SHOULD I PREACH THE SAME BIBLE MESSAGES I HAVE PREACHED BEFORE?
by Shawn Brasseaux
Friend, I see nothing wrong with that. Provided that you do not cover the same material every meeting, the exact same verses every week, there is no problem. From time to time, I re-teach Bible studies, though not verbatim. There are certain times when I reprint articles as well. Other Bible teachers and pastors I know review the same topics a few times a year. They look at the same set of verses but in a different order. Their messages are not precisely the same as before.
Remember, friend, there are only 66 Bible Books—we have a limited number of verses to preach and teach anyway. Only 13 of those Books, Paul’s epistles of Romans through Philemon, are to and about us. Study and teach all Bible Books, but, eventually, there will still be some overlap in your messages. In the long run, there will be repetition, but that is okay. Repetition is the key to teaching because it is key to learning. The Bible does talk about reminding the brethren of sound Bible doctrine. It should be brought back into their thinking. While they have already heard the material, they need to be exposed to it again to have more understanding and more maturity in that doctrine. We tend to forget the doctrine and we need to be reminded of it. Notice the following examples from Scripture:
- Luke 17:32: “Remember Lot’s wife.”
- 2 Timothy 2:14: “Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.”
- Ephesians 2:11: “Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;”
- 1 Timothy 4:6: “If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.”
- 2 Timothy 2:8: “Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:”
- Acts 20:35: “I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
- 2 Thessalonians 2:5: “Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?”
- Acts 20:31: “Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.”
- John 15:20: “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.”
- Jude 17-18: “[17] But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; [18] How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.”
- 2 Peter 1:12-15: “[12] Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. [13] Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; [14] Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me. [15] Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.”
- 1 Corinthians 4:17: “For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.”
- Jude 5: “I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.”
- 2 Peter 3:1: “This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:”
Also see:
» How does one know if he or she is maturing in the Word of God?
» Did not Jesus speak words not recorded in Scripture?
» Can we witness too much to family members?
