Deuteronomy 18:18 NKJV

18 I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.

The Message - The Call to Communicate

Deuteronomy 18:18 NLT

18 I will raise up a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell the people everything I command him.

Just as we, like the prophet in the Old Testament were called to GO and bring people back to the Lord. (Which i talked about in the mission)

We are also like the prophet in that we are given the call to communicate the Word of the Lord to the people.

This high calling is reiterated in the New Testament when Paul speaks to his son in the Gospel Timothy

2 Timothy 4:1–5 NKJV

1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

1 Timothy 1:1–5 NKJV

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope, 2 To Timothy, a true son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. 3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, 4 nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. 5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,

2 Timothy 4:1–5 NLT

1 I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he comes to set up his Kingdom: 2 Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. 3 For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will reject the truth and chase after myths. 5 But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you.

1 Timothy 1:4–5 NKJV

4 nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. 5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,

1 Timothy 4:1–5 NKJV

1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; 5 for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

The Power of preaching

First of all I want to state that the commission and the responsibility to preach the Gospel is a high calling!

There is tremendous power in the preaching of the Gospel!

In his book titled “We preach” the masterful preacher and author writes the following statement on the power of preaching:

No matter what our station, daily life in a fallen world is a walk through a gauntlet of belittlement. Those who attend our churches are daily bombarded by false values and beliefs that cheapen God’s creation, by personal slights and insults, by Satan’s accusations. Their minds are assaulted by scabrous images in the media and by profanity that is objectionable to God precisely because it debases the creation. They are subject to sins that mar God’s image within them. They suffer distorted images of themselves that distort God’s truth. After such a week, it’s a wonder that a person can walk into church with any sense of worth. . . .

“No matter what our station, daily life in a fallen world is a walk through a gauntlet of belittlement. Those who attend our churches are daily bombarded by false values and beliefs that cheapen God’s creation, by personal slights and insults, by Satan’s accusations. Their minds are assaulted by scabrous images in the media and by profanity that is objectionable to God precisely because it debases the creation. They are subject to sins that mar God’s image within them. They suffer distorted images of themselves that distort God’s truth. After such a week, it’s a wonder that a person can walk into church with any sense of worth. . . .

Jones, Jerry. We Preach: The Priority and Practice of Apostolic Preaching . Pentecostal Publishing House. Kindle Edition. After such a week, it’s a wonder that a person can walk into church with any sense of worth. . . .

Jones, Jerry. We Preach: The Priority and Practice of Apostolic Preaching . Pentecostal Publishing House. Kindle Edition.

But then they hear anointed preaching, and gravity reverses as people sense the upward pull of heaven. The sermon reveals the character of God, who infuses all life with meaning and majesty. The sermon tells who we are in God’s sight: created in the divine image, beloved beyond description, destined for glory. The sermon uncovers sins—then announces how to be redeemed. The sermon honors the morality that exalts humankind. The sermon assumes that people can think and discern about life and the Book of Life. The sermon appeals to the will, treating people as responsible agents whose choices matter forever. The sermon preaches Christ Immanuel, forever hallowing human flesh, second Adam who will one day resurrect believers in his likeness. A sermon is the most intense dose of dignity any person can receive.

Jones, Jerry. We Preach: The Priority and Practice of Apostolic Preaching . Pentecostal Publishing House. Kindle Edition.

Romans 10:14 KJV 1900

14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

Contrary to some opinions, the preacher is an essential component in the salvation of the lost!

In his book titled “We preach” the masterful preacher and author, Rev. Jerry Jones, writes the following statement on the power of preaching:

“No matter what our station, daily life in a fallen world is a walk through a gauntlet of belittlement. Those who attend our churches are daily bombarded by false values and beliefs that cheapen God’s creation, by personal slights and insults, by Satan’s accusations. Their minds are assaulted by scabrous images in the media and by profanity that is objectionable to God precisely because it debases the creation. They are subject to sins that mar God’s image within them. They suffer distorted images of themselves that distort God’s truth. After such a week, it’s a wonder that a person can walk into church with any sense of worth. . . .

