I frequently teach new pastors and lay people how to preach. Part of this training includes explaining the six different types of serons and how each of them can be used effectively. It occurs to me that perhaps the listeners need to know this information as much as the speakers.
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1. Expository Sermons - this is a style of preaching that takes the time to preach through an entire book of the Bible one verse (or passage) at a time. The preacher may teach several verses in a particular week, but he will deal with each verse one at a time. The following week the preacher would then go on to the next section. It may take the preacher several months to get through a book of the Bible. Each sermon is really part of a long series of sermons that gives in depth understanding of that section of scripture.
2. Textual Sermons - this is the style of preaching that focuses on a particular verse, or set of verses. The preacher may give the same type of explanation as one might hear in an expository sermon, but the next week the preacher does not go to the next section of verses. The preacher might go to an entirely different part of the Bible. Each sermon looks at that particular passage in depth but each sermon is a "stand alone" sermon and does not necessarily connect to other passages studied on previous or following weeks.
3. Biographical Sermons - this is the style of preaching that focuses on a particular Bible character. The preacher explains the successes and failures of that biblical character and what we can learn from his or her life. (Example: Lessons from the Life of David.)
4. Historical Incident Sermons - this style of preaching is similar to a biographical sermon except that this type of sermon focuses on a particular incident in the Bible instead of a person in the Bible. (Example: Lessons from the Fall of Jericho.)
5. Topical Sermons - this style of sermon uses many scriptures from different parts of the Bible to give a more complete teaching about a particular topic. (Example: What Does the Bible Says about Debt.)
6. Personal Testimony - this is when the preacher primarily tells the story of his life, or some portion of his life. The preacher uses scriptures to illustrate various moments in life when he learned some specific spiritual truth. Though it is a testimony, it still uses scripture to illustrate the points made. It is very tempting to leave scripture out of a testimonial type sermon. Leaving scripture out is strongly discouraged because even though a person's story may be very inspiring, there is spiritual power in the Word of God. Therefore, the use of scripture in a testimonial type of sermon is critical to transforming it from an inspiring story into a powerful sermon.
Each type of sermon has its own strengths and weaknesses. Each can be used effectively and each can be abused. Though most preachers will have a particular style that they feel most comfortable using, the effective preacher will learn to use all the types above at the right time and in the right place. The key to creating a powerful sermon is to start with scripture and then build the sermon around that scripture instead of starting with human opinion and then trying to prove that opinion with scripture. Starting with scripture, instead of human opinion, keeps preachers from inserting too much of themselves into the sermon. Most people who come to church are more interested in hearing what the Bible says about a particular subject than what the preacher thinks about that subject. So start with scripture, then build a great sermon around it, regardless of what style of sermon it is. Everyone will enjoy such a sermon and be inspired by it.
Passion
In 2004 ardent Roman Catholic Mel Gibson, aided by Jesus-portrayer and equally ardent Roman Catholic James Caviezel, following a script based partly on the Bible and partly on the diaries of Roman Catholic 18th century saint Anne Catherine Emmerich, produced the blockbuster movie, The Passion of the Christ.
Evangelical Protestant Christians jumped on board even though many of them had never heard the term "passion" as referring to anything Biblical. Actually it is a Biblical word, indirectly. The Greek word is translated "passion" once in the King James Bible, in Acts 1. It is a direct reference there to the suffering of Christ.
The word itself means a very strong impression or feeling, usually painful. And as you know, the English word has come from that humble beginning to cover a whole range of meanings.
So when we hear the term Passion of Christ, or Passion Play, or Passion Week, we should think Jesus and we should think the Cross. But the concept of suffering and giving one's life up in this all-consuming way is throughout the Bible and history and life. Passion is an important concept to track down.
Passion will change your life. Passion can even take your life.
Passion, like religion, can be good or bad. I grow weary of hearing leaders say to their flock, "I'm not into religion, I'm into Jesus." James, the half brother of the Lord who gave us a book by that name in the Bible, was into religion. He talked about vain religion, for sure. But he also talked about the pure kind, the kind he recommended to us. That's the kind that gets involved with orphans and widows and other needy folk. There is a good religion.
And passion too is in itself a neutral word. There are any number of bad passions, secondary passions, less-than-perfect passions, along with the good kind that Jesus had.
It's worth saying here that lack of passion is also destructive. A soldier thinking that the foxhole is a safe place may change his tune when he sees the hand grenade on the way. Passionate soldiers are on the battlefield. They too may die, but because of their passion, not their lack of it.
Passion starts early in life. Even little boys see little girls that sweep them off their feet. In a few years that passion, which we have called "love" in the West, can bring on all sorts of imagined ailments, especially if the intended is not as excited as the intendee.
