T4G 08 Reflections/Impact

I mentioned in a previous post that I would share from time to time reflections from the conference Holly and I recently attended in Louisville, Together 4 the Gospel. One brief reflection that encouraged me and challenged me as a pastor was from John MacArthur. You can listen to the entire sermon here, but I will share just one quote, with others surely forthcoming:

"Soft preaching makes hard people. Hard preaching makes soft people."

Preaching that is fluff and superficial, heavy on felt needs, but light on the greatest and only eternal need which only the Gospel addresses will produce "hard" people whose hearts are hard and hard to be moved. On the other hand, hard preaching that centers on the glory of God, the gospel of Christ, the doctrines of our faith, that makes people think and challenges them with that greatest need that only the gospel addresses will produce "soft" people whose hearts are soft and who will follow Christ wherever He leads and do whatever He says because He is their treasure.

God, may my preaching be the latter and not the former.