How to Be a Dynamic Preacher — E.A. Johnston

Distinctions Among Preachers and the Power of the Message

I heard Rolf Barnard make a comment once, he said, in his opinion, he didn't believe there was much difference in preachers, that there wasn't much difference between the Apostle Paul and himself, they were both men.

Well, I wrote Rolf Barnard's biography, but I disagree with that comment because I believe there's a huge difference between preachers and great distinctions in men. I wrote the definitive biography on George Whitefield, and I didn't even make a dent in Whitefield's large life.

Oh, Whitefield stood alone as an orator. He was gifted with a tremendous voice that sounded like an organ, and he could be heard by 30 ,000 people at a time. At least, that was the observation of a meticulous Benjamin Franklin, who measured Whitefield's crowd in Philadelphia one day, as Whitefield stood on the courthouse steps and preached in the open air, and Ben Franklin walked around with a pad and pencil in his hand, and he grouped the people into groups of 30 at a time, and in Franklin's estimate, he believed that Whitefield could be easily heard by 30 ,000 people.

I'd say there's a vast difference in preachers, but the message is vital. Whitefield's main message during the Great Awakening was the new birth. One day, while Whitefield was preaching to 20 ,000 people on Boston Common, a minister approached him after the sermon and asked, Mr. Whitefield, since you've been among us, all you preach is, ye must be born again.

When, sir, will you preach us a new message? Whitefield grinned and replied, Why, sir, when ye are born again. In this message today, friends, I want to explore the subject of the messenger, the preacher, the man delivering the message, the two men who stand out in my mind as great preachers of the gospel was my pastor, Dr. Adrian Rogers, and the other was my homiletical mentor, Dr. Stephen F. Olford.

The Holy Lifestyle of the Dynamic Messenger

Both men knew the importance of a holy walk with God, and both men were mightily used of God. Adrian Rogers used to say, We need God-called men who will take the book of God and preach the Son of God with the anointing of the Spirit of God.

When I spent time with Adrian Rogers, I felt I was in the presence of Jesus. Let me share a story with you, friends. I had just dropped off my family at a local restaurant, and it was raining cats and dogs outside as I parked the car and made my way under an umbrella in the darkness of night.

As I opened the door of the restaurant, I saw a figure of a man standing there with his arms outstretched. He threw his arms around me and hugged me, saying in a deep voice, Ernesto, it was Adrian Rogers.

And in that brief moment of time, I don't know how I can explain it any better, but I felt time stood still, and for a brief moment I felt as if I had gone to heaven, and Jesus was hugging me. That's what it felt like.

Adrian made me think of Jesus because of his uncompromising walk with God. Let me share another story with you, friends. To emphasize my point, I was in the hallway of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, where I was attending the funeral of Stephen Alford.

Adrian Rogers was conducting the funeral memorial, and as I stood in the hallway, Adrian Rogers stood facing me with a serious look on his face, and his arms were folded across his chest, and he stood there looking like a big Indian chief, and this is what he said.

He said, Do you know what concerns me? I said, No, Dr. Rogers. What concerns you? He said, What concerns me is I see God calling up men like J. Sidlow Baxter and Stephen Alford, and I look around, and I don't see any comeuppers.

I knew what he was saying. Our seminaries crank out graduates, but where are the caliber of men that can stand tall in the pulpit with the power of God upon them and preach the word of God with authority?

Stephen Alford was like that. He was a short man, but when he stood in the pulpit, he looked like a giant because God was all over him. I think the following story about Stephen Alford tells us much about what I'm trying to say about the man.

Dr. Alford was invited to preach at a Dallas church, and the pastor of the church asked a seminary intern to go pick up Stephen Alford at the airport, and the young intern asked to see a photograph of Dr. Alford so he would recognize him.

The pastor said, No need for that. Just go to the airport and wait at the terminal and look for a man that has God all over him. And sure enough, the intern said when he saw the passengers deplane and file out, he noticed a man in a sport coat carrying a briefcase, and he looked like a holy man of God.

That was Stephen Alford. He had power in the pulpit like few men I've heard because of his close walk with God and a consecrated life. Stephen Alford was a man of prayer, and he'd say that a preacher was only as tall in the pulpit as he was long on his knees in prayer.

Prayer, Sacrifice, and Power in the Pulpit

Stephen Alford had a training center for preachers where he taught expository preaching to thousands of pastors, and he shared with me that the average time a pastor spent in prayer was only ten minutes a day.

