The Priority of Preaching and Prayer

(I wrote this a little over a year ago while living in Fort Worth, Texas. Now that I'm a pastor I couldn't agree with this article more. - OKpreacher)




Acts 6:4, 7 – But we will devote ourselves to prayer and the preaching ministry. So the preaching about God flourished, the number of the disciples in Jerusalem multiplied greatly, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.”

I was talking to a good friend the other night about my burden for the priority and passion of preaching. I live in an area that is stocked with preachers, but the priority of preaching is being lost. Also the priority of prayer in most churches in America is low to non-existent. I truly believe the reason we aren’t experiencing the power of revival in our country is because the preaching of God’s Word and the devotion to the Prayer life isn’t a priority in the pulpit and from the pulpit anymore. In Acts 6, the church comes to a crossroads. The problem is that some people are being mistreated because there aren’t enough workers. The question becomes what should the apostles do? Take time to serve the people or to focus on preaching and prayer. That was a hard choice because we all know that serving people is part of the job of any minister, but when it comes to the priority of the minister the answer is clear. They came up with a plan to elect workers, while they devoted themselves to preaching and praying. Have you ever thought about what the result of their plan was? “Disciples in Jerusalem multiplied greatly.” Here it is folks. The reason people aren’t being reached and the multitudes aren’t being discipled is because preaching and prayer are no longer a priority. The pastor wants to be a CEO, a counselor, and a friend, but first he must be devoted to preaching and prayer. In John 21, Jesus tells Peter to feed his sheep before He tells him to shepherd his sheep. I don’t know about you, but I want a pastor that has preaching and prayer as his top priorities.