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Jesus-Centred
Expository Preaching

Dr Christopher Peppler

© C.L.Peppler 2007
Edited 2011 & 2014
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Module One

Introduction & Seeking ‘the word’

This workshop covers the issue that are critical to good preaching; it is not an ABC of
preaching. The focus is on preaching (homiletics) and not biblical interpretation
(hermeneutics).

The workshop is designed to impart crucial skills but also to impart a deep respect and
passion for Jesus and the Bible.

Much of the workshop will consist of small group work.

The material is designed for use by preachers in many different cultural settings and so
has not been customised for any particular culture or language group.

Some sections of material are on a grey background to indicate that, although not used
in the workshop, they are to be read at some other time.

Module One – Introduction and Seeking the ‘word’

Module Two – Interpreting the Word: Exegesis
Module Three – Forming the ‘word’: Purpose & Proposition
Module Four – Forming the ‘word’: Structure
Module Five – Forming the ‘word’: Illustration, Introduction & Conclusion
Module Six – Delivering the ‘word’
Module Seven - Conclusion
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1. Theological foundations for preaching

a. Revelation:
Originates with God ‘For prophecy never had its origin in the will of
man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy
Spirit.’ (2 Pet 1:21)

Centred in Jesus Christ ‘But these are written that you may believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may
have life in his name.’ (Jn 20:31)

Inscripturated ‘For everything that was written in the past was written
to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the
Scriptures we might have hope.’ (Rom 15:4)

b. The Bible:
Inspiration ‘All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…’ (2 Tim 3:16)

Sufficiency ‘…so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for
every good work.’ (2 Tim 3:17)

c. Preaching:
Calling ‘…and at his appointed season he brought his word to light
through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our
Saviour’. (Tit 1:3)

Power & Authority ‘My message and my preaching were not with
wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,
so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.’
(1 Cor 2:4-5)

2. Definition: ‘Preaching is the authoritative pronouncement of the Word

of God with power’ C.L.Peppler

a. Authoritative: Lk 4:32 Jesus’ message had authority

Mtt 28:18 “all authority… therefore go…”

b. Pronouncement: Not ‘sharing’ Mtt 10:7 “as you go preach

This message.” Kay-roos-so = procalaim.

c. Word of God: Jesus through the Bible

d. Power: 1 Cor 2:4 ‘My message and my preaching were not with wise
and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s
power…’
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3. Women Preachers

Some believe that women should not preach. My view is that preaching is a form of
prophetic ministry and should therefore be exercised by all whom the Holy Spirit calls
and equips to preach. The crucial issue is the source of authority; I believe that the
authority to preach lies in the scripture being preached, and not in the one preaching.

The following is a copy of a letter I wrote to my congregations concerning this matter.

Lady Preachers

During the month of November, a number of ladies who have recently

completed my Preaching Workshop will be preaching once each during
various Sunday services. To some this will constitute a refreshing change
but to others it will be an issue of concern. 1 Timothy 2:12 states that ‘I do
not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man’ so on what
basis do we encourage women to preach during a Sunday service?

I have not designed this short comment on women preachers to be a

thorough examination of the issue but rather to serve as a point of reference
for discussion and as an essential endorsement of our practice in this regard.

My understanding is that the underlying principal governing this issue is

that of authority within the church. Teaching is a word that describes both
a range of activities and a mode of delivery. For instance, some people
preach with a ‘teaching’ style. I believe that Paul uses the word ‘teach’ in
his letter to Timothy with reference not to style but to source of authority;
for this reason he places the words ‘teach’ and ‘have authority over’ in
connection with each other in the one statement. I define ‘teaching’ in this
sense as the authoritative determination of doctrine. This function is
limited to the Eldership, and more specifically to the ‘Teaching Elder’ of
the church (Mt 16:17-19 1 Tim 3:2). Others, both men and women, are
limited to presenting biblical instruction within the parameters established
by the Eldership.

Preaching, per se, falls under the umbrella of Prophecy because it, as with
other forms of prophecy, is the declaration of the Word of God. The
authority that authenticates all forms of prophecy is the written Word of
God, the Bible. We must test all prophecy, in any form, against the biblical
revelation. Similarly, preaching must be the exposition of a Preaching
Portion of Scripture. 1 Corinthians 11:1-5 certainly allows for ladies
to prophecy but even here the issue of biblical authority structure is in view.
In Topical Preaching however, texts from all over the Bible are brought
together to support the preachers proposition; this is akin to the
determination of doctrine and is therefore, in my understanding,
impermissible to anyone other than a teaching Elder. All the lady preachers
you will be exposed to have been well schooled in this vital principle and
will attempt to expound a portion of Scripture within the doctrinal
framework laid down for them by me.
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So then, preaching is a form of prophecy and as such must be limited to

what God has ‘said’ in a particular portion of scripture (expository
preaching). The authority of the preached word is that of the portion of
scripture expounded within the doctrinal framework established by the
Elders. Non Elders, both men and women, may therefore preach provided
they have been properly instructed. Teaching, on the other hand, involves
the determination of doctrine and is an exclusively Eldership function.

Please be gracious to our new aspirant preachers and help them to determine
whether or not God is calling them to the ministry of proclaiming His Word.

Christopher
Dr. C.L.Peppler
Lead Elder
The Village Church

Extract from Systematic Theology by C.L.Peppler

… For these ministries to be affective they need to be 'in the power of the Holy Spirit.' They consist of
communicating the truth of God's Word to the human soul which, in a receptive hearer, can and should
have the effect of a distinct impartation of grace. The anointing of the Holy Spirit is needed in both
preparation and delivery and His activity is also required to enable listeners to receive.

In his book 'The Ministry of God's Word' Watchman Nee writes the following: [These are isolated
sentences somewhat removed from their context but I quote them this way in order to provide a basis
for discussion.] "The effect of the word on people is not determined by the word itself but by the spirit
with which it is delivered. A minister is able to release his spirit or to check his spirit... The word needs
your spirit to send it out... Preaching is not simply delivering the word; it is in addition releasing the
spirit. As a minister of the word speaks he simultaneously releases his spirit. Through the word comes
his spirit, and of course God's spirit is likewise released through the man's spirit... Consequently, the
exercise of the spirit is the outpouring of our life. We expend all our power in reaching out to the
spiritually weary and dead... The measure of blessing which people receive from us depends on the
degree of our willingness to give." Now there are at least two possible ways of looking at statements
such as the above. [a] The author is referring to things such as enthusiasm and the 'spirit' in which a
sermon is delivered; [b] He means that the preacher imparts something of his own spirit to his listeners.
In my notes on 8.6.1 I make the point that believers can be filled with holy spirit [spiritual energy] by
the Holy Spirit [the third person in the Godhead]. This being the case then the act of preaching
becomes a method of imparting this energy to others. Laying on of hands is one method and preaching
is another method. I am purposefully dealing with this issue under the heading of 'Teaching and
Preaching' and not 'Prayer' because prayer is to God and is therefore communication with the Lord,
whereas proclamation is to men and is something else entirely. They both have 'words' in common but I
contend that the power is not in the words but rather in the release of the spiritual energy which can
occur as the words are being 'put forth'. This is entirely consistent with the idea that God has chosen to
work through redeemed mankind. In the act of healing, he touches the bodies of men through the
agency of a born again disciple; in the act of Preaching, he touches the minds and spirits of men
through preachers. In a very real sense then Preaching and Teaching are aspects of ministering in the
power of the Holy Spirit. Preaching, therefore, does more than just impart data to the mind, it conveys
an anointing that equips the hearer to respond to and apply the Scripture.
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4. The Hermeneutic and Homiletic model

Receiving the Forming Delivering

‘word’ and the the ‘word’
Go Interpreting and message
d understanding
the text Man

Exegesis Homiletics
What the Preaching the
text means text

5. Receiving the ‘word’

IDEA
Personal study
Life experience
Sermon tapes or Expository
books form
SUB-TOPICS from text,
Prayer
ILLUSTRATIONS,
DIVINE TOPIC TEXT APPLICATIONS &
DIRECTIVE
AMPLIFICATIONS
Word of prophecy
Quickened Text
Burden
Vision
PERCEIVED SUB-TOPICS SUPPORTIVE
NEED TEXTS
Teaching programme
Pastoral experience Topical form
Church calendar
Current events

Sometimes a preacher might start with a scriptural text, as happens for instance when
one is preaching through a book of the Bible. However, most often the preacher starts
with a topic that emerges from an idea, a divine directive, or a perceived need.

The essential difference between topical and expository preaching is that in the
expository form the selected preaching portion (text) limits and prescribes the sermon
content. The text supplies the sub-topics. In the topical form, the topic breaks down
into sub-topics, each of which suggests an authenticating text.
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Exercise
Develop the main divisions of a topical sermon on ‘the nature of preaching – Use a
Mind-Map

Exercise
Detail the differences between the topical sermon outlined in the previous exercise
and an outline of a sermon drawn entirely from NEH 8:8

‘They read from the book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning
so that the people could understand what was being read.’

…………………………………………………………………………………………
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………………………
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Exercise
List the points for and against topical preaching and compare them with the pros and
cons of expository preaching.

Topical Expository

For/Pro
……………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….

Against/Con
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
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…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….

Exercise
Find a definitive text for each of the following topics:

(a) Divorce

(b) Financial stewardship

(c) Water baptism

NOTE: (a) 1 Cor 7:10-16 (b) 2 Cor 9:6-8 (c) Rom 6:1-4
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6. Scriptures for discussion

a. Luke 4:18-19,43-44 Jesus’ mission and anointing

b. 1 Pet 4:10-11 Our mandate

c. Neh 8:2-8 The teaching process

d. 2 Tim 4:1-5 Our commission

e. 1 Cor 2:4 & Acts 10:44 The need for anointing

Exercise

The following is the outline of a sermon entitled ‘The ebb tide’ based
on Heb 2:1 ‘We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we
have heard, so that we do not drift away.’

Introduction: “Many powerful currents are moving through modern life

which are sucking us away from our moorings. Drifting with these
currents, we are headed for possible destruction.”

Point One: We are drifting away from Love

Pont Two: We are drifting away from Faith in the future
Point Three: We are drifting away from Faith in God.

Is this an expository or a topical sermon? If not, why not?

