PREACHING AND TEACHING IV. Preaching A. Introduction Homiletics is the science and art of preaching. Ab homilyb is a sermon. Preachers are to proclaim the Gospel—the Good News of Jesus Christ. Those who deliver messages not found in the Bible are not preaching the Gospel. Those who deliver sermons that distort the Bible are not preaching the Gospel. Faithful preachers follow the Holy Spirit in proclaiming the truth of Scripture.
Pastors do most of the preaching . If you area pastor, you are the shepherd of a flock—the congregation in a local church.
You communicate not only the words of sermons you communicate who you are. You have a special relationship with those in a local church. You and the congregation are all members of the body of Christ. But members of the congregation look to you for words of guidance and comfort—words inspired by God. They look to you as a role model. Christ is the ultimate role model. But sheep follow a shepherd, and a congregation follows a pastor. A congregation is concerned about how much you know, but they are more concerned with how much you care. They want to know that you care for them. After all, the two greatest commandments are about love—love for God and for people. Most preaching is done in the context of an ongoing relationship between the preacher and the listeners. Preachers speak
at a certain time in history, to a certain people, in a certain place. The truth
of Scripture does not change, but the language in which the truth is presented changes with time and from culture to culture.
So a preacher needs to speak in the heart language of the listener. One’s heart language is one’s language of choice—the language spoken in Share with your friends: