The Perseverance of Biblical Preaching: A Supportive Affirmation

Continued from Famine in the Land, by Dr. Lawson:

A Supportive Affirmation

Paul added that Timothy’s spiritual gift “was bestowed upon you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery” (1 Tim. 4:14). In a public ordination, elders laid hands on him, confirming that they recognized that he was called and gifted by God to preach. Kent Hughes writes, “Paul charges Timothy to remember that electric moment in the past, somewhere with Paul in his travels when the man knelt, and Paul and the local elders fixed their hands on him, intoning prophecies and prayers about his giftedness and future ministry.” Thus Paul was reminding Timothy that God had given him a spiritual gift to preach and other spiritual leaders had confirmed the validity of his gift. For Timothy to bail out of the ministry now or to waver in his preaching would negate his own ordination.

Every preacher can persevere as he recalls the affirmation of others, and ultimately the affirmation of God. Richard Glover has rightly noted, “None is a Christian minister who has not been ordained by the sovereign laying on of unseen hands.” If not fully persuaded of God’s call and gifting, a pastor may easily become discouraged when tough times come.

Excerpt taken from Famine in the Land, by Steven Lawson.