Topical preaching can be a powerful tool in the

hands of a master or a lethal weapon in the hands
of the unschooled.
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Module Two

Interpreting the Word: Exegesis

1. Incubation

Assume that you have been asked to preach a sermon based on Rev 3:10.
Your first task is to read and re-read the text, each time praying and asking
the Holy Spirit for understanding. Ask yourself the following questions
and seek the answers in whatever study aids you have:

 What did this text mean to the original recipients?

 Is it narrative, parable, information, a command etc.?
 What is its contemporary message?

Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the
hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the
earth.
NIV

Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great
time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this
world.
NLT

Because you have guarded and kept My word of patient endurance [have held fast the
lesson of My patience with the expectant endurance that I give you], I also will keep
you [safe] from the hour of trial (testing) which is coming on the whole world to try
those who dwell upon the earth.
AMP

2. Context

First, consider the text within the context of;

(a) The portion of the book directly associated with the text i.e. Rev 3:7-13
The Letter to The Church in Philadelphia;
(b) The major part of the book in which the text is situated i.e. Rev 2 & 3
The Letters to the Seven Churches;
(c) The book in which it appears i.e. the whole of the book of Revelation.

Consider next the cultural, historic and geographical context. The

following is an extract from W. Barclay’s book on Revelation:
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Allow sufficient time for each person to read the extract on the next page.
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Principles of Interpretation
It is my opinion that most problems in correctly discerning the Biblical message stem from one or more
of the following: Taking texts out of context, Failing to centre the exegesis on what Jesus said and did,
or selecting certain Scriptures while neglecting others that teach on the same issue. Sound
interpretation, therefore, rests on three legs – Context, Christocentricity, and Exhaustive Reference.

The Context Principle

Three types of context are of fundamental importance: The Scriptural Context, The Histo-Cultural
Context, and the Literary Context.

SCRIPTURAL CONTEXT: Although the context of the whole of Scripture and of the particular
Testament is of account, by far the most important context is that of the Book and of the particular
passage. Individual texts or passages MUST be understood within the context of the objective and
theme of the book and the passage in which the text is set. Some examples will illustrate this point. (a)
1 Cor. 3:15 is sometimes taken to prove the perseverance of the elect. Verse 17 is also taken as
applying to the individual. In fact the passage in question starts at the beginning of chapter three and
has to do with THE CHURCH and not the individual. The book itself is written to a local Church in
need of correction. (b) Mt. 5:31-32 is a classic. It is so often said on the basis of this text that Jesus
approved of divorce in the event of marital unfaithfulness yet the passage deals with ADULTERY, not
Divorce. Mt. 5:17 States that Jesus has come to fulfil (Make complete, give full and proper meaning to)
the Law. In vs. 21 to 26 He does just that by giving full and “internal” meaning to the sixth
Commandment. Verses 27 to 32 deal with the seventh commandment and Divorce is used only
illustratively. Verse 32 could be paraphrased as, “But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife,
(Except for marital unfaithfulness, in which case she is already an adulteress), causes her to commit
adultery....”. The Lord Jesus is not condoning divorce here but teaching AGAINST it by showing that
divorce can be the means of breaking one of the ten commandments. (c) Another example is Rom.
9:10-13 which is often used in support of the doctrine of the election of certain individuals to eternal
life and others to eternal damnation. Firstly, this text is set in the context of Chapters nine to eleven of
Romans, which are about the JEWISH NATION, not individual Christians. The topic is National
Election and not Personal Predestination. Secondly, this passage must be viewed in the wider context
of the whole Bible, particularly as two Old Testament passages are quoted within it. Scripture must be
used to interpret other Scriptures - the clear interpreting the obtuse. The two Old Testament Scriptures
in question are: Gen. 25:23 “The Lord said to her, "Two NATIONS are in your womb, and two
PEOPLES from within you will be separated; one PEOPLE will be stronger than the other, and the
older will serve the younger."' Did Esau ever serve Jacob? No. But the nation which developed from
Jacob (Israel) dominated the nation which developed from Esau. National Election ONLY is in view
here. The other Scripture is Mal. 1:2-3 '"... was not Esau Jacob's brother?" the Lord says. "Yet I have
loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated..."'. Verse 4 makes it clear that, once again, a NATION is the true
subject matter here; “Edom may say... They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the
wrath of the Lord”. Gen. 36 gives the reason; “Esau took wives from the women of Canaan.

”HISTO-CULTURAL CONTEXT”: The Bible was written for all men in all times and places yet it
must be obvious that it was first written for a particular people in a particular time and culture. The
book of Revelation, for instance was written to real churches in the Mediterranean area towards the end
of the first century. It was not a sealed book but instead carries a promise of blessing to those who read
it. To understand what it is saying we dare not lift it out of its cultural and historic setting. The letter to
the Hebrews is another example. Much damage is done to the meaning of this book by those who
ignore the type of people to whom it was originally written.
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The practise of twentieth century ladies wearing mantillas (scarves) to cover their heads is a case in
point. In First Corinthians Paul deals with order in the meetings of the early church; as part of his
treatment he explains the male headship/female submission principle. In the culture and religious
climate of the day women were required to cover their heads to indicate that they were in proper
relationship to their husbands. Covering one’s head, in many countries today, is not culturally relevant
and does not, therefore demonstrate submission. To cover one’s head whilst in a church meeting
because “the Bible says so” is surely to base one’s practise on a text lifted out of its histo-cultural
context.

LITERARY CONTEXT: The Bible contains many figures of speech such as Riddles, Fables, Parables,
Allegories, etc. In addition, it employs Types, Symbols, Prophecy, Poetry, etc.. To correctly understand
what it is saying we must accurately discern the figure of speech or literary style being used

From our viewpoint in the late twentieth century, the early seventeenth century language of the King
James Version should be regarded as a literary category. I once heard a preacher make the claim that
we are to command God and tell Him what to do and when to do it! He based his outrageous doctrine
on Isa. 45:11 which reads in the KJV as follows: “Thus saith the Lord, the Holy one of Israel, and his
maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command
ye me,” The NIV translates this passage accurately within its context as “...Concerning things to come,
do you question me about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands?” It is a rebuke,
not a command!

The parallelism of Hebrew poetry or poetic prose often gives rise to questionable exegesis. Take for
instance the distinction made between the Image of God and the Likeness of God based on Genesis
1:26 which reads “Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness... “. This is a typical
example of the Hebraic device of accentuating something by repeating it using slightly different words.

The parables of the Lord Jesus are another example. In the main they are illustrative of truth, not
didactic statements. A parable which starts with the words “The kingdom of God is like...” is designed
to illustrate some aspect of the kingdom, not to present a comprehensive definition of the kingdom.

The Christocentric Principle

Many men have expressed their belief in the christocentricity of Scripture. Martin Luther said "As we
go to the cradle only in order to find the baby, so we go the Scriptures only to find Christ." J.I. Packer
is quoted as saying that "Jesus saw Himself as the key to Scripture and it as the key to himself”. C.H.
Spurgeon, in his usual pictorial style, said "Scripture is the royal chariot in which Jesus rides."
Countless other theologians have made the claim that all of Scripture points to Jesus - but to what end?
To the end that we may “believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may
have life in his name“ (Jn. 20:31).

Heb. 1:2 states that "...in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son...”Now if we believe that Jesus
Christ really is God the Son and that the Bible really is fully inspired and that God the Father has
chosen to speak to mankind in and through (by) His Son, THEN the prime basis of exegesis must be
“What Jesus said and what Jesus did”. [Read Jn. 14:10, 24, 17:8; Mt. 7:24] Note that the Scriptures are
referred to as “The Word of God” (Mt. 15:6; Acts. 18:11) and the Lord Jesus is referred to as “The
Word of God” (Jn. 1:1; Rev. 19:13) and that his teaching was also referred to as “The Word of God”
(Lk. 5:1, 11:28). So the way to develop doctrine, to “do theology”, should be to first determine
WHAT the Lord Jesus Christ said or modelled in the Gospels concerning any given topic, to then
research the Old Testament to find out WHY He said and did what He did, and then to draw on
the balance of the New Testament to discover How to INTERPRET and APPLY what He said
and did. (I call this “Christocentric Theology” and have attempted to apply this methodology in this
book.) The Baptist Faith and Message of 1925 stated the Christocentric principle this way; “The
criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.”

The question though is; “Just how far can we and should we take this principle?” If the Lord Jesus
gives a clear and specific teaching then it is indisputably true to say that we are to interpret any other
Scriptures in the light of the Saviour’s teaching. An example of this is Mt. 19:5-6 where Jesus answers
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the Pharisees question about the validity of divorce by stating that when a man and woman marry they
become as one flesh and that this joining together by God may not be separated by man. In saying this
he was answering "no!" to the question "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every
reason?" He goes on to point out (a) that Moses only allowed divorce because of the sinful state of the
people, not because it was part of God the Father's dispensation; and (b) that divorce contravenes one
of the ten commandments in that it invariably causes adultery by the divorced partners (i.e., if God does
not recognise divorce and regards the couple married for life, then if they separate and have sexual
intercourse with another so-called spouse they are in effect committing adultery). Old Testament
passages such as Deut. 24:1 and Jer. 3:1 shed light on why Jesus said what He did about divorce, and
New Testament passages such as 1 Cor. 7 help us understand and apply His teaching.

