I listened to Collins’ book on CD a couple years ago, and we’re reading it together now as a staff.

But this entry isn’t about the book. It’s about the title of the book.
It just struck me the other day that this title summarizes the shift I’m trying to make in my preaching methodology lately.

When I first started preaching, I spent a lot of time motivating people to be good.
This especially showed up when I was preaching to students.
Be good little Christians. Don’t drink. Don’t smoke. Don’t watch those movies. Don’t listen to that music. Don’t go to those parties.

Then about a year ago, I got really tired of teaching people how to be good little Christians.
The results of this kind of preaching didn’t last long and didn’t mean much.

So I decided to start motivating people to be great men and women of God instead.
So the objective of my preaching went from good to great.

According to Proverbs 29:18, if we can teach people how to fall in love with the future that God has designed for their lives, they will be restrained by vision, rather than being restrained (temporarily) by condemnation, stupid rules, and manmade regulations.

Let me break it on down.

We wouldn’t have to spend so much time yelling at students about not going to wild parties if we could teach them the implications of Acts 1:8, and they truly embraced the weight and potential of their calling as witnesses of the Most High God.
Their motivation for not going to wild parties would go from good
(the preacher told me not to and it makes God mad)
to great (God has an intricate and brilliant plan for my life and to screw it up with sin would diminish His glory).

It’s a lot more fun to call out the greatness of God in people than to beg them to be good. It’s a lot more Biblical too.
The Gospel is not about good Christians.
It’s about a great God who has deposited His greatness inside of you and me for His glory.

Preachers, stop trying to make bad people good.
Devote yourself to making God’s people great.
Show them a God sized vision of who they really are in Christ.
And watch what happens.