Perhaps you have heard someone say, “I would rather see a sermon than hear one any day.” While the intention behind this statement may be good, one must be careful that he or she does not over emphasize morality, while minimizing the power of God’s Word.
Yes, God condemns hypocrisy and commands His children to do good works and live Holy lives. However, Christ did not simply command His disciples to go forth and live good moral lives in front of those lost souls that needed to hear the Gospel.
“Living it” is one testimony that bears fruit.
“Preaching it” bears fruit too. Balance.
Flip the coin now.
If the preaching of God’s Word, whether it’s from a pulpit on the street, though evangelism, or in a prison chapel is tainted, that is a big problem.
Men in prison refer to anything and everything outside of prison as the free world. They only know the confines of their daily life behind bars. In the chapel in prison, everything is scrutinized by the men sitting there. How you look. Your body language. Even the inflection of your voice while preaching. They sense the real article from the phony. It is a sixth sense only those who have lived in prison, understand.
I understand fully. I lived in prison. They will know if the Gospel is pure or not. They are conditioned to see the fake. They sense a pretender or a counterfeit Christian.
You might as well be real, otherwise, they will get up and walk out of your service.
You will be left alone without an audience to preach to.
There is more freedom to do invitations to know Christ in the prison services that I conduct, than in most churches in America combined.
Why say that?
Many free world churches never do an invitation for people to be saved. This is an ugly fact. There are many that do, but from what I have experienced, those are few and far between. This is God’s territory to fix.
Because in 40 years of preaching, primarily in prisons in America and in places all over the world, I have never missed an altar invitation for salvation, healing, or deliverance.
Never. Not even once. Why?
Because that is how many get saved. They are invited, no matter what their spiritual condition. No matter if the seed of salvation has been planted yet or watered.
*How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Romans 10: 14-15.
PREACH WHAT? It is mandatory, after preaching any sermon, to be the person who leads. Sheep want a shepherd. They do not want the layman, or the associate pastor, or the Elder or Bishop to pray for them. They want the one who preached and was used by the Lord to bring them to conviction in their hearts. All the above that I mentioned are valuable in the church.
Do not misunderstand my thoughts.
All members of a church are valuable to Jesus. We all have our place. The hand is not greater than the foot. But it is the mouth of the one speaking that is anointed to invite, not run off the sheep.
Lead them to the Cross through your message. Lead them to their knees, even if you must walk out in the crowd, under the anointing, and call them forward by taking their trembling hand. I have done that very thing over 1000 times in forty years.
Why do I do that when God prompts me? Because I do not want to ever be responsible for some human being leaving God’s presence without an invitation for salvation in Jesus.
In prison or out of prison, in church, or out on the streets, leaving that anointed message, or food offering to a homeless man, without the hope of the Cross, and what transpired on that Bloody Cross, is a tragedy.
What happens if a pastor or preacher in any place, perverts God’s Word for selfish gain?
What if they never do altar calls for people to receive Christ as their Savior, and let them walk out of their mega-church unsaved?
Gold offering buckets and nice carpets will not save their souls. Only Jesus can.
The pastor or speaker must bring any sermon to a proper close. Otherwise, why is this person in the ministry anyway? Good question. Feeding sheep God’s Word does nothing for the unbeliever except plant seed into soil that needs to be Born Again. The Word will stick at some point, while some water, and some bring the harvest.
What happens to the lost soul who has heard God’s Word before they came to your church, Sir? (or Ma’am)?
What if someone has watered it an hour before they came in Pastor?
They were ripe, ready and right for salvation, yet you, picked up your Bible and the nice leather notebook with your bullet points, with the ten things a Christian should do to prosper, or just “be a better you,” and let them walk out and wither?
Well, God is bigger than you Sir, or Madame. He will correct your stupidity and use someone else prayerfully.
Or will He?
Did you miss an opportunity to snatch them from the grips of hell?
I believe that a pulpit positioned anywhere, and an altar, anywhere, is Holy Ground. In fact, you do not need a pulpit or carpet, or kneeling benches made from velvet.
All you need is a voice in the wilderness.
Preach it. Live it. If you fail to give an invitation for salvation or healing or deliverance for some poor soul in need, you have failed them and yourself.
Ask yourself, why did you go to school or seminary?
To be called by God after graduation?
School does help. But that does not guarantee you will be anointed by the Most High.
Whose blood is on whose hands? God knows.
He knows all about BLOOD. Shed blood.
There are other ways to go off the deep end in thinking about seeing a sermon versus hearing one.
“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Forsake not the assembling of oneself with another, as a manner of some is.”
Okay, I have given you simple answers so far.
Listening to God’s Word preached in person, or on television, is great if there are two things. One, it must be anointed. Two, it must match the Word of God, with absolutely no perversion, or bad intentions, by the speaker.