But what should our attitude be in dealing with issues on which Jesus did not directly teach but which
are found in the balance of Scripture, for instance the current “hot topic” of warring against the
demonic principalities over our cities? What Jesus did not do was to teach by either words or example
that we should ascertain the name of the demon prince of a city and then proceed to bind him in prayer
and proclamation so that his influence over the city might be broken. Eph. 6:12 however, indicates that
demonic powers and principalities exist and are arranged in some sort of hierarchy of darkness. The
book of Daniel speaks of demon princes over the gentile nations and so we can assume that our modern
nations and cities have probably been assigned to evil agencies by Satan. All this means, however, is
that these things exist, but it does not give us a warrant to (a) expend time and energy in identifying
them and (b) 'bind' them by the word of our command. In fact this particular issue raises a most serious
problem. Some modern churchmen claim that evangelism is only effective in an area which has been
'cleared' of demonic activity through this form of spiritual warfare. Jesus on the other hand, sent His
disciples out into the world with no instructions whatsoever concerning this practise. If it is such an
important issue then why did the Lord not teach on it? Was He ignorant of this vital spiritual principle
or is the Biblical record of what He taught incomplete? If this is so then Jesus is less than omniscient or
the Bible is less than sufficient! (May God help us!). I believe that we need to resist the temptation to
build doctrine and practise on what the Lord Jesus did NOT say - Just because He did not address
something does not mean that it does not exist but it must surely mean that we need not concern
ourselves with it. In the case of spiritual warfare the Lord Jesus did, of course, give instruction: He told
us to preach the Gospel of salvation, teach Kingdom principles, heal the sick, raise the dead, and drive
out demons from the demonised. This then is the warfare in which we should engage. An attempt has
been made to justify the spiritual warfare practises mentioned above from the teaching of the Lord
Jesus and so I must deal briefly with this issue. The practise of identifying the spirits over cities is said
to be warranted by Jesus asking for the name of the demon possessing the man from Gadara. Firstly, it
is quite possible that Jesus was asking the man for his name and not talking to the legion of demons at
all. However, if indeed He was seeking the name of the demon (a) He had failed to discern that there
were many more than one, which is unlikely, and (b) He made no apparent subsequent use of the name.
This of course could be because they never really gave a name but just said that they were many
(Legion is the name given to a Roman company of 5,000 soldiers). In any event, to use this as a model
for addressing demonic principalities is as groundless as attempting to heal all blind people with spit
and mud. Jesus drove out many demons and only in this instance did He perhaps enquire of a name -
Jesus healed many blind men but only in one instance did He smear the eyes with mud. To develop this
tenuous evidence into a practise of identifying disembodied demonic powers over cities and countries
is 'thin' to say the least.

The practise of 'binding' these now identified principalities is taken from Lk. 11 where some Jews were
saying that Jesus was driving out demons by the power of the devil himself. Jesus pointed out to them
(a) that if Satan were driving out his own demons then He was fighting himself, (b) that the Jewish
religious leaders also drove out demons and would that then make them devil empowered too? and (c)
His acts of deliverance were in fact proof that a greater one than Satan had come, and that he, Jesus,
was demonstrating his superiority by casting out the devil’s minions. The parallel account in Mt. 12
uses these words in verse 29, 'Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his
possessions unless He first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house.' It is my contention that
when the exhaustive and context principles are applied to this passage it becomes impossible to build a
practise of 'binding' territorial spirits.

Another problem is presented in those activities on which Jesus embarked, not because He was
modelling for us, but because as one born under the Law He needed to fulfil the requirements of the
law. For instance, Jesus was taken on the eighth day of his life to be circumcised. Are we then to
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circumcise our baby boys? At the same time He was taken to the temple in Jerusalem to be offered to
God as a sacrifice according to the law. Are we then to 'dedicate' our children to God in formal
ceremony and vow? These things were done because Jesus was a Jew and had to fulfil all the
commands of the law. At best we should take such actions as portraying general principles. For
instance, we are to 'circumcise' our hearts and not our bodies, and yes we are to be dedicated to God as
his devoted children.

So then, by applying both the Exhaustive and the Context principles we are to determine the doctrine
and praxis put forward by the life and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Any principle or core
teaching laid down by him should be expanded by other relevant teaching in the New Testament and
illuminated by the Old Testament background. If Jesus did not touch on an issue in word or deed,
then we are to refrain, as He did, from teaching it or practising it.

In all of this I am in no way implying that any parts of the Bible are superfluous and can be done away
with. What I am stating is that Jesus Christ is the hub of all Scripture and our perfect model and teacher
in all things of eternal significance.

To focus the issue even more clearly we can pose the following question: "Is the teaching and
modelling of the Lord Jesus Christ the exclusive ground of all Christian belief and practise?" Another
way of putting it would be; "Is the whole of Scripture the ground of belief and practise or are the words
and deed of Jesus as explained, expanded, interpreted and applied by the balance of Scripture, the
ground for belief and practise?" Crudely put, can we adopt a practise of marching around cities to
conquer them spiritually, based on the Joshua incident? Or should we understand this merely as an
historic part in the settlement of Canaan which, at best, indicates spiritual principles? Can we even
claim the latter contention if Jesus did not teach on it or in some way provide a precedent by His
actions? I believe that we should find the ground for our belief and practise ONLY in the words and
deeds of the Lord Jesus Christ and by holding this view I in no way denigrate the Scriptures which do
not contain this data, because I see them as providing important background, interpretative and
methodological information. I also believe that the Holy Spirit can and does speak to us individually
and in a prophetic sense from any portions of the inspired Scriptural record.

In effect, what I am saying is that the words and deeds of the Lord Jesus Christ, as revealed in the
Bible, are the foundation to all we need for faith and life: the Fathers revelation to mankind is
Christocentric.

Old Testament – Gospels – WHAT Balance of the New

WHY Jesus said Jesus said and did Testament – HOW to
and did what He interpret and apply
did what Jesus said and
did.

The Exhaustive Reference Principle

To develop a doctrine from Scripture it is necessary to identify and analyse EVERY text which deals
with the subject. Often doctrines are developed from a screened selection of texts and is therefore akin
to 'Topical' preaching on a grand scale. In truth what is being demonstrated when this happens is not
Exegesis but Eisegesis. Much of Reformed Theology is, in my opinion, based on Eisegesis. How else
could a vast number of texts which teach just the opposite of Calvinistic doctrine be so thoroughly
overlooked? Proper and honest application of the 'Exhaustive Principle' of interpretation will challenge
our predominantly 'either/or' mentality and force us to think rather in 'and ' terms.

Exhaustive word studies should be conducted using the original Hebrew or Greek words and not any
particular English equivalent. One Greek word could be translated by adopting any of, say, six different
English words. By selecting one of these words you would miss some references and pick up on many
with little bearing on the subject in question. The various computer-based Bibles are a wonderful tool
for conducting this sort of original language word study.
 16

3. Translation

English Translations
Somewhere between the issues of the Preservation of Scripture and the Inspiration of Scripture lies the
question of Translation. Question one is; “Were the original writings inspired?”: Question two is;
“Have they been faithfully preserved for us?”: Question three is; “Have they been accurately translated
into our modern language?”

There are two major issues here: (a) The selection of source documents used as the basis for translation,
and (b) The philosophy of translation.

Text Types

The Greek manuscripts of the New testament are generally grouped into one of four text types based
largely on the geographic location where they were found or collated.

(i) The Byzantine Text: There are far more manuscripts in this group than in the other three combined
but weighed against this is the fact that most of them are relatively late (MIddle fourth century and
later).

(ii) The Western Text: A rather confused and mixed grouping of manuscripts dating from the middle of
the second century.

(iii) The Alexandrian Text: F.J.A. Hort called these the “Neutral” texts and ascribed pre-eminence to
them (Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus).

(iv) The Caesarean Text: A mixture of western and Alexandrian readings.

From these textual groupings various scholars have, over the centuries, produced Greek New
Testaments and these in turn have formed the basis of most of today's English translations. The first
edition of the Greek New Testament to be published was edited by Desiderius Erasmus in 1516 AD.
None of the manuscripts used was earlier than the 12th century and because he lacked the last leaf for
the Book of Revelation Erasmus translated the Latin Vulgate back into Greek?! As a result, in the last
six verses of Revelation Erasmus's Greek New Testament contains words and phrases that are not
attested to in any of the early Greek texts which we now have. The “Received Text” on which the King
James Version is based has as its source Greek texts produced, in the main, from Erasmus's work. The
dominant manuscripts of the “Received text” were taken from the Byzantine tradition. Today there are
some Churchmen who insist that the Byzantine text (and hence the “Received Text”, and hence the
KJV) constitutes the only valid, and thus inspired, text type. The following points however contradict
this assertion:

a) There is no unambiguous evidence that the Byzantine text type was known before the middle of the
fourth century. b) The Byzantine text type is in many instances a demonstrably secondary text. (i.e. an
edited version of a minor group of texts known as the Syrian family). c) The Alexandrian text type has
better credentials than any other text type now available.

The reason why this is an “issue” today is that it has been contended that only a translation based on the
“Received Text” can claim to be inspired. As a result it is felt in certain circles that only the KJV is
“inspired” and therefore authoritative. By comparison the translators of the NIV used an eclectic text.
In other words the translators (Some 100 of them) chose the texts which they deemed the most
accurate.
 17

Philosophy of Translation

Although some claim that there are only two approaches to translation, there is in fact a continuum
between two extreme positions. On the one side is “Formal Equivalence” and on the other is “Dynamic
Equivalence”. In Formal Equivalence the translator tries to closely parallel the structure, grammar and
exact wording of the original. In Dynamic Equivalence he seeks the best way to express the original in
the most natural form of the readers language, whether or not the result exactly parallels the linguistic
form of the original text. The Formal Equivalence method was mainly followed in producing the King
James Version (And of course the NJKV), The American Standard and the NASV. Dynamic
Equivalence produced the Good News Bible, the New English Bible and the Living Bible (Although
the latter is more of a paraphrase than the others). The New International Version falls somewhere in
the centre of the continuum. Its method is eclectic with the emphasis on a flexible use of both
methodologies. Interestingly enough, although the KJV is definitely a Formal Equivalence translation,
it is not as “literal” as the New American Standard Version.

Some scholars claim that in order for the Plenary Verbal inspiration of the Bible to be properly
acknowledged in the work of translation, the primary unit of translation must be the word, not just the
idea and that as a result only Formal Equivalence will do. This is not a logical claim: Take the example
of a literal and Formal translation resulting in the phrase "Have you nothing heard?". This is surely no
more honouring to the original than "Haven't you heard anything?" What we really need in a translation
is a rendering that means what the original means, both in denotation and connotation.

Bible Translations

The translations shown on the left and shaded are Roman Catholic. The translations down the right are the more modern
versions. Since compiling this chart two other translations have been produced – God’s Word and the New Living Translation
 18

4. Word Study

The following is a word for word ‘literal’ translation of Rev 3:10 produced
by Jay Green:

‘Because you have kept the word of the patience of me, I also you will
keep out of the hour of trial being about to come upon the habitable world
all, to try those dwelling on the earth’.

Compare this to the New Living Translation, which reads as follows:

‘Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you

from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test
those who belong to this world.’

Exercise
Giving consideration to the translations given above, decide which of
the following is more correct:

a) ‘… kept my command to endure patiently’ OR

b) ‘… kept my word with patient endurance’

Do you think the differences in translation here have a significant

impact on your understanding of the whole text?

Not for small-group word – solicit comments from the full class.

The words ‘Keep’ and kept’ in Rev 3:10 are both the same word in the
Greek text:

5083 τηρέω [tereo /tay·reh·o/] v. From teros (a watch, perhaps akin to

2334); TDNT 8:140; TDNTA 1174; GK 5498; 75 occurrences; AV
translates as “keep” 57 times, “reserve” eight times, “observe” four times,
“watch” twice, “preserve” twice, “keeper” once, and “hold fast” once. 1 to
attend to carefully, take care of. 1A to guard. 1B metaph. to keep, one in the
state in which he is. 1C to observe. 1D to reserve: to undergo something.

Exercise
Is there any significance in the fact that the same Greek word is used
for ‘keep’ and ‘kept’ in the text? Compare the subject and the object in
each case. Does this give you any ideas concerning a possible structure
for a sermon based on Rev 3:10?
 19

5. Cross References

The following are selected cross references to Rev 3:10:

1 Pet 1:6
1 Pet 4:12
2 Pet 2:9
Rev 2:10
Rev 6:10

Exercise
Look up each of the cross references listed and determine whether or not they
shed light on your understanding of Rev 3:10

Exercise
What does Rev 3:10 mean? Consider the historical, cultural and linguistic
context; consider also scriptural context, word studies and cross references.

……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
 20

Exercise
The following sermon was preached by an internationally known preacher who has
planted churches all over the world, including South Africa.

Read it and then comment on;

(a) It’s topical nature and the apparent danger of this approach,
(b) It’s source of authority,
(c) the nature and quality of the exegesis (or is it eisegesis?),

(a) TOPICAL?
…………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………

(b) SOURCE OF AUTHORITY?

……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………

(c) QUALITY OF EXEGESIS?

………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
…………………

Aggressive Harvest
Do You Know How Much Harvest You Have Coming Back?

‘Recently, the Lord asked me a question. He said, “How much harvest do

you have coming back?”
I responded, “I don’t know.”
He said, “Let me make it easier for you. How much harvest have you got
coming from just the seed you’ve sown since January the first of this year?”
I said, “I don’t know.”
He said, “Let me ask you this. How much do you have in your retirement
fund?”
I told Him. I had just read the statement, so I knew right down to the penny.
 21

He said, “How much do you have in your savings account?

I had just read the statement, so I told Him.
He said, “Do you know how much you have in your checking account and
your trust fund for your children and grandchildren?’
I said, “As a matter of fact, I just read those statements, too.” And I told
Him the amounts.
Then, He said, “Why do you know all these things?”
I said, “So I’ll know what belongs to me.”
He said, “And you can’t tell Me how much harvest you’ve got coming
back?”
I said, ‘No, Sir. Why?”
He said, “It sounds like to Me, you’re not too interested.” That got my
attention! Immediately, I walked into the Accounting Department at my
office, and I said, “I want an itemized list of every seed that this ministry
has sown into other ministries since January 1. Then at the bottom of that
list, I want you to multiply it times 100 because the Bible says that we are
entitled to a 30, 60 or 100 times harvest.” (I’m going for maximum results)
Then, I went home, and I got out all my cancelled checks from all the seed
I’ve sown personally. I added it all up and multiplied it by 100. If God ever
asks again, I can show Him my statement!
In fact, I carry it with me everywhere I go. My statement changes daily
because I’m always giving. But I keep that statement in front of me so that I
can stay focused and be diligent about calling my harvest in. I’ve become
aggressive about my harvest.
You may be asking, ‘Why would you do that?”
Well can you expect a harvest if you don’t even know what you are entitled
to? Now, be honest: When it comes payday, you don’t tell the Pay Master,
“Oh, just give me whatever you want.” You know exactly what you are
entitled to. You know the very day that you should get paid, and if you
don’t get paid, you make an appointment real quick with the boss! You get
aggressive.
Well, that’s the way we need to be about our harvest.
Galatians 6:7 says, Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a
man soweth, that shall he also reap.
The Spirit of God said it to me like this: “You sowed it; now grow it. It’s
your harvest. You’re entitled to it.”
Verse 9 goes on to say, And let us not be weary in well doing : for in due
season we shall reap, f we faint not. .
In other words, don’t get weary sowing. That’s where most of us miss it.
We get weary in the sowing. You hear Christians all the time make
statements like this:
 22

“I’ve given, and I’ve given, but I don’t see any return.” That’s weariness
talking.

“Well, I tithed for three weeks, and I haven’t seen any windows opening.”
That’s weary in well doing.

You’ve got to stay aggressive with this. If you never get a harvest, it
violates the laws of God. God’s Word is true, and it declares that you will
reap what you sow.

God’s Word is His bond. He’s not a man that He should lie. These are the
laws of God. You can’t call something a law unless it works every time it is
applied.

Galatians 6:10 reveals that we need to be looking for opportunities to be a

blessing on a daily basis. Sowing seed should be a part of our lifestyle, not
just on Sunday morning. The Amplified says, Be mindful to be a blessing.
In other words, when you wake up in the morning, you should say, “God,
how can I be a blessing today? Who can I bless? God, give me an
opportunity.”

Being a blessing doesn’t always have to be in the form of money. It can be

a kind word. It can be a prayer. It can be a word of encouragement. Be
mindful to be a blessing every day of your life. That’s what God calls
“aggressive sowing.”

When you show God that you are aggressive about sowing seed into other’s
lives, then He will be aggressive about pouring the blessings back on you.

How could you make a withdrawal from your checking account if you don’t
even know what you’ve got in there? You can’t go to the bank and
withdraw $5,000 from your account if you’ve only got $500 in there. So,
how can you withdraw from your harvest if you don’t even know what
you’ve got accumulated? You should start keeping a record.

When I ask my accountant how much we need for a certain project, I want
to know exactly what we need. If we need $10,532.26, then don’t tell me
that we need about $10,000. My faith only works on facts.
A couple of years ago, my daughter and her husband were believing God to
build a new house. They knew exactly, down to the dollar, what it was
going to cost, and they began sowing seed towards it. I noticed that she
kept a little notebook with her so she could record every seed she sowed for
 23

their house. She multiplied it times 100, and she knew that the harvest
would meet all of their needs.
One day, she and came her husband came over, and they brought me a
check, which was the largest seed they had ever been able to sow into the
Ministry, and they said, “Daddy, you’re building a new building for the
school, and we’re naming this seed for the building of our house.”
They sowed that check into the ministry, wrote the amount in their little
notebook, multiplied it times 100, and kept calling in their harvest. They
continued to look for opportunities to sow seed, kept calling that harvest in,
and I mean, supernaturally, the money came in for them to build that house.
As the money would come in, they would check it off in that notebook. I
never saw her without that notebook. She even had another copy of their
sowing typed up and hanging on the refrigerator so that every time she saw
it, she could call her harvest in. She was serious about her harvest.
In the natural, they absolutely had no way of getting that much money in
such a short amount of time for that house. Mamma and Daddy didn’t make
it happen for them. We watched them use their faith. It all came as a result
of their aggressive sowing and their aggressive harvesting. When you’ve
seen this work in your life once, you never forget how you did it, and you
just keep doing it.
..
A Pastor friend of mine, Pastor showed me (according to James 5:1-4) that
our harvest is actually crying out for you and me right now. God is waiting
for us to cry out for it. When God hears a harvest cry, and He hears the
people cry (to whom it belongs), then He causes a divine appointment to
come together. The harvest and the harvester come together.
Verse 4 says, Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your
fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them
which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord
These are not cries of sorrow; these are cries of aggressiveness. “I want my
harvest! It belongs to me!”
You may be believing God for a house, a new car, or to be debt-free, and I
strongly suggest that you get aggressive about your sowing and your
reaping. Sow seed towards what you are believing for, write every seed
down, multiply it by 100, or whatever your faith can believe for, and begin
calling your harvest in. Carry your “statement” around with you
everywhere you go, and don’t give up until you see the manifestation of
what you are entitled to. Cry out for your harvest. You can’t be passive any
longer - your harvest is waiting for you!’
 24

APPROACHING THE TEXT FOR THE SERMON

The preacher stands under the Scriptures, listens to them, wrestles with them,
and finds authority in them.
A preacher stands beneath the text.
The preacher himself must stand beneath the Word he preaches, not above it. To stand
above it means to reject it, to ignore its message for ourselves, or to use it to
manipulate people for our own ends. . . . We become Lord rather than the servant of
the Word. . . . To stand beneath the Word means that we acknowledge our own
humanity . . . ,confess our sinfulness . . ., and make plain to the congregation that we
stand beneath the very judgment of the Word we proclaim.
A preacher listens to the text.
The preacher sees himself first of all as a listener to the Word of God. . . . Paul
outlined the plan of world evangelization, be ginning not with the preaching but with
the listening. Faith comes from what is heard. . . . Funk has succinctly expressed it:
“He who aspires to the enunciation of the Word must first learn to hear it; and he who
hears the Word will have found the means to articulate it.” ... Isaiah says the same
thing, “Morning by morning, he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.”
A preacher wrestles with the text.
Read the text as one involved with it personally, not as one involved only
professionally. Read it as one who seeks a message, not as one who must produce a
sermon. Become passionately involved with the text, as a wrestler with his opponent,
as a debater with an adversary, as a friend listens to a friend. . . . Wrestle with the text:
question it, fight it, quarrel with it—fully as much as you pray about it, open yourself
to it, receive it. Only in this way can the text engender communicative passion.
The preacher should do combat with the text until it gives me a blessing. Not many
texts yield easily. . . . Close scrutiny aids the process of working the sermon into the
preacher’s bones so that he will be able to deliver it with power.
A preacher finds his authority in the text.
The one basis of our authority is the Holy Scriptures, and if we do not preach out of
them, we should not be preaching at all.
 25

Recap Quiz

Q1 What is the definition of preaching per CLP?

Q2 What is the biblical verse that best supports this definition?

Q3 Describe the essence of expository preaching

Q4 What are the three keys to good exegesis?

i
ii
iii

Q5 What are the three contexts?

i
ii
iii
 26

ANSWERS

Q1 What is the definition of preaching per CLP?

Preaching is the authoritative pronouncement of the Word of God with power

Q2 What is the biblical verse that best supports this definition?

1 Peter 4:10-11

Q3 Describe the essence of expository preaching

Expository preaching is more a conviction than a category; a conviction that the
preacher stands under the text.

Q4 What are the three keys to good exegesis?

i Christocentricity
ii Context
iii Exhaustive Reference

Q5 What are the three contexts?

i Histo-cultural
ii Scriptural
iii Literary
 27

Module Three

Forming the ‘word’: Purpose and Proposition

1. The Purpose

Isolate the dominant thought: what is the one most important thing this text
addresses above all other ideas?; what was the Holy Spirit desiring to
accomplish in the original readers through this text? What is He saying to us
today through this text?

Jay E.Adams writes; “If you don’t discover General Purpose = to inform,
the Holy Spirit’s purpose (what He intends to persuade or motivate.
do to the reader) in each preaching portion Specific Purpose = To be
(any unit of scripture that has both a General informed about, be persuaded
and a Specific Purpose) and make it your of or motivated to do something
specific.
purpose too, in preaching from that passage
you will distort the meaning of the Scriptures,
lose the authority of the Scriptures in preaching and confuse congregations
while failing to feed them.”

To INFORM involves the transmission of data

To PERSUADE is to facilitate a change of attitude
To MOTIVATE is to inspire commitment to a concrete course of action

There is another purpose which should be present for all three types…. To
IMPART spiritual life.

The purpose focuses the preacher on the dominant thought and anchors
the sermon development; it provides the basis for the sermon structure
and it suggests the most appropriate conclusion to the sermon.

Exercise
Develop a statement of purpose for each of the following texts: 1 Cor 7:10-16 2 Cor
9:6-8 and Rom 6:1-4
‘To …………………. The congregation ………………………………..
.
e.g 1 Cor 7:10-16 To persuade the congregation that God
General Purpose does not want married couples to divorce.
i.e. Inform, Specific Purpose
Persuade or
Motivate 2 Cor 9:6-8 To …………….. the congregation ……….
………………………………………………………….

Rom 6:1-4 To ……………… the congregation ……….

………………………………………………………….
 28

Exercise
Select a text (preaching portion) you would like to preach and develop a statement of
purpose for it. You will use this to develop your five-minute sermon presentation.

If you struggle to find a text then I suggest one of the following – Mtt 5:13-16 or
Mtt 7:12 or Mtt 12:1-8 or Jn 3:16-18 or Jn 13:12-17

Text = ………………………………

Purpose = To ……………….. the congregation………………………

………………………………………………………………….………

2. The Proposition

The proposition is the sermon in a nut-shell; it is a succinct statement

expanding upon the statement of purpose.

J.H.Jowett writes; ‘I have a conviction that no sermon is ready for preaching

… until we can express its theme in a short, pregnant sentence as clear as
crystal.’

The Propositional statement should have the following characteristics:

 It should be a timeless truth worth preaching about
 It should be important and relevant to the needs of the congregation
 It should be definite and clear
 It should be accurate and honest and not promise more than you can
deliver
 It should be interesting
 It should usually be stated in the present tense

The various forms of Propositional Statements can be classified as follows:

 Declarative (used mainly for persuading) i.e. “The Holy Spirit desires
to fill every believer.”
 Imperative (also used mainly for persuading) i.e. “Every believer
should be filled by the Holy Spirit.”
 Interrogative (used mainly for informing) i.e. “How can we be filled
by the Holy Spirit?”
 Hortatory (used mainly for the purpose of motivating to action) i.e.
“Ask the Holy Spirit now to fill you.”
 Definitive (used mainly for informing) i.e. “To be filled by the Holy
Spirit is to be empowered by Him with spiritual energy.”
 29

Module Four
Forming the ‘word’: Structure

 Expository preaching does not consist of systematically explaining a passage of

Scripture verse by verse or clause by clause – this is commentary, not
exposition. In expository sermon construction, the points are drawn from the
Preaching Portion but arranged in whatever way is most suitable and effective.

 John Stott writes; ‘The golden rule for sermon outlines is that each text must be
allowed to supply its own structure.’

 If your Propostional Statement is a true and concise distillation of the text then it
should be possible to break it down into the main structural divisions (points) of
the sermon.

 The arrangement of the structural divisions (points) usually follows one of two
styles – Deductive or Inductive. In a Deductive arrangement, the idea is stated
early and then explained, proven and applied. In an Inductive arrangement,
each point builds up accumulatively until the idea is eventually presented
towards the end. A deductive arrangement is most suitable for Informative
sermons. An Inductive arrangement is effective for Persuasive sermons.
Motivational sermons lend themselves to either arrangement.

 Basic principles governing the order of points are:

 The negative should precede the positive
 The false should precede the true
 The abstract should be stated before the concrete

Exercise
Work in groups of two or three within the small-group and clarify and refine
the Statement of Purpose and the Propositional Statement for the five-minute
sermons to be preached by. Then, help each other to break the Propositional
Statement into its structural divisions (main points) and evaluate these main
points against the selected Preaching Portion. Lastly, arrange these points in
terms of the notes given in this module.

Allow 15 minutes for this exercise.

 30

Augustine was one of the great preachers of the early church and is considered the
first Systematic Theologian. Read the following short sermon on Psalm 85:11 and
then comment on:
a. Its purpose as you perceive it
b. Its apparent structure
c. Its expository nature in relation to the selected text

SERMON ON PSALM LXXXV.11 by St. Augustine

‘That day is called the birthday of the Lord on which the Wisdom of God
manifested Himself as a speech less Child and the Word of God wordlessly
uttered the sound of a human voice. His divinity, although hidden, was revealed
by heavenly witness to the Magi and was announced to the shepherds by angelic
voices. With yearly ceremony, therefore, we celebrate this day which saw the
fulfilment of the prophecy. ‘Truth is sprung out of the earth: and Justice hath
looked down from heaven.’ Truth, eternally existing In the bosom of the Father,
has sprung from the earth so that He might exist also In the bosom of a mother.
Truth, holding the world in place, has sprung from the earth so that He might
be carried in the hands of a woman. Truth, incorruptibly nourishing the
happiness of the angels, has sprung from the earth In order to be fed by human
milk. Truth, whom the heavens cannot contain, has sprung from the earth so
that He might be placed in a manger. For whose benefit did such unparalleled
greatness come In such lowliness? Certainly for no personal advantage, but
definitely for our great good, If only we believe. Arouse yourself, O man; for
you God has become man. ‘Awake, sleeper, and arise from among the dead,
and Christ will enlighten thee.’ For you, I repeat, God has become man. If He
had not thus been born in time, you would have been dead for all eternity. Never
would you have been freed from sinful flesh, if He had not taken upon Himself
the likeness of sinful flesh. Everlasting misery would have engulfed you, if He
had not taken this merciful form. You would not have been restored to life, had
He not submitted to your death; you would have fallen, had He not succoured
you; you would have perished, had He not come.
Let us joyfully celebrate the coming of our salvation and redemption. Let us
celebrate the festal day on which the great and timeless One came from the great
and timeless day to this brief span of our day. He ‘has become for us. . . justice,
and sanctification, and redemption; so that, just as it Is written, “Let him who
takes pride, take pride In the Lord.” For, so that we might not resemble the
proud Jews who, ‘ignorant of the justice of God and seeking to establish their
own, have not submitted to the justice of God,’ when the Psalmist had said:
‘Truth is sprung out of the earth,’ he quickly added: ‘and justice hath looked
down from heaven.’ He did this lest mortal frail1y arrogating this Justice to
itself, should call these blessings its own, and lest man should reject the Justice
of God in his belief that he is justified, that is, made just through his own efforts
‘Truth Is sprung out of the earth’ because Christ who said: ‘I am the truth’ was
born of a virgin; and ‘justice hath looked down from heaven’ because, by
believing in Him who was so born, man has been Justified not by his own efforts
but by God. ‘Truth Is sprung out of the earth’ because ‘the Word was made
flesh,’ and ‘justice hath looked down from heaven’ because ‘every good and
 31

perfect gift is from above.’ ‘Truth Is sprung out of the earth,’ that is, His flesh
was taken from Mary and ‘justice hath looked down from heaven’ because ‘no
one can receive anything unless It is given to him from heaven.’
‘Having been justified therefore by faith, let us have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. through whom we also have access by faith unto that
grace In which we stand and exult in the hope of the glory. . . of God.’ With
these few words, which you recognize as those of the Apostle, It gives me
pleasure, my brethren, to mingle a few passages of the psalm (which we are
considering) and to find that they agree In sentiment. ‘Having been justified by
faith, let us have peace with God’ because ‘justice and peace have kissed’;
‘through our Lord Jesus Christ’ because ‘truth is sprung out of the earth’;
‘through whom we also have access by faith unto that
grace in which we stand, and exult in the hope of the glory of God’—he does
not say ‘of our glory,’ but ‘of the glory of God’ because Justice has not
proceeded from us but ‘hath looked down from heaven.’ Therefore, ‘let him
who takes pride, take pride in the Lord’ not in himself. Hence, when the Lord
whose birthday we are celebrating today was born of the Virgin, the
announcement of the angelic choir was made in the words: ‘Glory to God in the
highest, and on earth peace among men of good will.’ How can peace exist on
earth unless It be because ‘truth is sprung out of the earth,’ that Is, because
Christ has been born in the flesh? Moreover, ‘He Himself is our peace, he it is
who has made both one’ so that we might become men of good will, bound
together by the pleasing fetters of unity. Let us rejoice, then, in this grace so
that our glory may be the testimony of our conscience wherein we glory not in
ourselves but in the Lord. Hence the Psalmist (in speaking of the Lord) has said:
‘My glory and the lifter up of my head.’ For what greater grace of God could
have shone upon us than that, having an only-begotten Son, God should make
Him the Son of Man, and thus, in turn, make the son of man the Son of God?
Examine It as a benefit, as an inducement, as a token of justice, and see whether
you find anything but a gratuitous gift of God.’
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Exercise
Joel Nederhood of America’s ‘Back to God Hour’ preached the following
sermon entitled ‘Instead of darkness’ based on 1 John 1:7. Read it and then
comment on:
a. Its expository nature
b. Its structure
c. Its introduction
d. Its style
e. Its conclusion