People eventually decide upon a career, and some can become quite passionate about it. They will save lives. They will educate the poor. They will change their community or nation with their giftedness.
The altruistic among us can get very passionate about moral issues. They view a video about the abortion process, and watch a beating heart stop, and they cry "Murder." And so it is. A grievous crime forgivable only through the grace of God. Their own heart begins to beat harder and a passion is born.
Someone will hear of the atrocities of Kim Jong Un's Korea and will say, Stop this! Let God's people and all the people, go and be free. How dare you imprison the minds of a nation and the bodies of those whom you decide to cast away? Passion.
Some become passionate about politics. About changing society. Justice, they would call it. Hitler was a passionate man. What he believed, he believed passionately. Jews are not people, said he. They should not live. They are the source of evil. They must be destroyed.
We hate his ideas, but, look at his passion.
What is our passion? How hot is it? What stirs us to action? Or, are we still in the inactive phase? Just learning and hearing about something. Small stirrings. But not swept away just yet.
Many Bible people were passionate. Young King Josiah simply read a copy of the law of Moses. But the life he witnessed around him was so different from the life he read about in the book. Passion seized him, and through him, a nation. Idols were cast out, the Word of God was elevated. Revival broke out as a nation repented. That's what passion will do. One man can get it moving.
Jehu was also one of the kings. He was a king of Israel, as opposed to Josiah from Judah. His appointment was directly from God and he knew it. He decided to take it seriously. For the most part. Never was there a more zealous man than Jehu, in some respects. But his zeal was not whole-hearted enough to cover all that was in God's heart. His passion was personal and therefore limited.
Remember the passionate Psalmist who cried out, "As the deer pants for the water-brooks, so my soul pants for You." A thirsty seeker after God is a classic example of true passion properly directed.
Of course there has never been passion like that of Jesus. As a 12-year-old He was in the Temple asking and answering life's most important questions with the leaders of the day. His Father's business, He called it. It was Nondenominational church His passion.
Twenty years later He visited that same Temple, whip in hand, to scatter the thieves that had taken over the House of Prayer. His house. This passion for the holiness of the House of God would lead to His death. Zeal for God's house literally ate Him up.
He cared about the things that Father cared about. The truth of God, the people of God, God Himself. Those were His passions, and He allowed them to consume Him.
What consumes you and me?
I was called into the ministry at age 17. After awhile that was all I thought about. It was a young dream, all concerned about being the best student, the best preacher, starting the best church. And as the years passed in college I dreamed of starting a church in upstate New York, where "our" denomination had no churches. A pioneer would blaze the trail into the New York wilderness... and so on. Passion.
If passion alone were enough to make dreams come true, there would have been several new churches in that part of the country in short order. As it turned out, none were formed. Passion has its limits, but nothing good is done without it.
Later we did start a church around the Bible college that still stands. A passion for educating children led to the formation of Christian schools, one of which also remains.
But the two big passions of my life would involve the persecuted church. Those former passions involved the head a lot. Excitement. Some ambition. But when I was about 40, I experienced something else. It was in the heart. It was a burning, aching feeling, stimulated by the stories of suffering behind the old Iron Curtain.
Romania called first, and eventually led me to re-locate in Chicago, where many Romanians dwell. Shortly after my move, Communism fell, and something within me fell too. It would be over 15 years before anything like Romania would rise. That rising would be the nation of North Korea. This passion was so strong that it nearly destroyed me. In short, the ministry to the North Koreans contributed to a nervous breakdown.
I now believe that another passion is on the way, if it has not already begun. Prophecy to me indicates that this passion will be my final one, the beginning of the end.
I have come to believe that persons without a passion or even a desire to have one, are in the lukewarm state and are in dangerous territory spiritually. To these people, Jesus is just one of many gods in their life. He is a casual acquaintance, the subject of a morning visit once a week, if that.
How can I get it back? I heard a preacher recently talking about a conversation he had with God. He went into God's presence as we often do, complaining about all his problems. He was a bit taken aback to hear that inner Voice of God responding to him, "I hear your problems, but don't you know I have problems too?"
"Lord, what's Your problem?" the preacher asked. Then it was that the Lord laid out to him the needs of a particular area, and how that preacher and those who followed him would be able to minister correction to the problem.
A God Who has problems. Needs. Desires. A Will. Why, this is radical to some of us. But did not Jesus teach us to pray, "Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done"? God's will is His problem. It is not being done in so many places, because God's people are not aware that there is anything beyond their own needs that cry out for help.
Ask God what His problem is in your home, or school or place of employment, or community. Ask Him how you can help to solve that problem, so that God's Kingdom will be established there.
Do that, and passion will not be far behind.