Many years ago, Folgers coffee ran commercials in which someone secretly exchanged a gourmet coffee with their brand. Of course, in the commercials, the unsuspecting coffee drinkers could not tell the difference. Additionally, many even claimed Folgers was better than the original brand.
Sadly, I see a similar trend prevalent in Christian circles – not with coffee, but with preaching and teaching. Many preachers today stand a passionately deliver messages to people who stand in great need to hear from God. But some deliver what amounts to a coach’s locker room speech rather than a clear, anointed message from God’s Word. They exchange the gourmet truth of God’s Word with the Folgers crystals of human insight and perspective.
[Tweet “If the message is not based on, rooted in, and filled through with God’s Word, it is merely a speech.”]