Preaching
A Passage for Preachers (Titus 2)
I’ve read a ton of books on preaching. Listened to a bunch of preachers. And I still struggle as a preacher with basic stuff like am I accomplishing God’s goals in communicating His truths? What are His standards for preaching? I mean there are SO MANY theories on preaching: expository, topical, with notes, without notes, one point, multiple points, etc. etc. Sometimes it’s easy for me to lose my way. So last night as I was reading, I encountered what I think is the definitive chapter in the Bible on how to preach/teach — Titus 2. Here are some of my initial thoughts (I plan on studying this chapter A LOT):
WHAT SHOULD WE PREACH/TEACH:
–sound doctrine (v. 1)
–for live change and life application (v. 2-6; 12)
–salvation (v. 11; 13-14)
–Jesus as the Center, the Hero (v. 13-14)
HOW WE SHOULD PREACH/TEACH:
–with integrity and by our example (v. 7)
–with authority (v. 15)
–with seriousness (v. 7b)
–with inspiration that motivates people to do good (v. 7; 14)
AWESOME STUFF!!
Preaching
A friend and fellow planter asked me the other day what the one thing is that I’ve learned (and try to practice) when preparing a message.
It didn’t take me long to answer but it is something that God has continually shown me. My big lesson for message preparation is to have faith in the Word/text that you are speaking from. So many times after a hectic week I’ve been tempted to drop a passage I was studying in favor of something easier or more familiar … and after getting desparate … God would then open my eyes to see something cool, practical, and awesome in the text. God’s Word is the power and it is my ‘crutch’ (so to speak) as a teacher/communicator. I can’t improve upon it and folks love it when they leave a service understanding the Bible better AND able to apply something from it to their lives … because it works Monday through Saturday.