But then they hear anointed preaching, and gravity reverses as people sense the upward pull of heaven. The sermon reveals the character of God, who infuses all life with meaning and majesty. The sermon tells who we are in God’s sight: created in the divine image, beloved beyond description, destined for glory. The sermon uncovers sins—then announces how to be redeemed. The sermon honors the morality that exalts humankind. The sermon assumes that people can think and discern about life and the Book of Life. The sermon appeals to the will, treating people as responsible agents whose choices matter forever. The sermon preaches Christ Immanuel, forever hallowing human flesh, second Adam who will one day resurrect believers in his likeness. A sermon is the most intense dose of dignity any person can receive.

Preaching is the communication of divine truth through human personality. - Phillips Brooks

A manifestation of the Incarnate Word, from the written Word, by the spoken word. - Bernard Manning

Jones, Jerry. We Preach: The Priority and Practice of Apostolic Preaching . Pentecostal Publishing House. Kindle Edition.

Jones, Jerry. We Preach: The Priority and Practice of Apostolic Preaching . Pentecostal Publishing House. Kindle Edition.

Secondly, I would state that we are called to preach! A preacher is simply a person that declares the Gospel. We are all called and commissioned to declare the Gospel.

The privilege of preaching

Next, I would state that we are not all called to the pulpit.

The pulpit is the place that God has positioned for a church to be given guidance. Obviously, the church would be utter chaos if every person that felt like they had something to say would just come to the pulpit and speak.

Speaking on the subject of ensuring there is order in the church and that its not just open mic night when we come together, Paul writes in “Let all things be done decently and in order”.

As the pulpit is the place that direction and instruction are given to a church, the most consistent voice in the pulpit should be that of the pastor, who is charged as the shepherd, the caretaker of the church tasked with leading the church as directed by the Lord.

It is the pastors responsibility to ensure that the pulpit is a protected place, where truth is proclaimed and that the people are fed.

In Paul addresses the elders of the church of Ephesus:

Acts 20:28–31 KJV 1900

28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

Acts 20:28

watch - Be on alert

A Pastor must be very careful in allowing someone into the pulpit. It could take little more than one 30 minute sermon or lesson to sow destruction that could take years to repair.

Therefore, when we are afforded the opportunity to stand in a place of authority and speak within the church, we should view that as a privilege!

it should never be an expectation or a feeling that we deserve an opportunity for pulpit ministry.

It is possible to become offended and feel that we have been unfairly overlooked when we are not given opportunity to preach.

We can become resentful of others that are given opportunities that we are not given.

These feelings can only survive in the a mindset of entitlement.

If you desire to preach, let me tell you a way to ensure you will have an opportunity to declare the Gospel…teach a bible study! Win a lost soul!

The bible tells us that our gifts will make room for themselves:

In the aforementioned book “We preach” by Jerry Jones, he makes this statement: “Make a place for yourself by serving and doing what is at hand with an unwavering commitment to doing your best. The calling will make a way; your ministry will be born. Learn to talk, to walk, then run. Opportunities will come if you will be faithful.”

He goes on to say that “It should not be easy to be a man or woman of God. It ought to cost as much in terms of sacrifice, commitment, and effort as to be a doctor or lawyer, and maybe even more.”

Jones, Jerry. We Preach: The Priority and Practice of Apostolic Preaching . Pentecostal Publishing House. Kindle Edition.

Jones, Jerry. We Preach: The Priority and Practice of Apostolic Preaching . Pentecostal Publishing House. Kindle Edition.

The Preparation of Preaching

When we are given an opportunity, we should give that opportunity our very best!

Today, with the internet, there are afforded loopholes in the process of preparation. We can simply go to a website and find a lesson that someone else has prayed over, studied and prepared for…and deliver that word. We bypass the time spent in prayer, research, preparation.

or, I know that often times, here we might give you a lesson that has been prepared. Many times, for example on a Wednesday night, you might be given the curriculum from pentecostal Publishing house. Just walking up and reading the lesson is a poor steward of an opportunity.

No matter what pulpit we are given to speak from…wether that be a Sunday school class, a youth class, a hyphen class, a Wednesday night Blitz....we need to give that opportunity our very best.

It may be that you find a sermon that someone else has prepared…I’m not saying that it is wrong to use that, but you need to spend the time to get that Word down in your “gut”! You need to make it your own!

If you are handed a prepared lesson, you need to take the time to study the lesson and make it your own!

