Preach the Full Counsel
Not Skipping the Hard Passages
Key Verse:
“For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.”
—Acts 20:27
The Temptation to Edit God’s Word
It happens to nearly every preacher.
You come across a passage with sharp edges. It’s culturally unpopular, doctrinally weighty, or emotionally charged. You pause… tempted to move past it and preach something more “encouraging” or “relevant.”
After all, there’s already enough controversy out there. Why add fuel to the fire from the pulpit?
But God never called pastors to be public relations officers for heaven. He called us to be heralds of His truth—all of it.
A Pastor’s Job is Not to Censor, but to Shepherd
When Paul met with the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, he said something striking: “I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God” (v. 27). In other words, Paul didn’t cherry-pick his sermons to fit the audience or the moment. He taught it all—from grace to judgment, from encouragement to rebuke, from salvation to sanctification.
A faithful pastor doesn’t just feed the sheep what they want—he feeds them what they need. That means preaching:
The justice of God, not just His mercy
The reality of hell, not just the hope of heaven
The demands of discipleship, not just the blessings of belief
When you preach only the comfortable parts of Scripture, you're not protecting your people—you’re weakening them.
Soft Sermons Can Produce Shallow Saints
The church doesn’t need motivational speeches. It needs the Word of God—full strength.
That means explaining difficult doctrines like divine wrath, repentance, the exclusivity of Christ, sexual morality, suffering, and submission to God’s authority.
Yes, these truths may offend.
Yes, some may leave.
But those who stay will grow deep roots.
The goal is not to entertain goats—it’s to feed sheep.
“Why Are You Preaching on That?”
Imagine this:
A well-meaning church member approaches you after a service and says, “Pastor, why do we have to talk about judgment and sin so much? Shouldn’t we focus more on grace?”
Your response might be something like this:
“Because grace only becomes amazing when we understand what we've been saved from.”
Hard passages shine light on our great need. And only then does the cross shine as our great hope.
Scripture Isn’t a Buffet
The Bible is not a buffet where we take the sweet and skip the bitter. It’s a complete meal—divinely inspired, wholly profitable, and essential for building up God’s people (2 Timothy 3:16–17).
Preaching the full counsel means preaching the entire counsel—Old and New Testaments, easy and difficult, well-known and obscure.
The same God who wrote John 3:16 also wrote Romans 1, Leviticus 18, Revelation 20, and Acts 5.
When You Preach the Hard Stuff, God Does the Heavy Lifting
You don’t have to make the hard texts “easier.” You just have to be faithful to explain them. Trust the Spirit to convict. Trust the Word to pierce. Trust God to bear the weight of truth.
Don’t carry the burden of outcomes. Just carry the responsibility to be faithful.
Prayer Thought
Lord, give me the courage to preach Your full counsel, even when it’s difficult, even when it costs. Help me not to water down Your Word to win applause. Teach me to speak with clarity, compassion, and conviction. Strengthen me to be a faithful herald—not of my opinions, but of Your truth. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Pastoring Tip of the Week
Keep a list of “avoided passages”—those you tend to skip over because they’re difficult. Make a plan to preach or teach each one. The very truths you avoid may be the ones your people need the most.
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Note: All Scripture from the NIV Bible Translation.