I want to bring to your attention four mistakes in preaching you don't even know your making. As a seasoned preacher I have learned through listening to bad and good sermons what real preaching must be. These four mistakes have been made by all of us and if I can help you not to make these same mistakes than I have accomplished my work. So lets dive into the first mistake:
Preaching is not teaching!
How dare I make this conjecture.
I will acknowledge your protestations and show you what I mean.
"Preaching must be about teaching." I will partially grant you this, there will be things taught and explained in a sermon. But a sermon is not about simply imparting knowledge.
"When we preach we are opening the scriptures in order to tell people about the Lord." But, this is not the sole purpose, to simply explain who God is. If I were to simply explain what a smart phone is, this would be of no concern to someone who sees no need for such a device.
"The Old Testament is explained in the New and the New Testament is hidden in the Old, so a preacher must teach all the scriptures." This also is true and a sensible preacher would have to interpret the context of his passage for those who may not know Old from New.
If preaching is not teaching than what is it?
Preaching is always and solely a call for sinners to come stand under the cleansing shower of Jesus' blood! A summons to come to the Kings house. A persuading plea for people, who have offended God, to find restitution through the sacrifice of Jesus.
Can you imagine a preacher giving a thirty minute lecture on the facts of Hell and not giving a summon to repent and turn to Jesus? It has happened before and I am sure it will happen again.
If you have read this article I pray you will not fall victim to giving lectures from the pulpit on a Sunday without a plea for sinners to repent and come by faith to Jesus. Otherwise you have simple given a "talk."
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