The following guest post comes to us from Rick Warren, founding pastor of Saddleback Church. Rick is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Purpose Driven Life. He is also the founder of Pastors.com, a global internet community for pastors.
Many preachers believe the purpose of preaching is to explain the Bible, or to interpret the text, or to help people understand God’s Word. But these all fall short of what it really is.
Paul gives us God’s purpose of preaching in Ephesians 4:11-13 (NIV): “Christ gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists and some to be pastors and teachers to prepare God’s people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
Why did God give prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers? To produce Christ-like people. That’s the purpose of preaching: to help people become like Jesus.
How does this happen? Through application. The only way lives are changed is through the application of God’s Word. The lack of application in preaching and teaching is, I believe, the number one problem with preaching in America.
Too many sermons are nothing more than lectures on biblical backgrounds or obscure Greek and Hebrew words. As a result, people walk into a church and walk out, but their lives remain unchanged.
God has promised in his Word in Isaiah 55:11 (NKJV): “My word … shall not return to me void.” If it does return void, it’s not the message. It’s the way we communicate it.
Why aren’t more sermons built on application?
Application answers two questions:
- So what?
- What now?
If your preaching doesn’t ever answer these two questions, you haven’t applied the Bible to the lives of your listeners.
To read the entire article, click here.
Your partner in ministry,
Nelson
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