“If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from every sin.” (I John 1:7)
‘When grade school children wonder if they will have time to commit suicide
before the bombs hit, you know you are in trouble. I’m told there’s a new
generation of nuclear kids—very young children who know enough about
nuclear war to conclude that they don’t really have a choice. And one of them
told a psychiatrist he was worried there wouldn’t be enough time to destroy
himself between hearing that a nuclear attack was underway and the time the
first bombs began to fall.
Back in the late fifties and early sixties there was a war scare also, and children
were taught to hide under their desks and, if possible, to escape to a shelter
somewhere. Back then, people really believed that with a shelter they could get
away from the destruction. But now, its different. Children don’t feel there’s
much use doing anything to get away from the bomb. Even the young ones ore
talking about doing something to end their lives once the bombs are on their
way
Oh, we surely live in an ugly world, don’t we? Those of us who ore adults now
know we cannot keep this fact secret from our children anymore. It really is a
world full of darkness in so many ways. We look ahead and what do we see?
What do you see? Well, may I tell you what I see? I see light, and it’s not the
light of devastating nuclear holocaust. I see another light, the light of God, and
it’s beautiful and it’s for you and it’s for me.
I want to talk about that light. . . to walk in it is good; to walk in darkness is
unspeakably bad. We all know this by Instinct. We get up in the middle of the
night for some reason and stumble through the living room, looking for the light
switch, and we feel a helpless frustration, especially as we stumble over a chair
we had forgotten was there. Sometimes our lives seem like this: we are
stumbling along looking for the light switch. Where is it? Where in the world
is it? We furtively put one set of toes before the other while we grope along the
wall... until our fingers touch it.
Well, use your fingers now to open the Bible, you who are looking for the light
switch. Turn the pages, turn the pages, there, there, now, nearly at the end of
the Bible is this short book called 1 John. And in its opening sentences we
discover the light we need in order to make our lives sensible and beautiful.
 33

Notice how the apostle John begins this little book; he is talking about Jesus
and about God. John, who was especially close to Jesus on the night of Jesus’
betrayal, speaks from the e of nearness to the Savoir: ‘That which was from the
beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we
have looked at and our hands have touched—This we proclaim concerning me
Word of life.’
With these words John introduces us to Jesus Christ, the Person he had seen and
touched, the Person he knew as the “Word of life.”
He continues and tells of the way he learned about eternal life when in Jesus’
presence: ‘The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim
to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We
proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have
fellowship with us. And our fellowship Is with the Father and with his Son.
Jesus Christ.’
When Jesus appeared, life appeared. And when Jesus appeared, light appeared.
John goes on to tell us how, when he was with Jesus Christ, he learned that God
is Light
‘This Is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light
in him there is no darkness at all if we claim to have fellowship with him yet
walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.’
This is getting extremely interesting, isn’t it—for people like us who so often
feel we are walking in darkness? It most certainly is. And it is especially so
because the apostle concludes by announcing that you and I can walk in the
light of God—we can walk in the light with God; we can walk in the light
together.
I’m not talking about a figure of speech now; I’m talking about reality. Even
for people like us who feel the darkness closing In, there Is a chance really to
live a life bathed in God’s holy light. Ah, let me tell you more about this.
Notice what the apostle says further; ‘If we claim to have fellowship with God
yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in
the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the
blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from every sin.’
There are a few things here, about walking in the light that we should notice
very carefully. The first is certainly this: walking in the light is not automatic;
it does not merely go along with being a human being. No. There is another
possibility for people like us. It’s possible for a human being to walk in
darkness.
The apostle John talks about that, and we should take a minute to do so. What
is this walking in darkness? Does this refer simply to picking your way through
a world that is full of danger? No, not really. It means choosing a life-style that
is rebellion against God. And this life-style, unfortunately, is very wide spread
these days.
There are many activities that could illustrate this way-of-darkness life I’ll just
mention the word playboy. It’s a word that stands for many things we all have
heard about sexual liberation, freedom, free love… all that. This is a way of life
that emphasizes satisfactions, enjoyment, fun, hedonism. For men there are
 34

women, for women there are men, and for people who like their own sex best,
there is that too. There’s whatever you want, whenever you want it
Now this way of life is a fantasy, purely a fantasy, but it’s a crippling, corrupting
fantasy that millions have fallen for. And sometimes when I talk with people
who have tumbled into this trap. I have to tell them that the only way they will
be able to have some good and truly wholesome experiences in their lives is to
extricate themselves from the way of life they are tangled in. You cannot live
in the light as long as you are living in the darkness. This means that you cannot
expect to get away with living part time to darkness and part time to light and
have this work. People who have convinced themselves that it’s fun to live in
darkness might as well know there isn’t any chance they will benefit from the
light we’ve been talking about.
For the light we are talking about is, in reality, living with God, that is, living
with God as your Friend, being able to trust Him and to talk to Him and to know
He is genuinely interested in you and will most certainly take your life
experience all the way through to perfection and glory. You cannot live with
God when you are walking in the darkness, because God isn’t there in the
darkness where you are living. The apostle John reminds us that God is light
and in Him there is no darkness at all.
Right here you may have a great deal of thinking to do. Do you wonder why it
is your life is so hopeless, so full of despair and distress? Why is it so dark?
Maybe the answer is simple. Your life is so dark because that’s where you have
chosen to live it... right there in darkness. So what can you expect? You have to
get hold of yourself. You have to change. You have to cut yourself off from
some of the friends you have made, out there in the darkness. Maybe once you
get in the light yourself, you will be able to help them get into the light too. But
for now, you hove to get as far away from them as you can.
One of the Old Testament prophets, Isaiah, speaks clearly on this very subject—
he’s talking to people who want to get close to the light of God, and he says,
“Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts.” Now, there you
have it Very simple. Those who want to walk in the light have to turn away
from the darkness.
No, walking in the light is not automatic; it never was and it most certainly is
not today. But, and this is the second matter I want to stress, it is possible. The
apostle John says, “if we walk in the light, as (God) is in the light... . “Isn’t this
astonishing language? How is it possible to walk in the light as God is in the
light?
Well, right here we learn a great fact about ourselves: we are something like
God. Really. The Bible is about the glory of God and it’s about the glory of
man. God created man in the Image of God. We must never forget that. This is
why it’s so ugly when a human being, created in the image of God, lives
impurely, selfishly, dishonestly, murderously, or however darkly. We were not
created to live in darkness; we were created to be like God and to live in the
light.
How can you live in the light?
First of all, you must believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This is the Person
the apostle John talks about in the material we are looking at. He is the One
 35

who has revealed that God is light We believe in Jesus Christ when we confess
our sins and ask God to forgive us our sins for Jesus sake. We can ask God to
do this because Jesus has paid for human sin through His death on Calvary’s
cross. When you believe in Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ will give you His Holy
Spirit to equip you to live according to the will of God. This means turning
away from darkness and doing what God wants you to do.
Walking in the light, then, means believing in Jesus and living in a God-fearing
way. Anything else is not worthy of a human being who has been created in the
image of God. God is righteous, God is pure, God is holy, God is loving, and
He wants us to be like this too. Now I know we cannot do this perfectly, and if
you would continue to read the book of 1 John, you would learn how God
continuously forgives those who keep coming to Him and asking Him for
forgiveness.
Everything I am talking to you about today is a possibility; I am talking to you
about reality. There are some people right now who are walking in darkness.
There are other people who right now are walking in the light. Where are you’?
If we were talking together and I asked you that, would you have to say, “I’m
walking in darkness, and I’m not having much fun doing it’? Do you realize
that if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, your life can be changed? It can be
changed, and this is the reason I am telling you about all this: It’s possible for
people who would otherwise be walking in darkness to turn away from darkness
and come to the light. Ask God to send His Holy Spirit into your life so that
you con experience the Joy—the benefits—that goes along with living in the
light.
Number 1: we will have fellowship with one another. Fellowship - I find that
millions of people these days are desperately longing for fellowship. I know
that many of you who are reading this right now are lonely. And some of you
have caused your own loneliness— you’ve disregarded others, you’ve hurt
others, and now there you sit in your own little room; your wife is gone and
your children are gone and you feel alone. Oh, how terrible! Just to feel there
are other people whom you can reach out and touch, people who are concerned
about you, people who love you— wouldn’t that be wonderful?
Listen, the Bible tells us that believers have fellowship on the grandest scale.
When we walk in the light, we are friends of those people who lived in the first
century; why we are friends with the apostle John who wrote the book that helps
us so much today. And we are friends with Christians throughout the entire
world. We can feel ourselves part of an innumerable host of people who have
lived throughout the years and who are living now; and there are many of our
good friends who must yet be born—those who will be Christians later. But all
of us together are bound in a common tie of love and life and light.
And this fellowship which binds those who walk in the light with one another
is expressed right in the local church where people are able to live together as
brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ Does this Sound mysterious and
strange to you? Have you been believing all the false reports some people like
to circulate about the church? The church isn’t perfect, but its the best thing we
have when it comes to fellowship and friendship. I know; I’m part of a local
church in which the members are concerned for each other. They pray for each
other when they are sick and when they have other problems.
 36

