Not Going By The Book

Do you know anyone who are "book righteous?" You might be asking what does that mean. You know people that love their books, normally in its fiction books. They are the ones who have read every "Harry Potter" and "Twilight" book. They are the one who go see the movies based on those books then leave the theatre saying this is what's not in the book and they got this wrong. You might have some of those kind of people in your own home that will make you want Jesus to come back because they can't stop comparing the book and the movie.

We all know that movies based on books, or comic books, don't follow the story 100%. There are a few exceptions unless you are making a movie about the Bible. When it comes to the Bible there are not many preachers that don't go by the book. They preach random things that they think the text they are using supports it.

Some preaches don't like preaching verse-by-verse because they think it is cheating or there is no Biblical example. In the current state of our culture, this is no time for pastors to not go by the book. What I mean is, this is no time to not preach the whole counsel of God. Christians need the Bible just as a human being needs air. Pastors encourage their congregations to read the whole Bible, yet they do not preach through books of the Bible.

The Apostle Paul said to the Ephesian elders:

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:24-28).

Pastors do not need to shrink back from declaring the whole counsel of God. In our day and age, we need leaders in the church who are not afraid to preach the word with boldness and in grace and truth. We need preaching that will go by the book and not veer off into messages of their own minds.