Can you believe that, friend? Ten minutes. It's no wonder we lack power in the pulpit. Listen, friends, we have to have a daily quiet time with God that has a little sacrifice to it. I realized that I wanted to go deeper with God at a point in my life, so I began to rise at 4 .30 each day to spend more time with my heavenly master.

I realized that God delights in sacrifice, and after all, did he not sacrifice his only begotten son on a bloody cross for sin? When I committed to God to rise at 4 .30 a .m. every day to have my quiet time, that's when I began to have a real breakthrough with God.

Listen, friends, I was going through a difficult time in my life. Years ago, my wife had just died tragically, and I was left alone to raise our 14-year-old daughter. I had to be both a mother and a father to her and maintain a full-time secular job as well as keep going in ministry.

I was plum worn out, but I longed to go deeper with God in a deeper way. And one morning, while I was having my devotional time, I was studying Colossians 1 .10, which reads, That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.

And I wrote in the margin of my Bible what I thought that verse meant to me, and I broke it down into four sections and made my comments on it. Then God spoke to me in the quiet place of my heart, and by His Spirit, He said very clearly, If ye give me four consecutive days of time, I'll show you what this verse means for you from my perspective.

Well, I wrote in my Bible the date I began this quest, August 15th of a certain year, and each day I met with God from 4 .30 a .m. for about three hours on my face before Him, and He revealed what Colossians 1 .10 meant for me from His perspective over the course of that four days.

Walking Worthy Through Suffering

He broke the verse down into four parts applied to me. The first part of Colossians 1 .10 is, That ye might walk worthy of the Lord. God said, This means from my perspective for you that you must walk worthy in the fellowship of my sufferings.

And with that, He gave me a companion verse of Philippians 3 .10, That I may know Him in the power of His resurrection, in the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death. God was telling me that I was to pass through some great afflictions and trials for His glory.

This certainly happened over the following years. The next day, August 16th, during my three hours with God in prayer, I wrote the second section of the verse, Unto all pleasing. God said, From my perspective for you, this verse means, Without faith it is impossible to please me.

And He gave me Hebrews 11 .6 as my companion verse. But without faith, it is impossible to please Him. And God told me that He would make me a man of faith. All I can say, friends, is that God has allowed me to pass through some deep valleys to build my faith, and He has made me a better man of faith.

God does His deepest work often in the hardest part. On the third day, August 17th, I was on the part of the verse, Being fruitful in every good work. And God spoke and said, From my perspective for you, this verse means, By my Spirit.

And He gave me Zechariah 4 .6 as my companion verse. This is the word of the Lord saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Then God said, My Spirit must be in complete control at all times through your surrendered life.

Increasing in the Knowledge of God

The last day on the mountaintop was August the 18th, and the last section of the verse was, In increasing in the knowledge of God. And God said, From my perspective, this means for you that you will experience more of me through the fulfilled promises I have revealed to you.

And He gave me a companion verse of Jeremiah 33 .3, Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. All I can say, friends, is that God was faithful to His words to me that month of August years ago.

And although I still have a long way to go, and I'll never be perfect this side of heaven, I sure got my flaws, that's for sure. But God's still doing His work. He's still making me more and more like Christ every day.

The Cost of Going Deeper With God

But there's a cross smack dab in the middle of the Christian life, and I've learned to stay closer to that cross and to cleave more closely to my Christ. God will take you deeper if you're willing to go deeper with His friends.

He wants to build the messenger so He can bring forth His message. There's a cost. Jacob wrestled with the angel of God, and although he got his name changed from supplanter Jacob to Israel, Prince with God, he halted on his thigh from that point forward from that night of wrestling.

And for the rest of his life, he had to use a cane as he limped through life. For every step he took, he winced in pain from the memory of that fragrant evening where God's power was all over him. How deep do you want to go, friend?

How serious with God are you? How serious are you willing to get? Just remember what cost counts and what cost counts. What counts costs. If you want to be like Peter and get out on the boat and walk on the water, you have to go out by faith.

You have to step out there in the supernatural life of a dynamic life for Christ. You will never want to get back in the boat again. You will be out on the ways with God, making ways for Jesus and the spread of the gospel in your generation.

Oh, God, prepare us to be better messengers for thee, we pray in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.