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KingJimmy
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Joined: 2003/5/8
Posts: 4419
Charlotte, NC

 Preaching 101: What To Preach

2 Timothy 2:2 The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
Much bad preaching these days can be attributed to a simple problem: The preacher talks about whatever he wants to talk about, nevermind the passage of Scripture he is speaking from. His sermon would have been just the same should he have preached from either Genesis 1 or Psalm 23. In my decade as a Christian, I have heard many sermons, both good and bad. However, one thing I've noticed about almost every bad sermon I have heard is that the preacher refuses to let the text before them speak for itself. If they were to do this, there is no way they could deliver the same message from preaching out of Genesis 1 as they could if they preached out of Psalm 23.

Many young preachers are often at a loss for what it is they are supposed to preach. Indeed, many older preachers are too! However, I think the words of the apostle Paul above are clear enough: whatever it is we preach, we are to speak out of the content of the apostolic faith. The content of that apostolic faith is contained within the canon of Scripture. So, if the Lord leads you to preach from Psalm 23... preach from Psalm 23! Likewise, if the Lord leads you to preach from Genesis 1... preach from Genesis 1!

Whatever the passage you are preaching from says... say it yourself. Whatever the passage you are preaching from seems to emphasize... emphasize it yourself. In short, say whatever it says, and apply it however it says to apply it. Stick to the text! Let the text be your sermon outline, and pray that the Holy Spirit helps you to amplify the text to whosoever your audience may be.


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Jimmy H

 2008/6/17 9:08Profile
enid
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Joined: 2006/5/22
Posts: 2680
Nottingham, England

 Re: Preaching 101: What To Preach

Know what you mean. When you hear preachers preach a message that is totally unrelated to the text.

Seems like the Bible is used as a prop for the message.

But God is God, and it is His glory that should be our goal.

 2008/6/17 9:17Profile
crsschk
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Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
Santa Clara, CA

 Re: Preaching 101: What To Preach


Quote:
Stick to the text! Let the text be your sermon outline, and pray that the Holy Spirit helps you to amplify the text to whosoever your audience may be.




[i]And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.[/i] 1Co 2:4,5



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Mike Balog

 2008/6/17 9:18Profile
Fuegodedios
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Joined: 2007/2/21
Posts: 220
Richmond, VA

 Re:

Bad preaching has been the enemy of Good preaching for a long time. I preach in a lot of prisons and most of those guys get a candy and Ice cream Gospel. When you preach what the text says they look at you like "hey when are we going to start jumping and shouting" I want you to pronounce a blessing, lay hands on me, see angels they want you to entertain them feed their soul not their spirit. This is because bad preaching has made people so dull and opposed to the true gospel and the proper exegesis of text. and if you preach Revelation 20 my goodness they think your mad.


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Demetrius

 2008/6/17 9:26Profile
roadsign
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Joined: 2005/5/2
Posts: 3777


 Re:

Quote:
Seems like the Bible is used as a prop for the message.



This has been referred to as the "springboard" method. (I admit, sometimes our conversations can get like that too :-o)
Diane


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Diane

 2008/6/17 10:31Profile
KingJimmy
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Joined: 2003/5/8
Posts: 4419
Charlotte, NC

 Re:

Quote:

This has been referred to as the "springboard" method.



Indeed. When one uses the springboard method to preach, one simply has a sermon in search of any text that will do. And because of technology these days, finding a text that will fit your sermon isn't very hard to do. And if one is lucky enough, they can spiritualize the passage to mean whatever it is they want it to mean. Toss in some alliteration, add some raz-ma-taz, pepper with some old cliches, and wam-bam-thank-you-ma'am, you have something that people will confuse as a sermon.

It grieves me when such passes for a sermon today. It grieves me any more when such preachers get paid to do it. I remember after hearing one such sermon recently, that had I given any money in the offering that night, I would have asked for a refund for having to have listened to such junk.


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Jimmy H

 2008/6/17 12:30Profile
BlazedbyGod
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Joined: 2007/8/22
Posts: 462


 Re:

John Piper's " The Supremacy of God in Preaching"-is a wonderful book pertaining to this topic. The first chapter is simply amazing. The basis of the book is around the life of Jonathan Edwards, and how he preached, but he does indeed talk about what it is that we are supposed to preach, and how so. It is a wonderful book.

 2008/6/17 13:45Profile









 Re: Preaching 101: What To Preach


I am enjoying and learning from this thread. It seems to be very much "without guile", and simple, in a way that provides clarity.


The scripture that was quoted, in 2 Timothy however, has to do with teaching; instruction. not necessarily Preaching. We often forget that the early Church would look at you in bewilderment if you drug a pulpit in front of them, and began to speak down from it, and would be astounded if you implied that one man would consume 95% of the time of their gathering together.


It seemed that when the Holy Spirit was present, the entire [i]Body[/i] participated, with those considered weak, often, as the primary ministers. "One has a testimony,, one has a revelation, a prophesy[...above all, I desire that you would prophesy!], one has a teaching!....it was a body affair, men and women orchestrating the living hand of God Himself, as the holy Spirit moved upon all.


Of course, scripture proves out that their were instances when the Apostolic voice did dominate, as when the young man broke his neck after falling in sleep, as Paul went on and on.[ Paul was leaving soon, and had a lot to say with little time to do it in.] This was probably teaching and warnings, not necessarily Preaching.


