An Introduction to Effective Christian Preaching

The Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso © 2017 JESUS Jesus Christ is the preacher per excellence. He had teaching and preaching as his major task and with these two tools (often used interchangeably), he saved the lost and touched the world. The Sermon on the Mount was a good example of his sermons. 1 His message had authority and was always rooted in the Old Testament. He developed a body of teaching that was essentially the fulfilment of the Old Testament in his own person, life, deeds, sacrificial death and resurrection. This was the content of the kerygma, which also shaped the preaching of the apostles. It implies that from the beginning, preaching has never been words of humans about God but God's word to humanity. 2 Jesus used metaphor, simile, hyperbole, questions, parables, allegories, visual object lessons and epigrams to teach and to preach. There were assertions, arguments, illustrations and applications. Although biblical preaching is always a blend of inductive and deductive elements, Jesus' teachings often began with the deductive, moving from the familiar to the unfamiliar. He began where the listeners were and led them to the principles. His messages are so powerful that it engages the minds and hearts of the young and old, rich and poor, educated an uneducated. With his dependence on the Father, he demonstrated such unparalleled supernatural endowment. 3 Jesus' sermon in the synagogue in Luke 4:16-21 is a great key to the history of Christian preaching through the ages. It is the bridge between Christian sermon and synagogue proclamation. The use of oral lecture during a service is a way of uniting the trait of Judaism and Christianity. It postulates a relationship between Old Testament communication and the church, indicating that there is a degree in which 4 the synagogue tradition left an imprint on the words of Jesus and other gospel stories. 4

2012

Presbyterion

My paper proposes that the speeches in Acts account for the first cogent Christian sermon series that works to fully illumine the nascent church to the inaugurated kingdom of the Lord Jesus the Messiah and the reach of that kingdom.

BTSK Insight, 2017

BACKGROUND AND DEFINITIONS OF EVANGELISM But what does this word evangelism really mean and what is its origin? Well, let's start with a definition. Evangelism is the presentation of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit so that others may come to put their trust in God through Him, accepting him as their Saviour and serving him as their Lord. (1) The word comes from the Greek noun euangelion which means gospel or good news. The verb form of the word is euangelizes that which means to preach the gospel (2) or to tell good news. A related Greek word is marturein which means to bear witness. (3) Less frequently used is a third Greek word kerussen or to proclaim the gospel used by Paul. EVANGELISM IN THE DAYS OF THE APOSTLES AND THE TIME OF EARLY CHURCH FATHERS What did this good news mean to the first century church and to the people with whom they shared? They knew the good news concerned the Messianic promises that God would bring salvation to His people, make it available to the gentile world and would be the Sovereign King of all. Luke records that it was in Jesus' hometown of Nazareth that Jesus announced the coming of His kingly rule. "He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was His custom. And He stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 'The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.' Then He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on Him, and He began by saying to them, 'Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing'." (Luke 4:16-21) In this passage we see the careful interaction of the three words we have defined. Jesus, using the written words of the prophet Isaiah, proclaimed the good news of His appearing to the people in the synagogue. They were the ones who then bore witness to what they had seen. The good news we have in written form, the four gospels that we know as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, came from the first-hand accounts of witnesses to the original events. Many in the synagogue had their doubts about this man who grew up with them. Sometimes the disciples themselves had doubts about who Jesus was. However, Jesus was shown "through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead"(Romans 1:4).This is what His followers witnessed, and then they bore witness by proclaiming what they had seen and heard. So several reasons emerge for the fervour of the disciples as they went bearing witness of Jesus to the world. First, there was the deep and abiding faith that they had for the Lord. They had been witnesses to His claims of kingship of a kingdom that was not of this world. Then He appears to them after His death in a glorified body! I would be convinced, how about you? This faith was strengthened after His resurrection when He shared with them the Scriptures which He fulfilled during His life before their eyes (Luke 24:27). Jesus had shared these Scriptures with them during His ministry but the disciples and His other followers did not understand them until after the resurrection (Luke 9:43-45; 18:31-34; Matthew 16:21,22; 17:11,12).Secondly, they had a deep and abiding love for the Lord Jesus. We do tend to love those we choose to be with. He cared for them, taught them God's truth and loved them (1 John 4:19). The disciples and other of Jesus' followers wanted to show their love in response to His love by obeying Him. For Jesus said "If anyone loves me, he will obey My teaching" (John 14:23).Thirdly, it was God's clear and consistent command to His followers to take the good news out into the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything Jesus has commanded us to do. This command to His followers and through them to all believers is found recorded for us in the following verses: Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-18; Luke 24:45-49; and Acts 1:8. We, too, are commanded to show our love for the Lord by obeying this command to share our faith with those with whom we come into contact with .Fourthly, Jesus promises to be with us to the very end of the age as we carry out this command (Matthew 28:20). Not only that, but He promised to send the Holy Spirit to be with us, to empower us, to be with us (a Divine Blessing in and of itself!) to remind us of Jesus' words, and to teach us all things (Acts 1:8, John 14:25). Sharing your faith with another person is indeed a scary thing to do by yourself. But these verses promise that the Lord is doing the hard work and we are but His mouthpiece or spokesperson. And at the same time the Holy Spirit is helping us, He has, is and will work in the other person's heart and life to demonstrate their need for a Saviour and to draw all men unto Jesus (John 16:8-11; John 12:32; 1 Thessalonians 1:4,5).The early believers came under heavy persecution for sharing their faith. Many events have transpired since then which hindered the spread of the Gospel in the time since Jesus rose from the dead. Yet people still share their faith and bring others into the kingdom of God. It was God's command to all believers to share their faith then, and to all believers which have preceded us, and it remains the believer's command and commission today. As these reasons motivated the saints of the early church, they should motivate us as well. We have come to faith in the Lord, have come to love Him, want to serve and obey Him and, of course, want to live in His presence and see His power transform lives around us.

