The Truth About Preaching We're Afraid To Talk About

Why Aren't We Talking About This?

When preaching becomes projection, we have a PROBLEM!

Every Sunday, sermons are shaped by the unique perspectives and experiences of those delivering them. The truth is, many messages reflect a mix of truth, emotion, and personal interpretation rather than being perfectly objective; aka "thus sayeth the Lord".

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This is totally ok, IF... it's called out openly and honestly AND people are reassured that questions are ok and no-one is above reproach - including the "man of God".

Sadly, this is not the case in many church circles or any context where leadership is established without emphasizing the very human, normal and common side of the leaders.

In too many cases, pastors/preachers are elevated in the minds of those "sitting under them", which creates a "stand down", "back off" culture that causes them to settle for a form of "silent suffering" when a healthy, respectful, mature challenge is more appropriate and redemptive.

I believe there's a great need for more critical thinking and honest dialogue in church culture; where both leader and listen are considered equal.

Real growth comes from honest dialogue and compassion. 

Join the conversation and ask an anonymous question at link above!

Transcript

Treveal C.W. Lynch (00:00)
Hey guys, welcome once again into the space and into the place. You know what it is. You know where you is. Yes. yes. It is this. It is that. It is the, am the possible podcast experience. Yes. The place where possibilities become perspective. The bonus track edition.

Welcome guys, I is your host, Treveal C. W. Lynch, Mr. What What, and I help you to see what makes what you want possible. So many times in this world, we want something, but we don't know what makes what we want possible for us. So that's my job. That is what I do. That is why I is here.

Guys, before I jump into anything, let me say thank you so much. Thank you for being you. Thank you for you. Thank you for being everything that you are. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for your support. Thank you for your presence, which is the greatest present that any of you guys could ever give me. Thank you so much, not only for your attendance, but your attention to the following content. Guys, today we are going to be talking about more than meets the eye.

more than meets the eye. ⁓ Many times, man, we are in search of some sort of guidance, wisdom, truth. We are looking for direction in life. And for many of us, especially as Christians, we are looking to those who are in positions of leadership, those who are teaching and preaching, those who are offering counsel.

and guidance, right? And what I want to talk about today is sometimes in our search for this greater information, these clues, breadcrumbs, keys to the kingdom, as we sometimes say, we're looking for the how-tos of life, right? And we're subscribing to a particular person.

doesn't even have to be a teacher. doesn't even have to be a preacher. It could just be a motivational speaker. It could be an educator. can be anybody. But today I want to use a very specific example that I'm going be honest with y'all, really got under my skin, that helps me to illustrate even better and to articulate even better exactly what I mean. So if you're someone who is struggling for direction, struggling for

⁓ clarity and you are sitting under someone, whether it's a pastor or some sort of leadership and you're looking to them. I want to expose some things. I want to help us to dig a little deeper on some things and to go beneath the surface to better understand things and to kind of better prepare ourselves as we're listening to truly appreciate what's going on.

All right, so let me start off with kind of where this all started. was on TikTok the other day and with all due respect, you see highlight reels, you see snippets, pieces. You don't hear the full context, you don't hear the full message being preached, right? Because they only give you a snippet. So I'm keeping that in mind as I'm sharing this, right? So I'm being 100 % transparent.

And I'm aware that I didn't hear the entire message preached. But it was enough of the message. And I read enough of the comments to understand what people received and where this was all going. So there was this popular pastor who was basically giving a moment of encouragement. And in and through this moment of encouragement,

they were basically saying, know, God is bragging on you, on how ⁓ great you are, how much he loves you, how much he trusts you. And so God is taking you through a difficult situation or allowing a difficult situation to come into your life. Very much like Job, it's like,

It was set up such that the issue was really between, and the conversation was really between God and the devil. And so it was, ⁓ have you considered my servant, Joel? And the devil is like, well, you know, of course he serves you because your hand is on him. And so long story short, God is like, well, I take my hand off of him. I take the protection away from him and you can have Adam.

right, with certain parameters, obviously. But basically you can have at him and we'll see will he still continue to praise me. And as the story goes, Joe continued to praise and love God and subscribe to God, even though he went through difficult situations. I use that as a backdrop to illustrate this other, this other, you know, moment where this person was was preaching.