People walking in the light together are bound together by a tie of concern that
is very, very real. That very fellowship is part of the light they walk in together.
And if you are looking for fellowship, there’s the place to find it. You won’t
find it in the darkness. Lots of lies come from that dark world, trying to get us
to believe that when we live in the darkness we will have fun, fun, fun; but that
just isn’t true. Only when we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, only when we
are living the way God wants us to live, only then, will we experience the
fellowship we need.
Benefits—incentives. God gives us great incentives to walk in the light; if we
do it, we will find fellowship, and, number 2, we will find purity. Once again,
notice the sentence we are talking about today “if we walk in the light, as he is
in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his
Son, purifies us from every sin.”
The blood of Jesus purifies us. Think about that strange statement: the blood
purifies us. The apostle John was present when the blood of Jesus Christ was
shed. I can talk with you about Jesus’ blood, but when I do, I am talking about
something I heard about from someone else. Not so, John; when Jesus was
crucified, John was standing right by the cross with Jesus’ mother. He saw
Jesus’ wounds. His head wounds where the thorns had torn His scalp, His
wounded hands and feet and John saw the blood. He saw it flow and form a
brief pool on the earth before it was absorbed into the soil, Just as Abel’s blood
had soaked into the earth centuries before. For John, there was nothing second-
hand about experience with Jesus’ blood. That blood, John wrote, will purify
you.
Can you figure out what that means? This is the way it seems to me, as I think
about this idea in the light of the rest of the Bible. When Jesus died on Calvary’s
cross, He did two things. He paid the price of sin, thus taking away the guilt of
those who believe in Him; and He earned the right to send His Holy Spirit into
the lives of believers so that they could live righteously.
And so, says the apostle, when you walk in the light as God is in the light, you
have fellowship and you have this purification process starting to work itself
out in your life. Your sins are paid for and your guilt is gone and along with
this, you receive special strength from God, which enables you to keep away
from darkness and to stay in the light.
I wonder if you are able to see what I see here? I see a circle. There is circular
reasoning here, and oftentimes we don’t like circular reasoning. Look at the
circle with me for a moment. The Bible says we have to walk in the light, and
then we will have fellowship and then we will be purified. In other words, the
Bible says we have to walk in the light in order to be enabled to walk in the
light—that’s really what being purified means. We are told to do something we
cannot do fully except through the special power that comes to believers
because of Jesus’ shed blood. And so the question comes, How can a person
ever leave darkness and walk in the light since one cannot leave darkness and
walk in the light unless one is in the light already?
Good question. And I don’t know the answer. But I do know that God assures
you that if you believe in Jesus, it will all work out for you. If you believe in
Jesus, Jesus will give you the power to turn away from darkness and live in the
 37

light. And when you live in the light, you will find that your life will be much,
much more satisfactory than it was when you existed in darkness.
There are many of us who, looking ahead, see the light of life. We see it because
we have Jesus as our Savoir, and we know that as we walk with Him, we will
advance into a circle of splendid Illumination where we will enjoy fellowship
and where we will be purified by the continuous work of Jesus. If you are living
in darkness, you can be sure that God wants you to believe in His Son, Jesus
Christ, so that you can Join those who live in God’s light-filled world.’

Linkages
 Each section (point) of the sermon needs to be linked with the preceding
section – these ‘bridges’ help the listener to ‘walk’ with you through the
sermon without getting ‘lost’.
 A link is usually a short phrase that concludes the point and introduces the
next point.
 A link can take the form of a short repetition of the theme and/or a very
brief summary of the points made thus far.
 A theme phrase or even a visual aid repeated at the interface between the
sermon sub-sections (points) can act as a ‘golden tread’ that ‘stitches’ the
whole sermon together.

Exercise

Construct links for your five-minute sermon.

Point One – Link to Point Two = ……………….……………………………

………………………………………………………………………..……….

Point Two – Link to Point Three = …………………………………………..

…………………………………………………………………………………
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Module Five

Forming the ‘word’: Introduction, Illustration & Conclusion

Notes on ‘Notes’

 A ‘Mind Map’ is a good way to work with your sermon before reducing
it to notes.
 Produce notes in short sentences and highlight key words and phrases.
 Do not take a full written manuscript with you; leave it at home.
 Produce your notes on A5 paper – use an elastic band to secure the notes
to your bible.

1. Introductions

 Some start the sermon construction with the introduction but this is
only feasible if the propositional statement is comprehensive. Most
compose the introduction after they have completed the body of the
sermon.

 The introduction is there to AID the listener:

Attention – you have 30 seconds to capture attention
“Why should I listen to this person?”
Interest - pose the question the sermon will answer
“Why should I listen to this sermon?”
Desire - what real need are you going to meet?
“What am I going to get out of it?”

Also, the introduction must introduce the sermon subject

 The introduction creates a tension that is resolved only in the

conclusion – ‘Effective sermons maintain a sense of tension – the
feeling that something more must be said if the message is to be
complete. When the tension goes, the sermon ends.”
H.W.Robinson.

An effective devise is to introduce an image or a phrase in the

introduction and use it again in the conclusion, and sometimes as a
link through the subdivisions of the sermon.

 Six ‘Do Not’s for introductions:

o Do not open a sermon with an apology.
o Do not promise more than you can deliver.
o Do not be long winded.
o Do not waste time on general comments, salutations etc.
 39

o Do not speak about the sermon, just get on and preach it.
o Do not introduce by using an unrelated joke.

Exercise

Continue to work on your sermon for presentation; develop the

introduction, and discuss with your partners.

You should now have completed the purpose, proposition, main

points… and now, introduction.

2. Illustrations

The task of the expository preacher is to expound what the selected text
(the Preaching Portion) ‘says’ and not on what it does not ‘say’. You must
derive the main points of the sermon exclusively from the Preaching
Portion.
Illustrations are devises which shed light on what is contained within the
parameters of the selected text (the ‘box’).
Amplifications are other scriptural references that increase understanding
of what is already in the ‘box’.
Applications are suggestions for implementing what is in the ‘box’.

Amplifications

Illustrations
Applications

 Robinson on Illustrations:
o They repeat truth without wearing the listener.
o They render truth believable – Logically, examples are not
proof, but psychologically they combine with argument to
gain acceptance.
o They apply ideas to experience.
o They aid memory, stir emotion, create need, hold attention
and establish rapport between speaker and hearer.
 40

o To illustrate means ‘to throw light on a subject’; to illustrate

must therefore centre attention on the idea and not on itself.
o Illustrations should use dialogue and direct quotation so that
the preacher relives the story rather than merely retells it.
o Illustrations should be convincing and told dramatically.
o Personal illustrations must be true, modest and confidential.
(“Never pick a flower from another man’s posy” Spurgeon)

 Spurgeon on Illustrations:
o They should not be too numerous.
o They should not be too prominent; ‘…not so much to be
seen as seen through.”
o They are best when they are natural and grow out of the
subject.

 Humour
o Seldom if ever tell jokes.
o Humour should be natural, relevant to the subject matter
and preferably drawn from personal experience.
o Humour is a useful tool for relieving the tension in intense
sections of the sermon.

 Visual Aids
o Use visual aids sparingly and ensure that they do not become
central – they are forms of illustration only. A sermon is not a
presentation or a lecture.
o Visual aids can be on overhead slides, PowerPoint slides,
articles or drawings, or people enacting something or just
representing something.
o A vividly presented word-picture is an effective ‘visual aid’.

 Applications
o Applications are concrete suggestions for implementing the
sermon points in real life situations.
o Applications must be practical, do-able and relevant to the lives
of the listeners; they must not be hypothetical.
o Applications must be specific and not general.
o Applications can be presented at the very end of a sermon but
they are usually better positioned within each sermon point
(sub-division).
o Applications should be few to be have impact and a sense of
do-ability.
 41

3. Conclusions

 The style of the conclusion should match the purpose of the

sermon. i.e. An INFORMATIVE sermon should conclude with
repetition and summary; a PERSUASIVE sermon should end by
calling for a verdict ; a MOTIVATIONAL sermon should end by
giving a concrete and ‘now’ suggestion as to how the listener can
apply the message.
 Ideally, the conclusion should incorporate material used in the
introduction so that the sermon comes around 360o.
 The Do Not’s
o Do not give new information in the conclusion
o Do not announce the conclusion unless you are going to
actually stop speaking within the next one or two minutes.
o Do not wander around looking for an exit off the freeway –
don’t circle the runway, land the plane!

Exercise
Review the sermon by Nederhood and note the introduction,
Conclusion, applications, and point-linkages.

Exercise
Complete the conclusion of your sermon and review its illustrations,
applications, amplifications and point-linkages. This is your last
opportunity to work on your sermon before you deliver it. Discuss
your ideas for visual aides and humour with your group members
 42

Module Six

Delivering the word

1. The public reading of Scripture

a. The manner in which you read the scripture aloud gives important
clues to your opinion of them. i.e. allowing incompetents to read the
scripture to the congregation gives the impression that you think more
highly of your sermon than you do the scriptures.
b. Starting to read before the congregants have had time to find the place
in the Bible tells them that it is more important for them to listen to you
than read the text for themselves.
c. Reading dully, or without adequate preparation, sets up an expectation
for a dull and unprepared sermon.
d. Emphasis:
i. The Lord is my shepherd
ii. The Lord is my shepherd
iii. The Lord is my shepherd
iv. ‘But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed
for our iniquities.’

Pace
Pause
Power
Pitch

Exercise
Take the passage selected for your sermon and read it aloud in such a manner
that the emphasis on certain words provides a clear indication of your
interpretation of the text.

