Biblical Preaching Part#1

Preaching is the ability to teach the word of God. There are many great preachers of today and yesterday who preach biblically but there are the masses of preachers who preach application and not the bible. One may ask, “Is not application preaching biblical?” The answer this question is yes and no. Application preaching can lead to postmodern ideology. The idea of all about me, and the word of God is open for other interpretations. The road of application preaching can be a very dangerous road if not taken biblically. Application preaching needs to be there to a certain extent but not the point of where false teachers like Joel Osteen have taken it.
What is biblical preaching then, if it is not application? To answer this question one must examine scripture. 2 Timothy 3:16 states the following,” All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” Biblical teaching is broken down into four parts: doctrine, reproof, correction, and righteousness. The first part of biblical teaching is doctrine.
Doctrine is the knowing of where God stands; for example God is merciful. This is doctrine, the belief that God is merciful. This statement of faith can be found in scripture, and in context. When preaching scripture for the benefit of training the body to know what they believe and why, all scripture must be used in context. If scripture is taken out of context it can lead to serious theological problems as well as life problems. For example look at Matthew 10:35, “35 For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; 36 and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.” If this verse was just read and clearly out of context one may be lead to think he or she must hate their family. If this out of context preaching happens not only would it cause the son or daughter to disown their family, but also cause a contradiction in the word of God. To fully grasp what Jesus meant by saying to disown family, one must read the next few verses to understand why Jesus said it, and what He meant when He said it. To preach doctrine, the bible must be preached in context.
Part #2 to come in a few days.