Here are some great words from Gary Gilley in his book, This Little Church Stayed Home – a follow up to his earlier book, This Little Church Went To Market.
“This is how God proposes his church be built up – through the careful, accurate and clear preaching and teaching of his Word. Nothing else will accomplish the task. We can tell inspiring stories, sing beautiful or peppy music, fill our calendars full of social events, professionalize our program and provide small groups for every conceivable interest, but if the Scripture is not diligently, systematically, and correctly taught, Christ’s people will not be equipped and the body will not be built up, period.”
“There are no exceptions to this mandate. The church must proclaim the ‘word of truth’ – it must be the utmost priority. Congregations which focus on techniques, programs and entertainment at the expense of the centrality of the Word, may build large followings but they will not build the church of God. Programs, drama and entertainment may amuse, soothe, inspire and stir the emotions, but they will not build Christians. Only the Word can do that.
Garry Gilley, This Little Church Stayed Home, p.58.
rev shane lems
The Reformed Reader Blog 
Great and clear explanation. However, I hope that Gilley also mentions somewhere along the line that the preaching the Word of Truth isn’t a kind of generic preaching of the Bible but that in order for it to be rightly called preaching it must be Christ-centered from the Word of Truth.
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True, Brad – preaching the Word means the law and the gospel!
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