The Bible tells us that while Christ is not physically on earth, he makes his Spirit visible in the world through believers who exercise sacrificial love and hospitality, and through the preaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments.
The internet can be a great tool for preaching, but it can also be a hindrance to preaching. This article provides seven ways that the internet makes preaching difficult.
How can you become a better preacher and teacher? Here are fifteen ways of improving your preaching and teaching.
What is the goal of preaching? Who is your preaching about? This article explains that preaching is a matter of the heart being pointed toward Christ.
Why is preaching with conviction at the heart of effective preaching? Because such preaching is penetrating, persuasive, and personal.
Preaching God's Word to his people implies addressing the needs of the church through the Word. This article explains that it is important to preach to crisis needs, and identifies common crisis needs and how preaching should address them.
Preaching God's Word to his people implies addressing the needs of the church through the word. This article explains that preaching to the grieving is crucial, and identifies different kinds of grief to which preaching must speak.
Preaching God's Word involves addressing the needs of the church. This article explains that preaching to the emotional needs of people is crucial. It explains the dangers of psychological preaching and addresses a proper way of preaching to emotional needs.
We may say too much in a single sermon, we may give a field of wheat instead of a loaf of bread.
Which personal pronouns should you use in preaching? Should it be "you and we," or "you and I"?
This article establishes that preaching is difficult work, and is not for just anyone. It presents seven key pitfalls that preachers need to avoid.
What preaching method works best, preaching from a manuscript, notes, or no notes?
This article explains that the greatest risk in using technology in preaching is not distraction but missing God himself.
How do Christ's undershepherds come to grips with the truth that they are sinners preaching to sinners? This article explains that preachers have to sit under their own preaching and teaching.
Can preaching be taught? Yes. However, this article argues that to discern whether someone can indeed learn to preach, it is important to see the following in the person: a sense of calling, a teachable spirit, a passionate heart, and a reckless abandon to risk being a fool for Christ.
This article addresses the question "How do we disciple?" by considering discipleship by preaching. All disciples are formed and strengthened by preaching.
This article explains that preaching ought be recognized less as sophisticated and more as cross-centred, after the example and teaching of Christ and his apostles.
The Bible uses stories (narrative) to reveal who God is, what God desires, how God acts, and how God wants humans to respond to him. Too often preachers ignore the narrative structure of the Bible. This article wants to encourage preaching that honours the narrative structure, content, and purpose of narrative texts.
This article explains that preaching needs to be Word-centred, rather than focused on the preacher. It provides three considerations for building a Word-centred church.
This article stresses that the heart of true biblical worship is the preaching of God's Word. It issues a call for faithful expository preaching, and lists three characteristics of such preaching.
This article reflects on the character and spirit of preaching and celebration during the Advent season.
Christ-centred preaching starts with your exegesis. This article explains the need and benefits of reading the Bible in a Christ-centred way.
This is a review article of Preaching and Leading Worship, by William H. Willimon. It indicates that Willimon has a balanced approach: he sees the need for appraising and evaluating worship but guards against a craze for novelty. The book provides suggestions for preparing for and conducting worship. Willimon provides guidelines on preaching—on both the preparation and delivery of sermons.
What is the greatest need of the church? It is Jesus Christ, who comes to us through the preaching of the gospel. The church needs gospel preaching all the time. Why? This article offers five reasons.
Christ-centred preaching should be the desire of every pastor, in order to make mature followers of Christ. This article shows from the apostle Paul that Christ-centred preaching is possible when the preacher preaches like an evangelist, a prophet, and a theologian.
This article lists several reasons why preachers should not use illustrations from movies in their preaching.
Do you preach doxologically? This article shows how preaching itself needs to be an act of worship.
Does preaching still have any meaning in our time and age? Is the sermon a relic of the past? This essay wants to reflect on the theological question of what preaching really is. The true renewal of preaching can only happen in the way of understanding the real nature and function of preaching. A renewal on the level of preaching technique alone is not really a renewal at all. In the New Testament, we find the origin of what Christian preaching is. Some key terms used for preaching are examined.
Preaching today often lacks a call to repentance. This article explains why and explains the fruits of preaching repentance based on Scripture.
God tells us that the preaching of the Word is the most powerful tool of evangelism. Are churches and members today being effective in this preaching of the gospel? This article weighs in.
Based on Lord’s Day 44 of the Heidelberg Catechism, this article gives reasons for the need of the preaching of the law. It shows that such preaching is essential to the health of the church and the believer.
Man's mind is by nature at war with God's truth. Preaching, however, can transform the mind. This article offers ways to addressing the mind and making the Word of God effectual to our hearers.
What makes preaching earnest? This article offers four characteristics: know the text, feel the truth, love the people, and keep the sermon simple.
As a preacher what should you do if your congregation struggles with your preaching? Cultivate humility, openness, gentleness, patience, and focus.
In preaching how do you persuade others who are listening? This article offers three aspects to consider for persuasive preaching.
Christ-centred preaching is vital for the church. Yet there is a fine line between preaching that is Christocentric and Christomonic. The latter preaches Christ from Scripture to the neglect of the Father and the Spirit. This article explains the tendency to slip into Christomonic preaching, and reminds from Scripture how Jesus' work of redemption includes the Father and the Spirit working with him to that end.
Preaching at the funeral of someone who was almost surely an unbeliever is very difficult. This article offers a few things worth considering if you are given such an opportunity: talk about the fall, death, and judgment, exalt Christ, hold out the hope of the resurrection, emphasize the role of faith, and stay away from eulogizing.
Should every sermon bring its hearers to the cross, even if Christ himself did not do so? This article shows how everything the Lord Jesus said during his earthly ministry on the way to the cross must be read in the light of what he would accomplish at the cross. Thus, preaching needs to have the blood of Christ as its focal point every time again.