Now, no human being is perfect. Never will be. No preacher, no evangelist, no Sunday School teacher is 100% perfect in explaining God’s Holy Word.
God will correct our mistakes and lack of knowledge in time.
Never, ever, never, stand before one soul, or ten thousand souls, and assume on anyone's salvation in Christ. I do not care if you know every single member of the congregation in your lovely church. I do not care if you know their secrets. What matters is you give them an opportunity to repent, re affirm, or get saved for the first time.
Case in point: I went to a church in Austin, Texas last Easter (Resurrection Sunday, no rabbits with chocolate eggs in the Gospel), and the sermon was great. It was a guest speaker, speaking to 800 college students. I was the oldest man in the crowd, thanks to being past college years by a few. 68, back then was a bit over the 22-24 age group in this congregation.
The message was anointed, and the crowd seemed focused and attentive. There were a bunch of “Amen's” during his sermon. Many clapped loudly during those moments of hearing and seeing a sermon that morning. He was passionate and even wept real tears at times. He was talking about the death, and burial of our Savior. And, when Jesus arose, in his sermon, the crowd jumped to their feet in applause and adulation for our Savior and Lord. The place was electric.
(That did not mean all who were already saved stood and cheered, in my mind).
He told personal stories of his life which matched his sermon. Painted a perfect picture of the Cross and Salvation in Jesus Christ.
The twenty-minute sermon was perfect, capturing the attention and hearts of all of us there. Including me. I was foaming at the mouth for the altar invitation. I looked like a hungry coyote waiting for the chicken-out-of-the-coop, to get lost, for my hungry lip-smacking chops to swallow her whole. Hungry for the altar invitation. With foam in my mouth. In the spirit, I looked like I had just eaten a lemon pie with meringue, all over my face.
He brought this magnificent sermon to an end. It had the great beginning, an awesome God’s-Word-filled middle, and now, the crescendo.
It never happened.
He said goodbye to us all. He gathered his Bible and left. The pastor of the church came next.
OH, I hoped?
“Was he going to do an invitation?”
He stood there for five minutes, excited about the Sunday Resurrection Day message that had just been delivered. He too, brought everything that was preached into perspective. He did an awesome job bringing all into context.
He closed this great day with, “Now, if you need prayer for any reason, turn to the one on your left or right, and ask them nicely to pray for your needs.”
“OH MY GOSH! Are you kidding me?
I truly was sick to my heart. If my son had not been by my side, I would have stood up and screamed, “IF you need Jesus to come into your heart, meet me at this altar, Folks!”
I did not care if the bouncers would have tossed me out of there like a frisbee.
I did not care. I just did not understand how this could happen.
So, what was seen and heard was given on ears that heard. Their eyes saw, when the compassion came from the preacher. They saw his tears and heart-felt dialogue. It was perfect.
Except, it was seen and not heard in the Spirit realm.
The poor souls who left missed the opportunity. Not their opportunity. The opportunity to exercise their baby faith.
Perhaps the person, who was on the right or left of the lost souls, led some to Christ.
I will never know.
“Be ye doers of the Word, not hearers only, lest you deceive yourself.”
James 1:22
I am physically nauseated to my stomach right now as I write this.
It is because I am remembering that Resurrection Sunday Service. I pray to the Lord that those souls who left, lived long enough to get saved.
I will, by faith, believe that for their sake.
I also pray for the church. God help any church, let anyone slip through their fingers again.
“You must be born again,” Jesus said.
You must.
Children, told by their parents to be quiet, is another sermon that I just do not have the strength to do right now. Seen and not heard? I do not think so. That old English proverb first appeared in a book by John Mirk published in the 15th century titled, Mirks Festival. He was a Shropshire clergyman. It was originally directed at women.
I do not know if Mr. Mirk conducted altar calls for salvation or not.
Perhaps he was not saved. Only God knows.
I want the Gospel to be seen and heard by every person I encounter. To me, if that is not the priority in a Seminary teaching, or in a church class named: The School of Life, then where is life in that school?
Where is the truth in the Seminary; or shall I say Cemetery?”
Nah. They are not all dead schools. Some are anointed.
“What must I do to be saved?”
We had two different people ask us that after preaching in a prison, and at dinner in Costa Rica. One was an inmate; the other was the cook in the restaurant, near the prison after we preached inside the prison. They asked, and we told them how to be saved.
Must I do another sermon why and what the Gospel is intended for?
So, next time you attend your church of choice, or the one you currently attend, ask yourself these questions?
Does the altar have anointing oil stains in the carpet mixed with tears of repented souls who bore their souls lately?
Does the church get excited when even one soul repents?
Well, the angels around God get excited. His Word says so.
Jesus speaking, “Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15: 10.
Is Heaven rejoicing when the preacher you listen to ends their sermon?
Or are there crickets howling?
Just a thought.
Copyright © 2025 by Joe Wilkins
