Dealing with a Difficult Audience - Martin Wiles

They are a stubborn and hard-hearted people. But I am sending you to say to them, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says!” Ezekiel 2:4 NLT

God never promises that what He asks us to do will be easy, and it wasn’t for Dad.

Other than when I was a small child, I only knew Dad as a preacher. Living in a preacher’s home makes one privy to information that the typical church member might not know. One thing entailed getting the inside scoop on how difficult some people can be.

I recall one church my father pastored. Mom, my two brothers, and Dad loved the area and the people. It was country living at its finest. I loved it too and soon decided to move to the area. No sooner had I settled in than Dad decided to move.

Dad and the members got along well, but one thing bothered him. On the Sunday of his resignation, he said, “I’ve been here two years, and no one has ever come forward during an altar call.” In Dad’s mind, this made them a difficult audience to preach to. Perhaps the needed decisions were all made in the pew, but Dad wanted to see action.

I’ve felt Dad’s concern. Having pastored several smaller membership churches, I, too, have preached hundreds of sermons and witnessed little, if any, movement to the altar. Maybe they, too, made their decisions in the pew.

Ezekiel, however, didn’t have to label his audience as difficult to preach to. God made the judgment for him. Stubborn. Hard-hearted. But God sent him anyway.

Whatever the audience God sends us to, our responsibility is to be faithful to His call. God doesn’t hold us responsible for their decisions—whether many, few, or none at all. Or whether the decisions have been made publicly or privately. Our job is to deliver the message God gives.

Sometimes, God has to remind us that even though we don’t see the fruit, it doesn’t mean it hasn’t been produced. Seeing matters of the heart is difficult. Our job is to trust God to give us the strength to do whatever task he assigns. And he will. As he does, he’ll walk by our sides, giving guidance the entire way.

When God calls you to deliver a message to a difficult audience, remember he’ll be faithful to you if you are faithful to him.

Father, enable me to trust you to guide me and give me the strength, regardless of the audience you call me to speak to. 

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