2. Sermon delivery

a. ‘The effectiveness of our sermons depends on two factors: what we

say and how we say it. Both are important. Apart from life-
related, biblical content we have nothing worth communicating;
but without skilful deliver, we will not get our content across to the
congregation’ H.W.Robinson
 43

b. Psychologist Albert Mehrabian holds that only 7% of the impact of

a speaker’s message comes through his words; 38% from his voice
and 55% from his facial expressions. What are the implications of
this for preaching?
c. Grooming and dress: Three basic rules: (i) Look clean and neat;
(ii) dress so make others comfortable; (iii) Adopt a level of
formality one level higher than the average congregation member.
d. Movement and gesture: ‘Content should motivate movement’ and
emotion should motivate gesture. ‘Gestures are for expression not
exhibition.’
e. Eye contact: Talk with one listener for about two seconds, looking
them in the eye, and then move on to someone else and do the
same again. Take care not to develop a set pattern.
f. Voice: As with reading aloud, pitch, pace, and pauses are
important. Increased pitch creates renewed listener alertness and
signals an imminent point of importance (lowered pitch also
creates a need for listener attention); increased pace creates tension
and expectation (reduced pace emphasizes); pauses punctuate and
create a sense of drama.
g. The needs of the hearer; (The following are from ‘Quest for better
preaching’ by E.F.Markquart)
i. The hearer needs a preacher who is totally immersed in his
message.
ii. The hearer needs a potent image/story/metaphor that will
linger in the heart and mind long after the sermon is
delivered.
iii. The hearer needs order and clarity.
iv. The hearer needs repetition, familiar language, facial
honesty, good eye contact and variation in tone, pace,
rhythm and timing.
h. Speech impediments: ALL forms of speech impediments are a
distraction i.e. stuttering, ‘Um and Aaah’, throat clearing, constant
use of particular words…. Tape your sermons and listen to them
noting any such ‘habits’ that need to be broken.
i. Cultural considerations: Are these cultural constraints or
expectations?
 44

PREACHING PROHIBITIONS
Per Warren & David Wiersbe
1. Wasting time on long introductions to our sermons. The main purpose of the
introduction is to create interest and convince the listener that he can be helped by
hearing your message. The longer you wander around during the introduction, the
easier it is for the listener to tune you out.
2. Basing our sermons on suppositions instead of Scripture. People do not come to
church to hear what we imagine. They come to hear what we know God has said in
His Word.
3. Using poor English and bad grammar. Words are the preacher’s only tools and
he must be skilled in using them.
4. Hiding behind the pulpit. Don’t carry your personal complaints into the pulpit to
make them part of the sermon.
5. Preaching everything we think we know. Digest your material first, then prepare
messages that meet human needs and glorify Jesus Christ.
6. Using illustrations carelessly. The purpose of an illustration is to make the truth
clearer to the listener, or to apply the truth to the heart so that the will can respond.
7. Overpowering people with our vocabulary. Preach to express, not to impress.
Preach to be understood.
8. Delivering the message carelessly. Don’t assume a “pulpit style” that is different
from your normal style of conversation and communication. Don’t imitate some other
preacher; be yourself — your best self.
9. Concluding sermons with vague generalities. Be specific. Call for a verdict.
Challenge the people to respond.
10. Hopping rapidly from verse to verse in the Bible. If it is important to your
message that you refer to several passages, at least give the people time to locate
them.
11. Betraying confidences in our preaching. “Just this past week,” announces the
brave pastor, “one of our members told me that he had been unfaithful to his wife.”
The result? Every woman starts to suspect her husband, every husband begins to
despise the pastor, and the whole congregation determines never to go to him for
personal counsel.
12. Abusing the use of humour in the pulpit. Preaching is a serious business, and
the preacher must not stoop to become a comedian. Particularly, he must never joke
about eternal things. In the pulpit, humour must be either a tool to build with or a
weapon to fight with, but never a toy to play with.
13. Preaching ourselves instead of the Word. The congregation wants to see Christ,
but they want to see Him through the ministry of a real person, even one who
occasionally makes mistakes.
 45

CONTEMPORARY CRITICISMS OF PREACHING:

ELEVEN DEADLY SINS
1. Most preaching is too abstract and academic, too theoretical and
theological
Preaching tends to be an exposition of ideas, arguments, generalizations,
assertions, abstractions, whereas the Bible is primarily story.
Much of our preaching is like delivering lectures upon medicine to sick
people. The lecture is true The lecture is interesting. . .But still the fact
remains that the lecture is not the medicine and that to give medicine, not to
deliver lectures, is the preacher duly.
2. Sermons contain too many ideas which are too complex and come at the
listener too fast.
Sermons usually need to have one fundamental assertion/theme/truth which is
reinforced by story, illustration, anecdote, parable, and quotation.
3. There is too little concern for people’s needs.
Intuitively, listeners tune in on the preacher who is addressing their needs.
This doesn‘t mean that a preacher tells the people what they want to hear, but
that he addresses their struggles and victories in language which they can
understand.
A criticism of contemporary preaching is that it often is more concerned about
“religious truths” than “God’s truth for us in our needs.”
4. There is too much theological jargon and biblical talk
Most of the laity do not have “gut associations” with such words as salvation,
redemption, incarnation, gospel, and theology of the cross. Ninety- eight
percent of our laity don‘t use these words in their everyday lives.
5. Too much time is spent describing the past and telling about the “land of
Zion.”
6. There are too few illustrations and these are often too literary and not
helpful.
Laity want more illustrations, illustrations that use familiar objects,
relationships, images in other words, the stuff of their lives.
7. In preaching, there is too much bad news and not enough good news, too
much diagnosis and not enough prognosis, too much “what’s wrong with
the world” and not enough “this is what we can do to make it better.”
8. Sermons are often too predictable and passionless.
9. Much preaching is moralistic.
Moralizing is premature preoccupation with questions of personal behaviour.
Moralistic preaching is often fruitless because it doesn‘t address first things
first. Good works are a consequence of grace and not its cause.
10. Preachers don’t take quality study time
11. Preaching too often consists of “Saturday night notions
 46

This is a checklist that

Preaching Checklist can be used to evaluate
sermons. Use it to
critique your own
Start sermons and the
Finnish sermons you hear
Total Minutes preached. Work
through the checklist
Organisation now as a recap of the
material presented in
Introduction this workshop and as a
 Does it get attention? final preparation for
 Does it touch some need directly or indirectly? the five-minute sermon
 Does it orient you to the subject, or to the main idea or to the first point? presentation still to
 Is it short? come.
 Is there a specific purpose?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Score 10 = Excellent

NOTES:

Structure
 Is the development and overall structure clear?
 Does the sermon have one central idea and can you state it in a paragraph?
 Are the transitions clear?
 Is there a logical or psychological link between the points?
 Do the main points all relate back to the main idea?
 Are the sub-points clearly related to their main points?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Score 10 = Excellent

NOTES:

Conclusion
 Is the conclusion congruent with the objective of the sermon? (If the objective is to inform is there
an adequate summary of ideas? If the objective is to persuade does the conclusion contain the final
telling argument? If the objective is to motivate are there effective closing appeals or suggestions?)

NOTES:
 47

Content
 Is the subject significant and appropriate?
 Is the sermon built on solid exegesis?
 Is the sermon essentially expository in form?
 Does the preacher show you where he/she is in the text?
 Is the analysis of the subject thorough and logical or is there a valid reason why it isn’t?
 Does the content show originality and creativity?
 Is the sermon essentially Christ-centred?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Score 10 = Excellent

NOTES:

Supporting Material
 Is the supporting material logically related to its point?
 Is it interesting, varied, specific and sufficient?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Score - 10 Excellent

NOTES:

Style
 Does the preacher use correct grammar?
 Is his/her vocabulary concrete, vivid and varied?
 Are words used correctly?
 Does the choice of words add to the effectiveness of the sermon?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Score 10 = Excellent
 48

NOTES:

Delivery
Intellectual Directness
 Do you feel he/she is talking with you?
 Is he/she friendly and empathetic?
 Does the delivery sound like lively conversation?
 Are words pronounced correctly?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Score 10 = Excellent

NOTES:

Oral Presentation
 Is the voice easy to listen to and is there clear articulation?
 Is there vocal variety and does the pitch level change?
 Is there a variety in force and does the rate vary enough?
 Does the preacher use pauses effectively?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Score 10 = Excellent

NOTES:

Physical Presentation
 Is his/her entire body involved in the delivery and does he/she gesture?
 Are the gestures spontaneous, wide and definite?
 Are the gestures appropriate and natural?
 Are there distracting mannerisms?
 Is the posture good and does the preacher look alert?
 Is there good facial expressions?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 49

Score 10 = Excellent

NOTES:

General Effectiveness
Audience Adaptation
 Is the sermon adapted to your interests and attitudes?
 Is it related to your knowledge and does it meet needs?
 Do you feel he/she is aware of audience response?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Score 10 = Excellent

NOTES:

Presence of God
 Was Jesus lifted up and exalted?
 Was there a tangible knowledge of the presence of God as the Word was preached?
 Was the Holy Spirit given latitude to minister to the congregation ?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Score 10 = Excellent

NOTES:

General Comments
 50

The Five-minute Sermon

Each person will present their five-minute sermon while the others evaluate it against
the highlighted sections of the Abridged Preaching Checklist below. After each
presentation there will be questions and comments from the rest of the class.

Abridged Preaching Check-List

Structure
Is the development and overall structure clear?
Does the sermon have one central idea and can you state it in a paragraph?
Are the transitions clear?
Is there a logical or psychological link between the points?
Do the main points all relate back to the main idea?
Are the sub-points clearly related to their main points?

Conclusion
Is the conclusion congruent with the objective of the sermon? (If the objective is to inform is there an
adequate summary of ideas? If the objective is to persuade does the conclusion contain the final
telling argument? If the objective is to motivate are there effective closing appeals or suggestions?)

Content
Is the subject significant and appropriate?
Is the sermon built on solid exegesis?
Is the sermon essentially expository in form?
Does the preacher show you where he/she is in the text?
Is the analysis of the subject thorough and logical or is there a valid reason why it isn’t?
Does the content show originality and creativity?
Is the sermon essentially Christ-centred?
 51

Module Seven

Conclusion

TOPIC > TEXT > PURPOSE > STRUCTURE & CONTENT > DELIVERY

1. Preaching should be expository first and topical second.

2. The purpose of preaching is to not only inform, persuade, or motivate, it is

also to impart spiritual life.

3. A sermon should have one overriding point.

4. Conclusions should conclude with impact and be congruent with the sermon
purpose.

5. Connecting statements or images hold the sermon together as thread holds

clothing together.

6. Homiletics without good hermeneutics is like fire without light;

Hermeneutics without good homiletics is like light without fire; Good
hermeneutics with good homiletics is like fire and light.

7. Reflection and honest pier assessment are two keys to growth as a preacher.
 52

Final Questions

Q1 What understandings and convictions do you have concerning preaching?

Q2 Are YOU called to preach?

Q3 Are you prepared to pay the price to be a preacher of the Word of God?

PREACHING BOOK LIST

Biblical Preaching by Haddon W. Robinson ISBN: 0-8010-7700-1

Quest for better preaching by Edward F.Markquart ISBN: 0-8066-2170-2

Anointed expository preaching by Stephen F.Olford ISBN: 0-8054-6085-3

Christ-centred preaching by Bryan Chapell ISBN: 0-8010-2586-9

Mastering contemporary preaching by Hybels, Briscoe & Robinson ISBN: 0-88070-

335-0

Essays on biblical preaching by Jay E>Adams ISBN: 0-310-51041-4