country and “Positive Mental Attitude” philosophy. A. Philosophy: emphasizing positive thoughts to overcome negative issues in life. It does not resolve the cause of problems, but tries to make them go away by overwhelming them with positive ideas. B. RESULT: “hippie” generation, rebellion, immorality, illegitimacy, sexually transmitted diseases, corrupt or no work ethic, little or no respect for authority, nor respect for the dignity of life—abortion.
II. Church and the “positive mental attitude” philosophy in preaching and practice.A. Emphasize the positive and avoid the negative.” “Negative teaching is legalism.” B. Result: Poor Bible knowledge. Unable to defend God’s truth. Compromise. Drifting from NT patterns. Feel saved while in sin. There is no wrong, therefore, no caution against the danger of sin. You can be nice to sin, but sin will NEVER, be nice to truth. Standing for nothing and accepting anything.
III. Many suffer from “negaphobia” (neg-negative, phobia- persistent fear of something). A. Society: politically correct terminology, alternative lifestyles—homosexuality, adultery, fornication. B. Church: Don’t challenge “false religions” or “false doctrines”, or call one a “false teacher”. Openly criticize and malign those who openly defend the truth against error——Talk about negative! In the mean time, false doctrine continues to rob souls of eternal salvation. Redefine sin as an opinion, then defend it under Romans 14. Preach partial truths, or truth without application. Don’t convict sinners. C. “We need more positive and less negative preaching.” Positive and negative are often subjectively defined. Whose concept of “positive” will we use? Ours or God’s?
IV. The Bible and “positive mental attitude” preaching.A. Warns against it. Jer 8:4-12, 2 Pet 2:1-3, 18-19, 2 Cor 11:12-15B. Negative teaching does what positive cannot. Most understand positive statements of good conduct and need no warning for doing good, Gal 5:23. However, people constantly need warning against sin,
V. “Power of Positive Preaching”, is determined by the results, not by how it sounds to the human ear.A. God’s idea of “Positive Preaching”. “Positive” instructs and informs. “Negative” protects and preserves “positive” by warning against sin. “Negative” helps one understand evil without experiencing it. “Negative” yields positive results by “positive” prevention. B. Summary:1. Positive truths instruct, encourage and edify. POSITIVE2. Negative truths warn, convict and prevent one from sinning. POSITIVE3. Favoring one over the other defeats the power of both. NEGATIVE4. Positive only, neglects valuable warnings and rebukes. negative5. Negative only neglects full instruction and encouragement. negative
VI. All of God’s truths produce “positive” results when preached and obeyed. A. Adam and Eve. Gen 2:16-17B. Deut 10:1-4, 12-14. For good. 5:7-21, 8 of the 10 commandments are negative. In explaining the 10 commandments, 15 negative and 5 positive statements. V 5:32-33.C. All scriptures, positive and negative, produce POSITIVE results.1. Jesus magnified the positive with “negative” statements. Matt 15:11-14, 22:34-40.2. 2 Tim 3:13-17, to make a man complete—POSITIVE. 3. 2 Tim 4:1-5, preaching both positive and negative—POSITIVE.D. The whole counsel of God. Acts 20:27, 1 Cor 4:17.E. A wise person learns the positive power of negative instructions. Job 5:17-18, Jer 36-38, 2 Cor 7:6-11, Heb 12:3-11, Acts 2:22-24, 36-47.
CONCLUSION: True Positive Preaching can only be accomplished when preachers and Christians declare and live the whole counsel of God. A. To emphasize the positive over the negative produces negative results.B. To emphasize the negative over the positive produces negative results.C. To teach a balance of both will produce positive results.D. Preaching the whole counsel of God is always POSITIVE PREACHING.
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