This article offers seven fundamentals to preaching faithfully, including the following: preach expositional sermons, preach the whole counsel of God, preach to yourself, and preach Christ.
From Matthew 24:14 this article shows that the preaching of the gospel to the whole world will precede the second coming of Christ. This preaching is about the kingdom, and its purpose is to save the elect and render people without excuse.
What is preaching and why is it so important? This paper considers the significance of preaching in its relationship with the Word of God. It indicates the importance of seeing Christ as the Word that God presents to the world. It also defines the relationship between God's Word and apostolic preaching. In the last section the article examines the relationship between the Word of God and contemporary preaching.
This article provides several benefits of preaching through whole books of the Bible (series preaching). Some of the reasons are: pastors are to preach the whole counsel of God, preaching through a book allows the minister and congregation to better absorb the purpose of God, and it gives a better understanding of a particular book and of biblical theology.
Preaching is central to Reformed worship. This article shows that this was at the heart of the Reformation, and it gives three reasons why preaching is important.
Is preaching the sole means for presenting the gospel in evangelism? This article shows how John Bunyan defended his use of allegory in his Pilgrim's Progress to confront people with the claims of the gospel on their lives.
What does Paul mean in 2 Corinthians 4:5 when he says, "We do not preach ourselves"? This article weighs in, offering an exposition of this verse in context. Preaching ourselves will never solve the world's problem.
Using a full manuscript can be beneficial for your preaching. This article gives five reasons why.
Should a pastor use the second person pronoun in his preaching? This article lists three reasons in support of this.
This article assesses the approach of Martin Luther to preaching, and how in spite of its one-size-fits-all approach, it reminds us that the Word of God has power in itself.
Should you use quotations in sermons? Quotations in preaching can be a hindrance or a help. How should you use them? This article gives six rules to guide you.
Every pastor wants to preach an effective sermon. He wants his preaching to be of help to his people. This article offers a pastor some ways to help people follow his preaching.
Every pastor wants to preach an effective sermon. He wants his preaching to be of help to his people. What makes for an effective sermon? It is partly what you say in your introduction. This article offers some suggestions on how to draft an effective sermon introduction.
Every pastor wants to preach an effective sermon. He wants his preaching to be of help to his people. What makes for an effective sermon?
If you have a great exegetical insight, just how do you communicate it in preaching without losing your hearers' attention? This article suggests five ways.
Understanding the message of a Bible book is a great help to preaching from that book. This article encourages the use of thematic outlines for that purpose.
This article argues that the plan of God played a big role in the writings of Luke and thus in the book of Acts. The author argues that the "plan of God" forms the theological basis for what Luke understood as preaching. It was God who acted through the preaching of the apostles. The preaching of the disciples is a result of God working out his plan for the nations. The plan of God also determines the content of the preaching.
How can you improve your preaching? It is not by trying tricks, but by being committed to preaching the gospel. Let this article explain from 1 Timothy 4:13-16 how you can make progress.
This article explains Martin Luther's position on preaching: it must have substance, come with authority, and depend on the power of the Holy Spirit.
This article looks at the place of preaching, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper in public worship.
This article declares that preaching is "inherently dangerous." What it means is that preaching that balances declaration with application, or information with challenge, is risky but necessary. The author gives seven reasons why he speaks in this way.
This article is written from the conviction the preaching is the creation of the gospel itself. The concern of this article is that classic preaching as proclamation has almost completely disappeared from the life and agenda of the church.
Preaching should aim at communicating the Holy Spirit's purpose in the text. This article explains what that purpose is, and how it should shape the sermon outline and the points of the sermon.
In preaching, how can you communicate effectively? This article suggests that after doing your exegesis you need to work on the form of preaching, and the author explains what that is.
You can greatly improve your preaching by listening to other preachers. How do you do about choosing good sermon audios that you can listen to? This article suggests it is by learning to analyze them in three areas.
Issues contributing to the failure of making preaching a pleasure among pastors is lack of time and good planning. This article aims at addressing this two by showing how pastors can have a preaching plan that can give them the time needed.
Moving from explanation to application in a sermon can be a challenge. This is where most preaching fails. This article discusses a number of ways one can personalize the message.
This article calls for a balance in preaching, between heralding the whole counsel of God and including an evangelistic component.
It is a fact that cannot be denied: preaching is hard work. Therefore, can it be that poor preaching is the failure to spend adequate time and energy in preparation? This article believes so, and suggests ways of dealing with such a failure.
Illustrations in preaching help make a point clearer, show how to implement biblical requirements, and help make truth practical and memorable. But how does one make sure he uses illustrations for the right purpose? This article offers some principles one can follow.
What is the difference between preaching a sermon and preaching to a congregation? First, we have to know if there is a difference between preaching and sermon. This article attempts to address this issue.
In a culture that is fascinated by youth, preaching to the elderly can be easily neglected. How does preaching to the elderly look like? This article answers this question.
How can you go about selecting a preaching text? This article discusses four determining factors for choosing a preaching portion.
Is your preaching balanced? Are there subjects you are not preaching about? This article argues that some of the more stern teachings of Scripture are being neglected.
There are many goals of preaching, yet this article focuses on one: helping the hearers think and read for themselves. It encourages pastors to exercise their skills for this end. Definitions of exegesis, biblical theology, and systematic theology are offered in the article as well.
Reformed worship cannot be judged by whether is it traditional or contemporary. In its nature it is covenantal. The nature of covenant worship is found in its union between God and his people, centred on God’s Word. In this article the focus is on preaching in worship.
The article argues that what is lacking in preaching today is parresia, the courage to speak without fear of consequences.
This article explains that the preaching of the gospel may not be limited to an emphasis on justification alone, but needs to include a word also on regeneration and sanctification.