You may think that nobody knows…I’ll just save myself a few hours and download this already prepared sermon or lesson, look over it real quick and then get up there and deliver it…and nobody will know. I assure you that it is much more evident than you may think.

I would say as a general rule of thumb, for preaching, you should spend at least ten times the amount of time that you will preach, in preparation.

That means that a 45 minute sermon should would require roughly 8 hours of preparation. that includes prayer, study, formatting and finishing touches. At a minimum. There are times that I spend at least 8 hours just in prayer, meditation and reading the bible to know what God is speaking.

For teaching, that number should increase. If you are going to teach a 45 minute class, you should plan to put 10 hours of preparation. Preaching lends itself to more inspiration. Therefore, one line of notes might be expounded upon for 10 minutes of preaching. Teaching is much more informational.

Preaching tends to take a passage and expound on various points within that passage. (the cool preacher word for that is expository preaching…to expound upon)

Teaching tends to take a thought and then use multiple passages to verify and confirm that thought.

If you aren’t willing to put the time into delivering a sermon or teaching a lesson…you aren’t fit for pulpit ministry.

I don’t want a doctor operating on me that hasn’t prepped for the procedure!

I don’t want a lawyer representing me that hasn’t spent time studying the details of the issue.

I surely don’t want a preacher preaching to me that didn’t spend time preparing for what he was going to deliver.

There are different mindsets concerning preparation of notes. I know that there are many that are adamant that you walk into the pulpit with a blank sheet of paper. Their school of thought is that it is in that moment that you step into the pulpit that you should be hearing from God.

If that works for them…God bless them. I will tell you that my school of thought is that God can speak to you three to four days ahead of when you step into that moment just the same.

Some preachers are outline preachers that can write down a few lines and a couple of passages, and then expound upon those and preach.

I am a word for word preacher. Meaning that I type out of my notes in a word for word format. I never preach them word for word as I have them prepared…there are always things that I will expound on and some things that I will cut out, depending on the move of the Spirit.

For me, it is in the process of typing out my notes, that the message is forged into my spirit.

Regardless of how you prepare your notes, my advice would be that you type out your introduction. While the entire sermon is important, if you lose the congregation in your introduction, it is very difficult to get them back.

The priorities of preaching

The first priority of preaching is to declare the truth of God’s word.

I find it amazing the people that come through Living Hope and declare how amazed they are that we still preach from the Bible. You would be surprised how many churches today the preacher simply stands and share inspirational stories or thoughts.

it is the truth that makes people free!

I dont have the time today to dig deep into this but:

the first obligation of the preacher is to ensure that he is accurately representing what the Bible is saying.

Now what I want it to say

Not what I need it to say to fit my sermon...

This is why Paul emphasized, in his charge to Timothy, preach the Word!

Following the 1st letter to Timothy, which contained the charge to Preach the word, Paul wrote a second letter which charged Timothy to “study to show thyself approved”.

2. Read the passage with its context. Note where it is recorded. To whom it was written. the cultural context in which it is written.

A few quick tips on ensuring we are being true to the text:

1. Read the passage within its context. - If what I am going to preach abuses the context, I am miss-using the passage.

2. Note where it is recorded -

3. To whom it was written.

4. the cultural context in which it is written.

- Avoid the temptation to stretch the scripture to say what you want it to say.

The second priority of preaching is to be relevant to your audience

Jesus demonstrated this in his speaking to crowds. He always conveyed biblical truths through stories that were culturally relevant to the crowd he was addressing.

Could he have just said, use the abilities that you’ve been given or when I return I’ll be very upset…absolutely, but instead He told the story of the three stewards that were given talents.

Finding a way to connect biblical truths to where people are living is a great challenge.

Remembering that the first priority is to retain the Biblical truth.

Watering down truth to be relevant to the audience is a grave mistake that leads to false doctrine and panders to the itching ears that Paul warned Timothy about.

We can become so culturally relevant that we become Biblically irrelevant

*Additional statements regarding being pertinent to your audience. -

Nobody is impressed by how much you know!

I’ve heard preachers get up and talk for 45 minutes and you could tell they were intelligent. You could tell that they had studied. It was impressive how much they knew…but when they got done, you had no idea what they had just said.

Don’t try to impress people with how smart you are. With how much you know on a given subject matter. Just state the point - build a bridge with how it applies to them and then compel them to respond.

