The Best Pastor/Preacher Today.

Anonymous asks, “In my view, John Macarthur is the best pastor/preacher today. Who do you think is the best one today?”

Easy.

Joel Osteen is.

Whoa.

What?!

Wait! Before you shoot me, hang me, string me up…let me answer the question!

Joel Osteen has built a congregation of over 20 thousand people. According to Wikipedia his preaching attracts over 45,000 attendees each week…SO… that has to make him one of the best “preachers” today…humanly speaking.  And he did it without the gospel.  Yes – WITHOUT the true gospel! The one he preaches is a feel good, prosperity “gospel” of crap.   But he has a great smile and can lift you out of your seat and float you around the room with his feel good stories and message of positivity!

BUT

I assume you mean a preacher who brings the true Gospel.

Who is the best preacher today who preaches the true gospel of Jesus?

Ok, yes I enjoy John Macarthur’s defense of Calvinism. I like Paul Washer’s emphasizing on having a living relationship with an almighty God, I appreciate Joel Beeke’s stressing of the covenant and Puritan values. I enjoy Chris Gordon’s simplicity in defining difficult doctrine. I like John Piper’s skilled oration. I also enjoy listening to other “celebrity pastors” such as Mark Driscoll, RC Sproul, Steve Lawson, Tim Conway, and Matt Chandler among others.  But I must assert …  these are simply men blessed by God with gifts in speaking or writing and proclaiming the gospel…but they are not the “best.”  It is not their skill that makes them any good, it is the message they bring, and who gives them the power.

Yes, God has blessed them all with abundant skill as preachers…but these men will never know my sin, my struggles, how I treat my wife and kids, my failures, my victories and so on.  They are not my pastors.  So who is the best? The best pastor/preacher today is the Holy Spirit working through a faithful pastor of a local congregation.  The man who humbly comes before his congregation every Lord’s Day and faithfully proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected is the best preacher.  The faithful “famous” pastor of the local faithful “mega church” to the faithful pastor of the faithful rural house congregation…both of those men and all of the pastors in between who are faithful to bringing the true gospel to the Lord’s sheep…

The best pastor/preacher is the one who slaves over the Word of God, who prays feverishly for you and the sheepfold he is tending, the one who brings you the true Gospel of Christ every Sunday, the one who cares for your soul. The best pastor/preacher is the one who loses sleep over your stumbling into sin, the one who will answer your phone call at 3am and race to the hospital to be with you when your son was in a car accident.  The one who will bring the Bible to the church picnic, the one who lives the gospel, the one who will proclaim it in the middle of night and shine the light of Christ on your darkest day while holding your hand and wiping your tears away….He is the best pastor/preacher.

The best preacher for me is my pastor.

And the best preacher for you is your pastor.

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.