I read of a local satanic assembly that actually held all night prayer services, praying against the pastor of one church. This cult met in a house located directly behind the church. They even sent letters to the church telling them of their evil practice. The pastor, a great pulpiteer, soon left his wife. The Satan worshipers then left the area (Merida, Tony. Faithful Preaching (pp. 146-147). B&H Publishing. Kindle Edition).
Read moreNEW Review of Abraham Kuruvilla’s “Christiconic View” of Preaching
This is a review of Abraham Kuruvilla’s “Chisticonic View” in Hermeneutics and Homiletics: Four Views of Preaching. Kuruvilla brings some important corrections to the Christocentric view, but he agrees with the Christocentric on some points. This review will highlight these differences.
Read moreIs There a Difference between Preaching and Teaching in the Pulpit?
There is an intermural debate among Christan preachers as to whether a pastor is preaching or teaching or a combination of both when he is in the pulpit.
R. C. Sproul in The Difference Between Preaching and Teaching (click to open), makes little distinction between preaching and teaching in the pulpit:
Typically, we distinguish between preaching and teaching. Preaching involves such things as exhortation, exposition, admonition, encouragement, and comfort, while teaching is the transfer of information and instruction in various areas of content. In practice, however, there is much overlap between the two. Preaching must communicate content and include teaching, and teaching people the things of God cannot be done in a neutral manner but must exhort them to heed and obey the Word of Christ. God’s people need both preaching and teaching.
Sproul acknowledges that the element of persuasion is essential to teaching. Teaching like preaching includes persuading the listeners “to heed and obey the Word of Christ.”
Read morePreaching through Books of the Bible
W. A. Criswell was pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas from 1944-1991. He demonstrated the importance of preaching through books of the Bible. In Why I Preach That the Bible is Literally True W. A. Criswell wrote that “Soon after coming to the pastorate of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, I made an announcement that I would preach through the Bible. It was my first intention to go through the Book much faster than I finally did. In fact, at first, I did preach rapidly through the books of the Old Testament. But as the days multiplied, I found myself going slower and slower and slower. Finally, I came to the place where I preached for several years on some of the sections of the New Testament. In all, from Genesis to Revelation, I spent seventeen years and eight months going through the Book. where I left off Sunday morning, I began Sunday evening; where I left off the previous Sunday night, I began the following Sunday morning.
Read moreHomiletical or Basic Sermon Outline
Here is a basic homiletical or sermon outline that many homileticians teach, such as Tony Merdia in his book Faithful Preaching. My version has argumentation whereas his does not.
Read moreSTEP THREE: Discover the Main Point of the Sermon (Reduce the sermon to one sentence)
The Proposition is the sermon reduced to one sentence. If one of your members were asked by a friend at work on Monday, “What did your pastor preach about yesterday?” Your church member ought to be able to reply, without hardly thinking, what your proposition was or your sermon reduced to one sentence. “Our pastor preached, ‘You must be born again from John 3.'”
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