I’ve heard people teach and preach and make 6 or 7 great points when they were preaching or teaching, but they either weren’t connected or weren’t progressive…in other words they didn’t lead anywhere...

K.I.S.S —> Keep it simple…Servant

Keep it simple…Servant

What is my main point? Do the illustrations, passages and points that I’ve made clarify the main point?

If I’m preaching on the power of praise and I use the illustration of how Swedish King Adolf Frederick died in 1771 after eating a king-sized meal of lobster, caviar, sauerkraut, smoked herring and champagne, followed by 14 super-sized servings of a swedish desert called “hetvägg” and then I used the text of proverbs 25:11

Proverbs 25:11 NKJV

11 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold In settings of silver.

Great topic to preach on!

Great illustration!

Beautiful passage!

One problem…there is no connection…i would spend more time in that sermon trying to make a connection than I would communicating truth.

That might be an extreme example…But I’ve heard worse...

*Another pet peeve:

don’t be edgy. The pulpit isn’t the place for you to prove how hip you are, or how close you can get to being worldly and still bring about a biblical truth.

I don’t have to preach “I’m in love with a stripper” in order to convey the Biblical truth that God wants to remove layers of sin from my life…there are a hundred different ways to bring about that truth that don’t involve us smearing mud on the sacred desk!

— Remember the pulpit is sacred.

The final priority of preaching is to bring them to a place of response

When you read about the Apostle’s preaching in the book of Acts, when they were finished, the audience was moved to a response.

after Peter preaches the first “sermon” of the church age, the audience was pricked in their heart and then they responded by asking “what shall we do”?

This first sermon of the church age clearly demonstrates this third priority of preaching:

preaching should elicit an emotional response - They were pricked in their heart. Preaching that doesn’t engage the emotions will never move people.

If the preacher doesn’t feel what we he/she is preaching, the audience they are preaching to will never feel anything.

Preaching should move the audience to a decision - they asked “what shall we do”.

If you are preaching on tithing you are moving people to a place where they must decide wether or not they will trust God in their finances.

They shouldn’t leave the service

If you are preaching on forgiveness, you moving people to a place where they must decide wether or not they will forgive..

For the sake of providing additional biblical support I would just name these others preachers and the response that their preaching provoked.

The most frustrating truth you will come to learn in ministry is that you can’t make people decide

It will frustrate you when you study and pray and prepare and then deliver the word and the very people that you know need to move to a place of decision scurry out the back door without so much as a move toward the altar.

For the sake of providing additional biblical support I would just name these others preachers and the response that their preaching provoked.

Acts chapter 7 verses 1 through 53, Stephen preaches to the audience. Vs. 54 says they were cut to the heart. Their decision…they rejected his preaching and they gnashed on him with their teeth… (not the response I usually am looking for)

Paul preaches to Felix and the bible says that as Paul preaches, Felix begins to tremble. And then he responds by telling Paul, “Go thy way, when it is more convenient in my life to respond the way that I know I need to, I will call for you”.

, the beginning of the revival among the Gentiles, while Peter yet preached, Cornelius and his household received the Holy Ghost…we know that cannot happen without an emotional response taking place…and then they obeyed Peter and were baptized.

, Paul and Silas had delivered a lifestyle sermon when they sang and praised in spite of persecution and imprisonment…and when the earth shook and the prison doors were opened, the jailer is ready to fall on his sword. Paul calls out “do yourself no harm, for we are all here”. Make no mistake…this was a message. The jailer had watched the entire scenario play out…and when the altar call was given the bible says he ran and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas and asked them “what must I do to be saved”?

If I could conclude this session this way…preaching (declaring the Word of the Lord) is an art…a craft. A very important craft.

Wether you are teaching a Bible study, teaching a Wednesday night Blitz, or preaching on Sunday morning, you should work to improve in the art of preaching.

Listen to preaching

Take notes of preaching

One tip that I have shared, is that much of my development as a preacher came from my approach to listening to others preach…I still do this every time someone else is preaching. Try to figure out where they are going. I start when they read the text and announce the title. This does two things…it forces me to pay close attention every step of the way, and it has helped me to develop the art of preparing a sermon.

When you are given an opportunity, view it as a privilege and be prepared to preach with excellence!