Preaching Lab (Session 1)

Nate Whitley

Cutting it Straight • Sermon • Submitted 7 years ago

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Preach The Word

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:

preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

There are nine imperatives that Paul gives Timothy in this section beginning in verse 2. Preach, be ready, reprove, rebuke, exhort, be sober, endure, do, fulfill (,)

Preach, be ready, reprove, rebuke, exhort) and four in verse 5 (Be sober, endure, do, fulfill).

“Preach” is the first command. The word “preach” in the Greek means to herald, to proclaim publicly. The verb “preach” is used at least 61 times in the New Testament.

In New Testament times, the herald, acting as imperial messenger, would go through the streets of a city to announce special events, such as the appearing of the emperor. His duties also included public announcement of new laws or government policies and actions.

Every ruler had a herald to whom he entrusted messages and announcements. When speaking in official matters the herald had royal authority. Heralds were under obligation to deliver the message without alteration. A herald was accountable to his ruler for the exact representation and reproduction of the given message. The Greek herald was given no room for personal interpretation or negotiation in the proclamation process.

The man of God is the herald of Jesus Christ. We are to proclaim the message of the King and His Kingdom.

How and where are we to begin to put together a sermon or message to preach? What are we to preach? Who are we preaching to?

Step One: Pray

Hypothetically, let’s say you have been asked to minister to a youth Sunday school class of teenagers and college aged students.

Prayer would be my first step. Before beginning to study and prepare a sermon I would pray. Remember, we are heralds speaking on behalf of the King. What would He have us to say?

The man of God has the responsibility as he seeks to be faithful to the leading of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit inspired Scriptures. The man of God is led of the Holy Spirit, and feels compelled to a particular topic and subject. However, this is cultivated in prayer.

Pastor Jerry Dean said, “I rarely pray longer than 30 minutes at a time, but I rarely go longer then 30 minutes without praying.”

JT Pugh said, “Study like there is no such thing as the anointing; pray like there is nothing but the anointing.”

I heard John Piper use this before and I have found it very helpful.

A.P.T.A.T

Admit you can do nothing without God (). Pray for help (). Trust a specific promise (). Act (). Thank God for his provision and goodness ().

Admit you can do nothing without God ().

Pray for help ().

Trust a specific biblical promise.

Act ().

Thank God for his provision and goodness ().

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1995). 2 Timothy (p. 170). Chicago: Moody Press.

Step Two: Selecting a Text

Paul did not just say, “Preach!” He said, “Preach the word” ().

We are to preach the Word of God. It is important to saturate your heart and mind with the Word of God, so when you are led of the Spirit you can reminded of something in the Scriptures.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:

The Holy Spirit cannot not remind you of something you’ve not read or studied. That’s not to say that the Holy Spirit couldn’t lead you to study something at length.

John Wesley stated, “I do not study the Bible to preach. I preach because I’ve studied the Bible.”

Better to draw something the deep wells of your personal study, than attempt to cram something into your empty well.

We are not such wiseacres to believe the idea that God will supernaturally put something into our hearts and mouths the moment we step to the pulpit. Select the text and study and prepare.

Keys to Text Selection

1. Know the Audience

Who will you be preaching or teaching to? What is the age group? Social background? Are they primarily believers or unbelievers? Biblical literacy?

These are important questions to ask as you pray and prepare. We do not water down the message, but we can custom tailor the message to the audience.

I cannot stress how important this is part of the preparation is. If you study Jesus and Paul in the New Testament they preached and taught the same message but used different methods to cater to their listeners.

2. Know the Setting

When will you be preaching? Where will you be preaching? How long are you to preach?

Again, knowing this information will be beneficial to the effectiveness of your ministry. I’ve seen and heard a lot of good sermons fall flat because the delivery and content did not match the setting.

3. Know the Text

Study and know the text or topic that you are going to preach from. Go back and look at the 8 Tips for Cutting it Straight. This will help you identify the correct interpretation. Once you have a firm grip on the interpretation you can now start working towards writing an outline and seeking the Spirit for application.

In our next Preaching Lab we will look at studying and writing out an effective outline.