Preaching the Bible happens every day all over the world; and every communicator of the Bible has his or her own style, method and personality that the message is wrapped within. Not only that, every audience carries their personal culture, beliefs, ideas and needs. Therefore, the ultimate task before every communicator is to preach effectively. For example, did the message move people to follow Jesus? Did the message confront, convict and encourage the hearers; such as the Apostle Paul instructed Timothy. He told him, “Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.” Therefore, the primary purpose of effective preaching is to bring the words …show more content…
Christ-centered preaching is what every person both inside the church and outside of the church needs. In fact, Jesus said in John 5:39, “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!” This means that the entire Bible points to Jesus; therefore, no message should ever be given void of Jesus. He should be the focal point, the hero, the means in which people step from the message into a new way of living as a result of the sermon. However, far to often, preachers share messages full of great insights and principles from the Bible and what the church is left with is really “good Christians” but not self-surrendering followers of Jesus. The point being, Jesus did not come to make our lives better, but to bring dead people to life. Many sermons echo the religious leaders from the days of Jesus. Making people better, rather than God being the focal point and the solution to a stubborn and rebellious heart. This does not mean that principle based preaching is out, but it simply means Jesus must be the focus of the message rather than an addition because we are in church. To double down on this idea, Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.” (emphasis mine) He didn’t say go preach the Ten Commandments or preach ten ways to have a better life, he said preach “the Good News.” The good news is Jesus; and therefore, every sermon must focus on the life, ministry, teachings and person of Jesus in order to be