The Word speaks of those who have an ear, let Him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches. Preaching is not necessarily directly from specific scriptures, at all. When A man or a woman testifies of the absolute Lordship of Jesus of Nazareth, and instills faith in the listeners about His Glory, perhaps hundreds of scriptures would be applicable, and perhaps a Bible would never be opened, but yet, it would be entirely and completely inspired and anointed by Jesus Himself.


This is how I see Preaching, myself. Yes, there may be a scripture, or a burden expressed within my heart, yet the outward expression of this Word, or "unction" of it, is up to me, as he leads. An illiterate man can be of the Irk of an Appollos, or a Spurgeon, for the unction, or anointing is of God alone, not squeezed into a carton of man's parameters. Remember, one half of the world is functionally illiterate. Are they doomed never to preach? Of course not. [I returned from China last winter, and all of the farming villages are mostly illiterate, in terms of our standards.


In every instance in India, as I preached , I waited on the Lord to give me that word, that unction. I never prepared as one may do so in a traditional sense, with notes, and sub notes, but wanted to grasp His Heart. Mostly, my burden for the Churches there was; "Christ in you, the hope of Glory!"...That each and every soul, from child to the elder, could be as close to Jesus, as anyone who ever lived. I believe the Lord desired this, to break off of them the idea of the Priesthood.[very strong in Hindi and super religious India.], and to prove His love for them as the individual...that God loved them very much as a person; WHOEVER they happened to be, or their social status.


I purposely waited, often not knowing what or how I would say anything, until after I was introduced, and I had to begin expressing my burden. The Bible was secondary to the unction. The Bible was paramount in Spirit, and I often quoted many scriptures as I spoke, and I don't believe I once contradicted it. [i]The Word and the Spirit agree.[/i].


I have stood upon a rock, and opened my mouth to preach to crowds that have never heard the Gospel; not once. I began with Genesis, and somehow got to a Godman, that took our sins away. I would, after a while, ask those who believed, to stay, and to come forward, to confess their new faith in the Godman, Jesus. Some would, some left. As they confessed their desire for Him to come, He did, and often with visible Holy Ghost Power, with signs. These weak did, and were born again. They were given Pastors to nurture them.



This was, and to date the purist form of preaching I've ever done. All with no Bible, but I did have the living Word within. The Spirit and the Word agree. I love the Bible, and to hear anointed exposition of it, yet in itself, without the Spirit, can be sounding brass; it can even kill.


In the early church there wasn't the idea of sitting silent waiting to get, but to participate in what was given, by God Himself. It was all Christ centered. The meeting, that we call Church, wasn't Church at all to them. Church was the unseen union and love with those who also had been redeemed in their local area, with whom they depended on, served, and lived with, as a child serves his parents. They loved to eat together, and be with each other. The idea of the handshake and hug in the hallway each Sunday when departing was preposterous to them, as much as we would say to our babies after we tucked them in. The meeting followed the union, not the other way around.


Our idea of someone preaching to us all of the time, would be just as odd.


[b]Preaching is the proclamation and emission of Faith and Truth from the lips of men.[/b]

 2008/6/17 14:35
Ruach34
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Joined: 2006/2/7
Posts: 296
Beijing

 Re:

I agree Fuego. Have not spent a lot of time in the prisons, but in the homeless shelters. There isn't a lot of hearty amens when you talk about men being tombs filled with dead mens bones, even whitewashing them to look better.

but, should we not remain faithful to the call of Christ who started his preaching tour with "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!"

Brother Tom, AMEN.

Quote:
It seemed that when the Holy Spirit was present, the entire Body participated, with those considered weak, often, as the primary ministers. "One has a testimony,, one has a revelation, a prophesy[...above all, I desire that you would prophesy!], one has a teaching!....it was a body affair, men and women orchestrating the living hand of God Himself, as the holy Spirit moved upon all.



Emphasis on, when the Holy Spirit was present...

Could it be, could it possibly be that there is a national delusion that men/women, even leaders think they are 'baptized in the Holy Spirit' but really are not? The Holy Spirit does not bring raz-ma-tazz and a BAM for emphasis, nor can He bring a gospel without power.

Is this the sad fact of unreality in our buildings we call 'church'?

Have many called what is actually evil, the Holy Spirit and what is the Holy Spirit, evil? This is blasphemy from which there is no rescue...

Didn't mean to cast any kind of mood on this post...can anyone identify or witness to what I've said?


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RICH

 2008/6/17 17:22Profile
KingJimmy
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Joined: 2003/5/8
Posts: 4419
Charlotte, NC

 Re:

Just for clarification here, by "preaching," I really had in mind the standard sermon/sunday school lesson/lecture format where exposition on the Scriptures are given.

Though, technically speaking, such isn't "preaching," as the word "preaching" comes from the greek word that means "to proclaim," and is generally looked at as something you do to non-believers, not the saved. When you "preach" to unbelievers, you are not so much looking to offer expository comments on a given passage of Scripture (though you might do such). Rather, you are simply looking to broadcast the Good News of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God to those who have never heard that news, or at least, have yet to believe it.

Like Tom, I am also a proponent of the 1 Cor 14 model of church. However, I think there is still a place for a less spontaneous model or element to a service, where the gifted apostle/prophet/teacher speaks for long intervals with little to no interuption (save perhaps to dialogue on an issue).

My aim is simply to say, if you are going to preach out of the Bible, actually preach "out of" the Bible. :-)


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Jimmy H

 2008/6/17 18:09Profile





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