2008

2019

Acts 2,5-6 talks of the crowd that gathered in Jerusalem for the annual Pentecost feast. It describes them as 'devout men from nations under heaven'. This description could be an exaggeration, but it is a literary way of telling the readers that uncountable number of people went for the feast. The presentation posits species from every continent as present. They did not visit Jerusalem to listen to Peter's preaching about the resurrected Christ. Their visit was an annual pilgrimage for Jewish agricultural feast called 'Pentecost'. Undoubtedly, they were not interested in stories about Christ who as at the period was regarded as an insurrectionist, a brigand and a robber who died infamously. Truly, perception of an unusual sound necessitated their gathering together but staying on to listen to Peter talk about an infamous man and the historical conversion of about three thousand (3000) men (Acts 2,41) invites a sober reflection on the method used by Peter to pass ...

The Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso © 2017 JESUS Jesus Christ is the preacher per excellence. He had teaching and preaching as his major task and with these two tools (often used interchangeably), he saved the lost and touched the world. The Sermon on the Mount was a good example of his sermons. 1 His message had authority and was always rooted in the Old Testament. He developed a body of teaching that was essentially the fulfilment of the Old Testament in his own person, life, deeds, sacrificial death and resurrection. This was the content of the kerygma, which also shaped the preaching of the apostles. It implies that from the beginning, preaching has never been words of humans about God but God's word to humanity. 2 Jesus used metaphor, simile, hyperbole, questions, parables, allegories, visual object lessons and epigrams to teach and to preach. There were assertions, arguments, illustrations and applications. Although biblical preaching is always a blend of inductive and deductive elements, Jesus' teachings often began with the deductive, moving from the familiar to the unfamiliar. He began where the listeners were and led them to the principles. His messages are so powerful that it engages the minds and hearts of the young and old, rich and poor, educated an uneducated. With his dependence on the Father, he demonstrated such unparalleled supernatural endowment. 3 Jesus' sermon in the synagogue in Luke 4:16-21 is a great key to the history of Christian preaching through the ages. It is the bridge between Christian sermon and synagogue proclamation. The use of oral lecture during a service is a way of uniting the trait of Judaism and Christianity. It postulates a relationship between Old Testament communication and the church, indicating that there is a degree in which 4 the synagogue tradition left an imprint on the words of Jesus and other gospel stories. 4

ERATS: e-journal of religious and theological studies, 2019

This paper conducted a prognosis of the context of preaching in the 21st century Africa by first, doing a historical overview of preaching, underlining the various issues preaching had, had to deal with historically. The paper considered the nature of 21st century Africa, highlighting the influence of urbanization, globalization, and postmodernism on present day Africa. The paper drew important implications for preachers in the African context, concluding that preachers who are involved in preaching on the African continent think of the sermonic climate in Africa and therefore emphasize discipleship in their message, preach the right theology of prosperity, model their message and preach expository sermons as these are the consequences of the context of preaching in 21 st century Africa.