They were basically saying, hey, be encouraged. Whatever you're going through right now, that storm, that difficulty, that trial, that thing that is really testing you, that thing that is so heartbreaking, that thing that is so troubling. I want you to understand that God is bragging on you. God is allowing that to happen so that he can show forth how great you are and he can brag to the devil and say, you know, see,

see how faithful my servant is. And it just got me to thinking.

I don't know if I like that narrative. Now, I know for some of you, you're like, well, it doesn't matter what you like. It's about scripture. Okay. But hear me out though. Have you ever considered, and this is some critical thinking. Have you ever considered that's pretty, that's a pretty jacked up perspective to even have that didn't like, that didn't make me love God more. That didn't make me want to worship God more. ⁓ because he's bragging on me. It's like,

that God and the devil have a problem. I'm caught in the middle and you're gonna use me, you're gonna allow me to suffer, you're gonna allow my heart to break, you're gonna allow me to go through some difficult situations just so you could brag. I think you can find better ways to brag. think, now I don't, like for me personally, I just don't believe that that's the true narrative. I think that's a narrative and I'm a.

break down why in just a moment as I talk about more than meets the eye going beneath the surface. ⁓ I think that to me, that's a pretty hard pill to swallow that my life, I mean, because we got to take into account. We don't know the context of a person's heartbreak and heartache. It could be the loss of a loved one physically, right? Someone dying. It could be rape.

It could be abuse. It could be some sort of addiction. It could be, I mean, these scars run very, very deep. You guys have heard my story. You guys know that I've been through so much. And so maybe this is also why it really hits home for me. ⁓ This shouldn't be preached casually or flippantly. ⁓ I think we as pastors and leaders and people who have the ability to articulate and to communicate should do a better, better job, a much, much better job.

of being extremely sensitive, extremely empathetic, extremely ⁓ careful, right? And it doesn't take a lot, right? When we preach, we could simply, and this is something that I'm starting to practice in my own when I have an opportunity to preach or share. ⁓ If I'm ever using a Bible verse, because if I don't use Bible verses, then it's already

kind of baked in the fact that I'm using my philosophy, my teachings, my thing. But if I'm ever using a scripture to preach upon, I think it's my responsibility to basically say, this is not what thus saith the Lord. This is what I'm at this point experiencing personally. This is what...

has been revealed to me. This is what I'm seeing. This is what I'm hearing. This is what I'm feeling. And I'm gonna do the best I can to share with you out of my own experience, out of my own prayer time, however you name it and frame it, but you just pretty much, believe that it is the responsibility of us as pastors to preference our preaching with a deep and sober respect.

for the concepts that I'm about to share in just a moment, that I don't know that I know that I know. I think I know I am doing the best I can. I have a good intention, but as my coach once told me, and I won't use the exact words, but basically you can have good intentions and still eff some people up, okay? Even with your great intentions, you can really eff some people over.

because your intentions aren't taken into account really what you're saying and how it's landing. Okay? ⁓ But my point is, that we can do a better job of preferencing our preaching with this is not necessarily the sayeth the Lord. This is not necessarily what the scripture is saying, but this is me doing the best I can to articulate something of value. And some of you will get something from this.

For some, it will be new information. For some, will be a revisiting. For some, it's just something to consider, right? But it's not a mandate. What I'm about to preach is not a mandate. So this is me just sharing what I feel. This is my personal, this is what I believe we should do more often as people who preach the word of God. Now, if you disagree, drop a comment, let me know, give me feedback. You guys can email me, drop comments.

Leave reviews. I want to hear if you disagree with me. I want to hear that. Tell me why that's not a good idea. Tell me why you disagree. Tell me I want to hear your words, your thoughts, you know, ⁓ I want to spark the conversation because this is something that really hits home for me. OK, well, let me share with you why I believe that is to be true. ⁓ And again, going back to the original purpose of today's episode, for those of you who are looking to someone

of a higher authority or a person in a position of leadership, a pastor, teacher, someone, a mentor that you're looking to, I want to give you some things to hold in mind, to hold intention as you are acquiring this knowledge. Because many times when we go to church, we're sitting in the pool pits, sorry, in the pews, they're in the pool pit and we're being preached to where we are receiving the word.

