I am a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have been a preacher for the past 36 years, having accepted God’s call into the gospel ministry in 1979. It has been my great privilege to serve churches in South Carolina, North Carolina and Texas.

Yes, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ is indeed a great privilege, but it is also a tremendous responsibility. It can also be an overwhelming burden. Oftentimes the Old Testament prophets would refer to their message as a burden from the Lord. When we give consideration to the content of their message, we can certainly see why they would refer to it as a burden. Their message oftentimes placed them in extremely difficult positions as the content of their message was in stark contrast to the cultural, societal, and religious climate in which they proclaimed the message of God. Let me encourage you to read the messages of Jeremiah and Ezekiel to get a feel for the heavy burden God placed upon them.

In many ways, I feel the contemporary preacher in the United States of America is in the same cultural, societal and religious climate of those prophets of old. Those prophets were constantly used by God to call His people back to the basic principles of the Word of God. The people of Israel turned away from God time after time, and God would graciously send His messengers to call them to repentance so they could once again experience the blessings of His presence, power and provision.

What exactly what was the root cause of their horrible spiritual condition? Simple: their rejection of the clear guidelines of God’s word. They refused  to live in subjection to the instruction of the oracles of God that had been entrusted to them as the chosen people of God.

Preachers today are faced with the challenge of preaching the Word of  God in a cultural, societal and religious climate that has for the most part rejected that Word. To preach the sincere, uncompromised truth of the Bible is to place ourselves in direct opposition to the common beliefs and practices of a nation that has for the most part completely ignored God’s Word. If I preach that abortion, homosexuality, adultery, pre-marital sex, extra-marital sex, gossip, lying, stealing, and a litany of other vices are sin, I am accused of being a narrow-minded bigot who is living in the past. (And yes, I did I intentionally include the ‘lesser’ sins of gossip, lying and stealing, because sin is sin and must be repented of in order to have a relationship with God.) Yet, these actions are called sin in God’s Word, and to think of them as anything different is a rejection of not only the Word of God, but  of God Himself.

My heart aches as I hear of preachers, churches, and even denominations that are turning away from the clear teachings of Scripture. In the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament alike, God was always calling men who would be bold in their proclamation of the truth of His Word. It would take courage to stand in the face of unbelievable opposition to remain true to that calling. The commitment was great, and the cost would be severe. Many were imprisoned, many were beaten, many were put to death, simply because the people of their day did not want to hear the truth of God’s Word.

When a preacher, a church, or an entire denomination decides to condone behavior that is in clear contradiction to the teachings of Scripture, they are opening themselves up for the judgment of God. May God give us boldness to stand – and having done all, to keep standing.

I am a preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I stand upon that Gospel with full confidence, and preach it with full assurance. This is where I stand. God help me to do nothing less.