Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction." (2 Timothy 4:2)

Who among us, as a preacher, has not given extra thought to Paul's inspired words to his son in the gospel, Timothy? Perhaps your own "Paul" inscribed these words on the flyleaf of a favorite Bible. Maybe they came to you as a pastoral charge at the beginning of a ministry.

By God's grace, I shall never forget the first time my "Paul" underscored them for me. It was in my Uncle Sam's study at the back of his South Mississippi church a few days before I preached my first sermon. It was under his preaching that God first opened my eyes to the marvelous good news of His grace in Christ. I was blessed. He was not only my uncle, but my pastor, mentor, and friend.

A few years ago authors Thomas Peters and Nancy Austin collaborated on a best selling book about business. Their premise in A Passion for Excellence is three-fold, and might be paraphrased like this: First, to accomplish excellence always consider the needs of those you are trying to reach above all others. Second, allow your imagination to conjure up cutting-edge ways to do that. There is no such thing as warmed over greatness. Third, consider ways that you can inspire the people with whom you come in contact to reach for something beyond themselves.

While some time has passed since I read Peters' and Austin's book, its message has returned to the forefront of my thinking as I have contemplated my own preaching themes for another year. There is a strong correlation for preachers between what Paul writes to the young preacher Timothy, and the thesis of A Passion for Excellence. I have also been thinking of some of the preaching I have listened to recently and I find myself asking, "Where is our passion for excellence in our pulpits?" Although God entrusts preachers with the greatest news the world is ever going to hear, not all preachers are excellent. Worse, not all preachers seem motivated toward God-empowered brilliance.

Paul's biblical injunction to, "Preach the word," is about more than always being ready, although that surely is part of it. It is about earnestness as much as immediacy. His message for young Timothy is about excellence in preaching as much as it is about timeliness. That search for excellence in preaching has been fleshed out for me, not in the challenge of Austin and Peters but, in a three pronged Latin phrase, "Veritas plateat! Veritas placeat! Veritas moveat!"

For those who feel so inclined, these Latin phrases are a highfalutin' way to impress uppity folk who may not relate to the more straight forward K.I.S.S., (Keep it simple, stupid!). For the uninitiated, the Latin means, "Make the truth plain. Make the truth interesting. Make the truth moving." Those three phrases are, for me, foundation posts towards excellence in preaching. Moreover, they form the outline for this simple lesson to encourage expository preaching that honors Him who proclaimed Himself, "The Truth" (John 14:6).