All right, we're being spoken to and there's no conversation that's really going except for the one that's happening in our mind. And sometimes, this is a side note, but sometimes you're hearing something come forth and you're not really in agreement with it, but you don't know how to articulate it. You don't know how to ask questions maybe after service. You don't know how to reach out to the person who preached the message and say, hey, can you clarify some of these things? Or, hey, I don't really understand some of these things.

That's normally just not the culture that we live in. We live in a church culture where when it's preached, thus saith the Lord, it's done. That's what he said. And, ⁓ okay, I've got to either agree with it or I've got to somehow force myself to agree with it because after all that's the man or woman of God. That's the word being preached. ⁓ nothing's wrong with God. Nothing's wrong with them. Something must be wrong with me if it does, if it doesn't just fit.

into my framework, okay? So with all of that, right, this may end up being like a whole series, because I got so much to talk about in this particular area from experience as a pastor, ⁓ as one who preaches, as one who teaches, as one who communicates, and having that healthy respect for those that are receiving this information. And as one, as of the last year or so, one that has been doing a lot of observations, a lot of observing and listening and

dissecting and just kind of processing what's happening in the popular church culture. So ⁓ let me share with you something really, really quickly here that's gonna help kind of ⁓ help you look beneath the surface and just kind of better understand how to go about getting that clarity and getting that direction.

All right.

So basically in the middle here, you have the person, the person that's preaching, the person that's teaching. And all I want to share with you is that a person is not just this vessel for God or just this person that's just articulating the word of God. They're a person that's made up.

of the same things that you're made up of. And I'm not trying to discredit. Don't hear that I'm discrediting the pastor. I'm not discrediting the teacher or preacher. I'm not discrediting the educator. What I'm doing is I'm helping us look beneath the surface more than meets the eye. Because sometimes we get in such a rhythm of I go to church, I listen, or I go wherever and I listen and I just have to accept it and do the work within myself to conform to it.

I want you to understand something. A person comes with these four things, right? Number one, a person has their own perspectives. It's the way they see life. It's the way they see God. It's the way they see you. And when they speak, perspective is involved. Next one. People have perceptions.

Perceptions is what they believe from a sensory mechanism. It's what they perceive the world to be. It's their world view. It's their inner philosophy.

When they speak, when they preach, when we speak, when we preach.

Our perceptions come with us.

number three. Our preferences, our preferences come with us. Now with preferences that this represents your pain and your pleasure. Some people are trying to avoid certain pains. Some people are trying to attain certain pleasures. This is what we prefer.

Whatever it is, there's some preferences that are wrapped up in this. And when they preach, when they teach, when they share,

There's some preferences that are going on. Lastly.

Prejudices. There's some prejudices that are happening. Now, this is not about black and white or about, you know, any of these political things. Prejudices is just, you know, things that I either knowingly or unknowingly ⁓ don't really care for. Or I've prejudged something incorrectly.

Those prejudices come with the individual. So a person is not just a person. A person is prejudices. A person is preferences. A person is perceptions. A person is perspectives. A person is ⁓ trying to attain pleasure. A person is someone trying to avoid pain. A person are a lot of things all at once.

And so you can over-spiritualize it and say, when they're in that position, the Holy Spirit overrides, no, it doesn't. No, the Holy Spirit doesn't override the person. You can use scripture. Scripture even says the Holy Spirit is like a gentleman. Why would the Spirit override? We are fearfully and wonderfully made, right? We're made in God's image and likeness to be unique expressions of God. Why would He then override everything that you are?

in that moment. And then when you come off of that moment, now you somehow click back into being who you really are. No, in the pulpit, in the moment of preaching, in the moment of teaching, you are everything that you are. And I'm not saying that that God can't do something in that moment. ⁓ I'm sure God can. But what I'm learning and what I've seen and what I'm observing and what I've experienced in my own personal preaching and teaching.

is that who I am is in the mix. Who I am is in the mix. And when I was watching that video of this particular person going in and saying, man, God's bragging on you, God's bragging on you. You should be encouraged. I'm like, yo, man, maybe you feel like that. Maybe you feel like God's bragging on you. Maybe you need that validation. Maybe that's something right in that person.

Right? Maybe that's not what the say at the Lord. Maybe that's not scripture. Maybe that's not Bible. Maybe that's not God. Maybe that's that person preaching through their own brokenness, their own personal ⁓ shortcomings within themselves, their own ⁓ cognitive biases, their own junk and stuff, their own trauma and drama. And now they're spewing that at you.

