This trend is pastors instructing their flocks to study their sermon all week. They're not telling the people to study the passage that was preached......they're telling the people to study the sermon. Some have gone so far as to create study guides for their sermons and even use them the following week in a Sunday School lesson. Some are encouraging families to use their sermon in their family "devotions."
This is dangerous to anyone's Christian walk. Pastors who do this are openly encouraging their people to replace God's Word with their own. Please do not cooperate with such instruction. Please study only God's Word, not the words of your pastor.
Does this mean I do not support the preaching of God's Word? NO! Of course not. The Bible has many references to the importance of preaching God's Word.
Romans 10:17 - Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
2 Timothy 4:1 - Preach the word, be instant in season and out of season
I Corinthians 1:18 - For the preaching of the cross is foolishness to them who perish but unto those which are saved it is the power of God.
Those verses are just a few references to preaching and I wholeheartedly endorse anyone who preaches the Word of God.
But, I'm not going to study your sermon. I'm going to study God's Word. Replacing the Word of God with a sermon is idolatry. Those who are telling you to do that have exalted their own words above God's Word. This is idolatry. Have no part of it. Reject this idea.
This is the opposite of what the Bible tells us to do. The Bible instructs us to study the Word. We are never once told to study someone else's words.
You have the power to stop this trend in its tracks. If you receive instruction to study the sermon instead of God's Word, don't do it. It's God's Word that is alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.
Study God's Word. It will change your life no matter where you are in your walk with Christ.
~Tricia
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