THE DYNAMIC PULPIT: PULPIT POWER FOR TRANSFORMATION

A certain Pastor was complaining loudly in the church that his people are not living Aright and committed to the things of God as they should. One bold member replied, ‘Sir, we are just the kind of people your preaching made us,’ The Pastor was startled and shocked, yet that is the blatant truth.

The pulpit ministry plays a great role in shaping the church and society for good or bad. Growing and godly people always results from proper and balanced use of the pulpit ministry. When there is fire in the pulpit, there will be fire in the pews and when the pulpit has been corrupted, then you get a corrupt people and nation. To see and bring the needed change to our churches, society and nation, we will need to re-examine the power of our pulpits again.

A. The Place of the Pulpit: Rom. 10:14-15; 1 Cor. 1:18-21

God has ordained the art of preaching and teaching as the avenue to bring the reality of the cross into the lives, hearts and situations of people. It is God-ordained way to bring people unto Himself. Preaching and teaching is the art of bringing God’s will, mind, heart and healing to the people.

1. The pulpit is the most important part of the church.
2. The pulpit controls and gives direction to the church. Rom. 15:19, 29: Acts 5:42; 6:2, 4.
3. The pulpit should be higher, holy and Spirit-controlled.
4. The pulpit should be the voice of God speaking clearly to His people.
5. There must be respect, honour and awe for the pulpit.
6. People must listen, obey, be blessed and changed by the pulpit.
7. The pulpit must be firm, clear, factual, powerful and transforming.
8. The word must work wonders from our pulpits-Psalm 138:2; Mark 16:20.
9. The word of God undiluted, raw and truthful must come from the pulpit.
10. The gospel the power of God must thunder out earnestly, fully, powerfully from the pulpit.

No church or society can change when the voice of the pulpit has been muffled, corrupted, dead, compromising and powerless. When humanistic philosophies and ideas ruled in the pulpit, then don’t expect any form of spiritual transformation in the people. Transformed lives, destinies, people, society and nation are the hallmark of powerful and spirit-filled pulpit ministry.

B. The Pulpit then and Now

In order to see whether our pulpits are really transforming people and society, we need to – examine the power of the pulpits then and now.

THEN:

1. The preaching of the Lord was authoritative, transforming and interesting Soler Matt. 7:28-29
2. The Apostles preached under the strong in of in anointing of the Holy Spirit. It converts and cope convinced. Acts 2:37.3 of 19
3. The church fathers preached to transform people
4. John Wesley, John Knox, Martin Luther, Francis of Assis, Charles Spurgeon, BT Charles Go Finney, D. L. Moody all preached to bring light, life and transformation to people and society.
5. The gospel was fully preached, with godly living and values as their fulcrum.
6. Francis of Assisi said, ‘preach at all times and in all places, use words if necessary.
7. They lived and embodied their messages.
8. Between 1930-1980’s, the pulpit was clear, serious, powerful, balanced and value-driven in Nigeria. Then people lived right and possess godly values.

NOW:

1. The pulpit is shallow, muddled up and unclear.
2. The pulpit only reforms people today.
3. The pulpit is promoting humanistic ideas and philosophies of men.
4. The preaching tickles the ear, not the heart.
5. Sinful men and women use the pulpit.
6. The full gospel is lost in our pulpits.
7. The pulpit promotes get-rich-quick and instant gratification.
8. The pulpit leaves people much more confused today due to divergent postulations.
9. The pulpit brings death, decay, religion and compromise to people today.
10. Godly values of righteousness, work, patience, integrity, contentment are not promoted by the pulpits of today.
11. Preachers don’t live what they preach today.
12. We preach to 40 million Nigerians weekly yet the nation is not changed. Whereas you need only 7% of the population to bring change.
13. Paganism is rising in the church simply because we don’t use the pulpit to uplift godly principles, values and scriptural information.
14. Between 1985 and 2009, our pulpits have led more people astray than ever before.

The story is told of some people who went to an associate leader to complain about the messages they have been hearing in the church. They said that they only hear about money, success, breakthrough, open doors and blessings. They would want to hear also about heaven, hell, righteousness, rapture and judgments. The associate minister replied, “That is not our mandate here. If you want to hear about heaven or hell, go to other churches.” What a tragedy of the pulpit today!

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C. The Power of the Pulpit

The value system of a nation comes from her pulpit. People ultimately become what they hear repeatedly. What is being repeatedly emphasized from the pulpit is what they people and society will tend to and live by.

1. The pulpit can bring growth, increase and multiplication to the church.
2. It can bring change, turn-around, and transformation to people.
3. It gives values, principles of living and relationship to people.
4. It brings God’s power and grace to heart and life of people.
5. It can bring change to society and mould it for God.
6. It brings life, light, illumination, inspiration and revelation to people.
7. It challenges, inspires, invigorates and equips people to rise up.
8. It gives direction, focus, guidance and way out to people.
9. It can also confuse, confound, kill and subjugate people.
10. It can also bring death, decay, corruption and wrong value to people.
11. It can bring chaos, crisis, problems and break away.

What goes on in majority of our pulpits today leaves much to be desired. Our pulpits are avenues to castigate, destroy, curse, abuse, commercialize and cheapen the gospel. Our messages are wrong and they have rather promote covetousness, greed, instant gratification, kwashiorkor Christians and imbalance believers. It’s time to change, if we want better results.

D. Using your Pulpit to Change and Transform People

Effective pulpit ministry is the one that results in life-transformation, changed destinies. societal impact and all round blessings. How do you go about such ministry?

1. Get your messages from God, not dry sermons only.
2. Preach to meet needs and solve problems -Luke 4:18-19
3. Study, prepare and understand your subjects very well.
4. Cook your messages thoroughly in prayer, fasting and fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit.
5. Preach, teach and heal people in a balanced way – Matt. 4:23; 9:35.
6. Live what you preach and teach-Acts 1:1; James 3:1
7. Preach and teach in a simple, practical, straightforward and applicable way.
8. Use illustrations, examples, stories, jokes and humor to press your message home.
9. Use your messages to instill value of work, patience, character, family honesty, proper living, attitude and appreciation in people.
10. Build a well rounded people through robust preaching and teaching of the whole counsel of God-Acts 20:25-27.
11. Always use an outline and dwell on a subject at a time.
12. Keep your outlines; stop throwing them away – for you may be throwing away part of tomorrow.
13. Preach and teach in series and systematically.
14. Take time to minister to people after each message.

If you can abide by these principles, then you can preach to transform people. Your pulpit ministry can be avenue for transformation.