And because the culture has said, don't question it, rock with it, accept it. We can't go back and question them. If we do, we get more spiritualized answers. It's a waste of time, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever it is. And some of you who are listening, I know you are Christians. Listen, if you don't like what I'm saying, don't cut me off. Don't shut me down. Don't delete me on your phone. Ask me questions.

Leave me comments, leave me feedback. I don't wanna debate with you and fight with you, but I'm interested. I think a part of the problem, the biggest part of the problem is that we don't have enough healthy dialogue, respectful dialogue, constructive dialogue around things that are keeping people enslaved, that are keeping people bound, that are keeping people back. Because again, this whole episode started with

You're looking for clarity, you're looking for direction, you're looking for truth. And our culture, some of these institutions are set up such that maybe they've never said it, but the assumption is this man or woman of God or this person, whoever they are, prophets so-and-so, teachers so-and-so, evangelists so-and-so, apostle so-and-so, whoever so-and-so. I'm using the church ⁓ as an example because

the video that I watched that sparked this whole thing, it was a church context. If it's in another context, I'll use different examples, okay? ⁓ But whoever that person is, they hold the truth or they're anointed and appointed, right? Assigned and aligned, right? To give you the truth. And again, some of that is true. Some of it is true. What I'm trying to...

Express what I'm trying to bring some light to what I'm trying to spark the conversation around is individual critical thinking When this man is preaching from a pulpit Sweating and spitting and and crying and falling all out and the people going nuts and and getting all emotional because he's Saying to you whatever your problem is that test that you're going through that trial that you're going through that thing

that you are suffering through and enduring through. it's cancer. Maybe it's, and see, that's the thing that really pisses me off is because when we get up there and maybe I've been guilty of it as well, let me raise my hand first for those of you who are like, well, well, you'd need to take some ownership of it too. Great. I'll take ownership of it. A hundred percent. I have in the past, I have been guilty of not being sensitive, not being sensitive to the depth of the issues that are before me. And again,

I don't have to, we don't have to, I'm not saying that we have to be counselors. I'm not saying that we have to, and I'm a kid, I'm gonna stop prefacing it so much because sometimes we just kind of over explain ourselves. I'm gonna explain this one more time and then I'm done. I'm not saying that we have to take 30 or 40 minutes before we share a message and explain away the validity of the message. What I'm saying is, is that,

a just a small dose, a small acknowledgement of I'm doing the best I can to share this message. And some of it is going to be God. Some of it is going to be Bible. But some of it is going to be me. Some of it is going to be me. Some of it is going to be me with my

with my prejudices, with my preferences, with my perspectives, with my perceptions, with my appetite for pleasure, with my avoidance for pain.

It's all in there. It's all in there. And it's not just all God, all from the throne of God. It's not all, I've been fasting 180 days and I've been, you know, ⁓ in my prayer closet for 23 hours. And I've come out to now give you this anointed word. No.

Some of it is I am a freaking human doing the freaking best I freaking can to share something of value. And I need for you to know it because I want to empower you more than I want to impress you. I wanna empower you more than I wanna entertain you. I wanna empower you more than I want to...

then I want to put on some theatrics for you. I want to empower you to walk out of this building, to walk out of this moment and know that I'm just like you. I'm not so anointed and appointed, aligned and assigned that you can't approach me, that you can't ask me a question, a clarifying question, that you can't schedule lunch with me and say, yo man, what you just said didn't rock with me.

Where did that come from? Is that all God? Do you believe that that's all God or was some of that you? Because I need to know was some of that you because if I think or if it's left to believe that it was all God, then obviously there's something wrong with me. And to be honest, I can't keep going on like this thinking that it's always me.

We gotta be okay with that. We gotta start being okay with asking questions of our leaders and asking questions of ourselves and asking questions of God. This culture, this whole back off culture, is keeping us blind more than meets the eye, We gotta go beyond the surface. The surface is the robes and the suits and the whatever.

Right? The clergy part of it. That's cool. That's cool. But there's more than meets the eye. There is a beneath the surface to me. There is a depth of me. There is a brokenness of me. There ⁓ is a jacked up-ness of me. There is a traumatized me. There is some theatrics. There is some ego. There is some pride.

