What If Discomfort Is A Sign Of Good Preaching Artwork

Every Day Carry: A Daily Word for Men

Every man carries something. The question is whether you're carrying what God gave you to carry — or something you were never meant to hold.

Every Day Carry is a daily devotional podcast for men who are done settling for less than who God actually called them to be. Five days a week, host Brian Crum opens Scripture in its real context — no feel-good reinterpretation, no fluff — and hands you one clear charge to carry into your day. Each week follows a single theme, from leading your household to guarding your mind to standing firm under pressure, so the Word builds on itself instead of scattering.

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Every Day Carry: A Daily Word for Men

What If Discomfort Is A Sign Of Good Preaching

September 02, 2026 • MensMinistry.online • Season 1 • Episode 13

0:00 | 7:22

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If you’ve ever left church thinking, “That sermon was uncomfortable,” you might have just stumbled onto a sign of real, faithful preaching. We open up 2 Timothy 4 where Paul speaks like he’s in a courtroom, charging a pastor-to-be in the presence of God and Christ to do one clear thing: preach the Word. Not opinions. Not crowd-tested inspiration. The King’s message delivered intact, even when it costs the messenger something.

From there, we slow down on one of the most misread warnings in the Bible: “itching ears.” Paul doesn’t put the main blame on the teachers, he puts it on the people who won’t endure sound doctrine and who pile up voices until they find one that matches their passions. That hits home in modern church culture where sermons can become a market response, shaped by what we reward, complain about, or demand. We ask the hard question: if the preaching has gone thin where we sit, did we help write the shopping list?

We also flip the script on how we respond to pastors. If Scripture presses on you, convicts you, and calls you to repentance on a random Tuesday, that’s not automatically a failure of “delivery,” it can be evidence of a man doing his job. We end with a simple challenge: name one time in the last month you were convicted from the pulpit, thank God, and tell your pastor the specific thing you needed to hear. Subscribe, share this with a brother, and leave a five-star rating and review so more men can carry the Word with us.

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Scripture references are taken from the ESV (English Standard Version) unless otherwise noted.

What Are You Carrying Today

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Every minute carrying something. Clot a minute. Are you carrying what collectively carry? Or are you carrying something you are never meant to even hold? Get ready to lock deals with your brothers in crime. And take up your cross and follow him. This is everyday carry. A daily word for men. Let's carry it.

Why Character Comes First

SPEAKER_01 0:25

And we're back. It is the middle of the week, brother. I'm here. You're here. Let's get this thing started, alright? So yesterday we walked Paul's qualifications for an overseer, and we found 14 of the 15 are character. Today we're actually going to find out what that man is supposed to do when he stands up.

The Courtroom Charge To Preach

SPEAKER_01 0:43

In 2 Timothy 4, and I want you to hear the weight that Paul puts on this because verse 1 is actually a courtroom. I charge you, in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, preach the word. Paul's dying when he writes this. He swears to him at the end like a witness under oath, and then the command lands in three words. That verb is caruso. It means to herald. And a herald has one job. Carry a message from a king and deliver it intact. You see, the herald didn't write it. He wasn't asked to improve it. He isn't asked whether or not the crowd will like it. His whole integrity rests on delivering the message exactly the way it was handed to him. And then Paul says how? Be ready in season and out of season. Two Greek words sitting side by side, literally meaning at good times and at bad times. Preach it when they want it and preach it when they don't. And then verse 3, he tells you why he had to say that.

Itching Ears And Shopping For Teachers

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Because I think we skim it too often, and it hits a little closer to home than most of us probably want to admit. 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. Brother, almost everybody reads that wrong. And I gotta be honest, I read it wrong for years. But look who Paul blames. He doesn't blame the false teachers. He blames the people. That's you and me. People will not endure sound teaching. That word means to bear up under, or to put up with. Paul says a time comes when a congregation can't stomach solid doctrine. Not because it's unavailable, they just don't tolerate it. Having itching ears means an itch that demands scratching. Well, it's created a demand, right? And then Paul's next word is almost sarcastic. They will accumulate teachers. Episoroyo. To heap up, to pile on. Paul pictures people stacking teachers like inventory until they find one who scratches their itch. To suit their own passions. Sound too familiar? The congregation writes the specification, and then they go shopping. Here's what we want. Do you see it? Bad preaching is usually

When The Market Shapes The Pulpit

SPEAKER_01 3:45

a market response. The crowd created the demand, and then somebody supplied it. Which means a faithful preacher is actually defined largely by what he refuses to give people who are asking for it. So let me give you one more gentle rebuke here because it cuts against how men like me usually talk about this. When a church goes soft, our instinct is to say it got hijacked, right? A bad shepherd came in and ruined a good flock. Sometimes that does happen. Paul warns about wolves, plenty. But here, well, his warning actually runs the other direction. You see, congregations frequently get exactly the man they were asking for. Nobody was deceived against their will, but they actually put together the shopping list and ordered it. So, if the preaching where you sit has gone thin, no sin named, no repentance called for, nothing that ever costs you anything on a Tuesday, well, before you go getting angry at that one man, you need to ask yourself honestly, who actually asked for that? Do I? Because if I only feel fed when I feel encouraged, well then I'm part of the market that Paul is describing. Then in verse 5, it says, As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry, endure suffering. Paul assumes preaching the actual word will cost the preacher something. And here's the flip side, because here's actually the whole point of today.

Discomfort As Evidence Of Faithfulness

SPEAKER_01 5:30

If your pastor has made you feel uncomfortable with scripture, if you preach something that landed on you and you actually didn't enjoy it, that's not a strike against him. In fact, that may actually be the best evidence you have that the man is actually doing his job. Most pastors hear from you when you're unhappy. Very few ever hear a man say, That was hard, and I needed it. So, that leads us to today's charge.

Text Your Pastor The Conviction

SPEAKER_01 6:00

So here's the carry for today. I want you to think back over the last month of preaching at your church, and I want you to name one time that you were genuinely made uncomfortable by scripture from that pulpit. If you can name one, thank God for it. Then text or email your pastor today. Now, not a compli uh complaint. I want you not to compliment him on his delivery. Ah, dead coming. Okay. So here's the charge for today. I want you to think back over the last month of preaching at your church, and I want you to name one time you were genuinely made uncomfortable by scripture from that pulpit. If you can name one, thank God for it. Then text or email your pastor today. Not a compliment on his delivery. Tell him the specific thing that convicted you that you needed. And I want you to send it before your head hits the pillow tonight. Okay? Now, if you can't name one in a month, don't act on that yet. Uh don't go storming the doors or anything. Just write it down and sit with it. That's your finding. And we'll deal with that next week. Now we're halfway through the week, so don't quit now. I'll see you back here tomorrow. Carry on, brother.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Thanks for joining us for today's episode. Share today's episode with a brother in Christ that needs to hear this too. And be sure to leave us a five star rating and review to help spread the word to more men just like you. This has been Everyday Carrie. A daily work for men. Stay confirmed.

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Brian Crum

Host