“…[H]ow shall they hear without a preacher?”  (Romans 10)

 

Not every preacher is a pastor but every pastor is a preacher.  Not every sermon is a message from God. In the Old Testament Scriptures, it is written, “The Word of the LORD came to…”  or  “The Burden of the LORD came to…” Though we do not find this is the New Testament (or atleast I cannot think of an instance when it has been used at this moment) that does not mean that it has changed though somethings have changed. Today the minister does not hear from God audibally as did the prophets of old. But God still speaks to the mind of His ministers or atleast to those ministers with an ear to hear and a sensitivity to the Lord.

Having said that let me be clear not all messages are from God.  The carnal preacher will preach his own message or sermon or speech. Not all preachers are sent by God, many a preacher is self sent or family sent or even church sent, but God is not in it at all. These are the prosperity preachers, the preachers with dead messages, the activist ministers that act out against godliness…lezbian preachers, active homosexual preachers, women pastoring men, Apostles, etc. Any pastor, note, I wrote pastor, Any pastor that does not line up with First (1st) Timothy three (3) is not of God.

This is why a preacher must be differentiated from pastor. When God uses the pronouns he and him, that disqualifies two (2) of those from above right off the bat. When Paul says that he should be the husband of one (1) wife, that eliminates the homosexual. As for the “Apostle” (this is a thing of pride) the requirement fto be an apostle is to have seen the risen Christ. No one alive today has seen the risen Christ with their eyes. By faith, certainly, but by physical eye, no. The entire Apostolic church can be disqualified out right as they teach baptism and tongues are a requirement for salvation.

There are different types of the sermon.
*Topical
*Biographical
*Expository
*Extra-Biblical
*There can be others but these will suffice us.

The topical sermon is just as it sounds. The minister will preach or speak on a subject or a topic. This type can be useful when speaking to something that is current or “trending.” I call this the lazy preacher’s sermon when it is used incorrectly.  If a minister uses the topical all the time he is using it incorrectly. The pro’s of the topical sermon: *Cover much ground in a short amount of time.  *Address a current event and answer questions with a Christ-ian world view. *It is helpful to new Christ-ians, in that it can give the new believer a working knowledge of the cardinal and primary doctrines of the faith. Justification by faith is a good topical sermon, Sanctification, Election, Glorification, Perseverance of the believer, Forgiveness, God’s love, God’s Sovereignty, these are all good topical sermons. Topical preaching is good when visiting another church and preaching to an unknown crowd.

The cons of the topical sermon”  If the minister preaches only topically, he is a lazy preacher and one should wonder what he does with his time. Topical preaching can tempt the minister into giving his opinion to the flock rather than the Word of God to the flock or the whole counsel of God to the flock. If the minister is always preaching on current events, he is not in the Word as he should be.  There is a time and a place for topical preaching but it is not all the time.

Biographical:  This is a very helpful sermon.  One can learn what to do and what not to do, based off of the life of another. This can be inspiring as one might find themselves identifying with a man or a woman in the Scriptures. This type can also help a person forgive themself. They can see through the life or lives of others how that God does not turn His back on those He chooses to love.  They may see Moses commit murder or David adultery and learn that there is forgiveness in a Forgiving and merciful God. However, one should never think that others have gotten away with this, so can I.  That is not the point of the biographical sermon nor is it the way a Christ-ian thinks.

Expository: This is the best, the safest, and the most honest way of preaching. This type of preaching allows the Word of God to speak for itself. This type of preaching is by book, chapter, and verse. This is a verse by verse style.  It is line upon line, precept upon precept, hear a little and there a little.” With expository preaching the minister defines the Words when necessary. Synonyms for expository preaching are: unpacking, mining, digging, pulling out of, magnifying.

The expository preacher wants God to speak for Himself, he has no need or desire to opine. This type of preaching keeps the minister honest.  This type of preaching is laborious, one must labor to mine or unpack what is there in the passage. There is no adding to or taking away from in expository preaching.  There is no “interpreting” in expository preaching.  This preaching presents the listener, the hearer, s/he that hath an ear to hear with the exact meaning, purpose and teaching of the inspired writer.

Extra Biblical:  This is the wresting, twisting, and perverting of the Holy Scriptures. This is the preaching and teaching of the J. Witnesses, Mormons, Apostolics, Catholics, Universalists, Free-will Baptists, Charismatics, Easy Believers, etc.  Reader, you might ask how I know I’m correct.  I’ll give you three (3) answers:  *I am an expositional preacher and *I have had many discussions throughout the years with believers of other ways of thinking and they have not been able to support their extraBiblical beliefs, whereas, we have always been able to defend and support ours and I thank and praise God for teaching me through out the years.  My understanding of Scripture comes not from schools or even the churches i attended, but from the Spirit of God and His dead servant-writers. *I am not one to believe what I want to believe. Before I hold to a belief I put up obstacles to that possible belief.  If I can overcome obstacles, and it is logical, then I am on my way to holding fast to a belief.

As to how a sermon or a message differs from a speech…..A message is from God.  Sometimes, there is no difference.

Godspeed.