So it ain't just all the word because, and let me end with this, the damage when someone is sincerely seeking truth, sincerely seeking clarity, sincerely seeking direction, and the culture is such that whatever the person from the pulpit says is gospel truth.

And it's believed to be not the preacher's way, but whatever that word is, my way or the highway. That's how it's received. It's well, that's the word of God. So it's either the words way or the highway. Right. We have to get in line with it. Well, what happens when when what was just preached? You never really had to get in line with it like you never really had to.

conform to it. Because it was an expression of that person's brokenness. It was an expression of that person's stuff. That person's perspective, that person's philosophy, that person's preferences, that person prejudices, that person's, right?

But if all you see it as is truth, and if I am not automatically in agreement with that truth, then I've got to go somewhere and work within myself to work myself up to somehow agree with it. And I'm really lying to myself, tricking myself into agreeing with it so that I can keep coming back and so that I can keep being in step with the spirit, as we say, or we can keep being pleasing in the eyes of God.

That's the guilt trip, right? Because a part of what my man said was like, yo, don't disappoint God. Don't disappoint your father. What the hell? What?

Man, that pisses me off like I have no... So, if you preach to me something and I don't agree with it, and I'm just being a human doing the very best I can...

Not only do I have to believe that God is bragging on me, like I'm getting caught up in the midst of him and the devil's issue, which is ridiculous. I mean, my goodness, dude, that's just crazy all to itself. That I get that I got to suffer because God and the y'all got the problem. Why am I being punished for it? I just hate that narrative. I just hate that narrative. And then two, it's like, well, if I don't agree with it.

If I don't, ⁓ God, thank you so much for counting me worthy of the punishment, for counting me worthy of the struggle, for counting me worthy of the pain. If I don't just, you know, love the fact that I'm being thrown out there, then I'm disappointing God. So now double the suffering, double the pressure, double the, the, man, just, just.

You're just under all of this, all of this weight. And I still got to deal with whatever I'm dealing with. On top of it, I got this spiritual junk going through my head, like I got to align with this message. Then if I don't align, God's like ⁓ I'm like disappointing God, and I certainly don't want to do that. And thirdly, I'm still dealing with whatever I'm dealing with.

That's enough to break anybody down. That's enough to kill somebody emotionally, spiritually, psychologically and physically. That's, that's enough to take somebody up out of here. I'm just saying, man. So more than meets the eye, what do I want to say in, in summary, when you listen to a person preach, understand that you're listening to a person.

I'm gonna say that one more time. When you listen to a person preach, understand you're listening to a person preach and that person is made up of perceptions, perspectives, preferences, prejudices, appetites for pleasure, avoidances of pain.

That's the whole person. And when they are sharing, they are sharing through the filter of all of those things. Can truth penetrate that filter? Yes. Can a inspiring, edifying, God-filled, God-led,

God anointed, appointed word be shared through that filter. Yes.

What I want you to not take away every time you hear someone preach is that what they just said was without question, 100 % untouched, untainted, the word directly from heaven, directly to me. And if I got a problem with it, there's something wrong with me.

And I've got to change and I've got to accept it and I've got to align with it. On top of everything else I have going on in my life. That is weight. I don't think you should be carrying. That's a burden. I don't think your back can continue to bear. And that is my concern. I hope and pray that you have heard my heart. Love you guys. I'm praying for you guys. And I believe in you guys until next time. Please remember.

The better we can relate to ourselves, the better we can create for ourselves and those around us. Leave comments, questions, email me, reach out. If you are not subscribed to my YouTube channel, head over there now. Subscribe. I am the possible on the tube. Subscribe. I want to hear your questions. I want to hear your feedback. I want to see your comments. I would love to continue to keep this conversation going.

Yeah, I share this with great humility and I pray that I've been extremely careful in the words that I've used, but I've also been extremely honest about where I am today. And I hope and pray that you can do the same. All right? This is another episode of the I Am The Possible Podcast Experience.

the place where possibilities become perspective. I is your host, Trevail C. W. Lynch. Mr. What What. And I am here to help you to see what makes what you want possible. And in this episode, I've shared with you that if you want clarity, direction, a sense of purpose and meaning,

as you sit under the teaching of someone else. What makes that possible is a healthy understanding of the whole person. God bless you.