ESSENTIAL STEPS FOR AN EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION OF SERMON

ESSENTIAL STEPS FOR AN EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION OF SERMON

1. INTRODUCTION

Why people don’t listen to my preaching? This is the question that has been asked by the people most of the preachers of 21^st century. We are living in a time where the technology has reached its peak. The way of listening and seeing of the people has been changed and even the expectation of people has differed from primitive people. When the preacher faces this kind of congregation with god’s word, he finds it difficult to keep them attentive to what he says. Every preacher has a desire that the believer of their church must listen to them always. Though it is a good desire, but it seems not possible all the time. This sinful mankind can be healed only when they obey god’s word. To obey god’s word they need to know it, and to know it they must hear it. This is the place where the preachers face problems. This is two way work; one side we work and another side god work. Most of the time we see the failure not because god does not work, rather, it is we who do not do well in our side. Therefore, it is necessary for the preacher to find the proper steps for power communication of god’s word. So this paper will be looking at the essential steps for the effective communication of sermon.

2. KNOWING THE VALUE OF PREACHING

Much of the time the world (Christian realm) has failed to realize the value of the preacher and his preaching. But, it is god’s word which describes beauty about the feet of the gospel preacher who comes with the message of peace and glad tidings of good things. Preaching such glad tidings with regardless of the perception of people is indeed a privilege and an honour. we always see the person who is called by God with a heavenly calling, which is the real calling, will constantly pursue after preaching the god’s word at all the time. But, having some desire and willingness or some well-prepared homiletic materials are not something which would serve as channels for true powerful preaching. Sometime preachers are having the ability to and to put his thoughts on paper, but yet, they find it difficult to get that message successfully into the heart of the hearers. Many of the time this has resulted in frustration, which caused them to quit from preaching. This makes one thing clear that every man has to preach under the anointing of the Holy Spirit for the sermon to come alive.

To see the people crave for the sermon more and more, one must make the sermon really alive for the people.  When a sermon really lives, the listening audience will crave for more of the same. The answer for every problem concerning the empty church can only be conquered only in the pulpit, not possible otherwise. To have such a change in the church the preacher has to take the preaching very seriously.  The seriousness has to be shown in the willingness of preparing himself in all the aspect.[1] As for god, there are many ways through which he would communicate with the people he wants. But it has never happened that God is sending some images or paintings to tell what he wants his people to know. It is true that God speaks to us through the nature, and the nature testifies about god in great detail. Psalm 19: 1 says that heavens declare the glory of god, and the sky reveals the marvellous craftsmanship.  

But primarily, god has chosen preaching to be the channels in order to make him known to people. About this apostle Paul writes, “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe”. And when he wrote to Timothy, he wrote that “preach the word”. Even when he went to Athens, he never used any drama or music to convey his point but rather he preached. It is true that music, drama, and arts have their own place in ministry, but they cannot substitute place of preaching and teaching in reaching people with god’s message. In today’s world the worship has been worshipped so much and the role of the preaching and teaching the god’s word have been forgotten. Now a day the worship has been taken to a higher level than the preaching, but the people have to understand that it is preaching that would transform the life of the people. Some occasion we hear the testimony of people saying that the worship has changed the life and it is unique to them. But here the problem lies because people, even pastors, underestimate the preaching of god’s word for changing of lives, instead they rely on worship so much. This lead to dangerous, because it is god’s word in which people has to be rooted in. So, to see God working in every one’s life, I believe it should be preached not worship. It is also important to give the place for worship in our church and encourage the people to involve in worship all the time. Though it is true that the worship has its place, but it is preaching which has to be given much important, because much of the life have been changed by the preaching of god’s word. It is not only god’s command to follow, even our experience will tell the importance of preaching. It is the most common thing to hear someone telling their experience of preaching god’s and great things occurred as a result of preaching in the lives of the people. When we look at the history of the church we find the revival that changed the lives, and the beginning of every revival is preaching of god’s word. Even from the first century, it was preaching which changed the people to become a believer. Reformation is another great example that demonstrates the power of preaching. Even in the twentieth century, it was preaching that brought about the revival in china and some other countries. Though God has been using many instruments to touch the people, the primary and the ultimate way that God uses save the people is the preaching.[2]

 

 

3. PREPARATION

Preparation is one of the most important things for a preacher before going to preach. Preparation for a sermon is as important as the preparation of a literal building structure. It would be counted foolishness for anyone who would begin to build a large building without having planned well. But many of the times the preparation before the preaching has been neglected, and the sermons are simply preached without any preparation or forethoughts. These attitudes can be attributed to people who are lazy. Here, the Laziness does not mean being instant in season. Further study in this paper would deal with some simple homiletic steps for sermon preparation. This kind of the study will be more like technical, but not more practical. Every sermon the preacher preaches must originate from his heart. Mostly the sermons are found to be empty, because the heart of the preacher is empty and without any passion. The effective and life changing sermons are the result of the fullness of the heart. So, it is necessary for every preacher to keep his heart pure and full of god’s word. Romans 12: 1-2 says, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. The heart is the spring where the flow of god’s word comes from.

There are three kinds of preparation are needed before the sermon is preached, they are preparation mental, soul, and body. First, the preacher must be prepared, and then the preacher should prepare the sermon. In the preparation of a preacher, the preacher has to prepare his mind and his soul. First of all the preacher must be a saved person, which would otherwise make him unworthy of preaching god’s word. Even to have god’s message in heart one must be a believer. It is very hard to imagine of a conversion of a preacher who has preached for many years. Mental preparation is also important as much as the Soul preparation is. Mental preparation requires acquiring knowledge. God has used different kind of the people for preaching his word. Though God has used all kinds of people, yet he has never favoured the ignorance of people.

To be a great preacher intellect is not the great requirement, but regardless of intellect, the preacher should have a craving for knowledge. Great preachers are the one who carefully defined the truth, and for that one must have the desire to know. Though it is necessary to spend time in the scripture, but it is more important to spend time to have more general deep knowledge. The physical preparation for the preaching has been neglected by the preacher in most of the time. Every preacher has to pay some attention to take care his body, which indeed a proper rest before preaching. Even Jesus demonstrated the importance of taking care of the body by asking his disciples to rest awhile. The health is the gift of to every preacher, so the body should not be spoiled, but it should be cared for. Just as one would prepare himself mentally and spiritually, he should also prepare himself physically for the rigours of study and preaching.[3]

 

We have more benefits when we give time to prepare a sermon. Some time we consider preaching as silly matter and don’t pay much attention for the preparation. We think that it is easier as everything else in our daily life. But that never has been the case of effective preaching. Preparation plays a great role in effective preaching. We cannot imagine a baby born overnight. To have a baby born in this world, it has to go through a long process in the time period. This process takes almost nine months to complete. And the time between these periods of pregnancy is more critical and complicated in all the aspects. Especially, the baby who is born prematurely will not leave a pleasant picture in the parents’ memory. Of course, similar process has to be followed for an effective sermon before it is preached. No one can deliver a solid or a convincing message until the sermon is complete and ready.

Consequently, the good preparation before a sermon would clear up so many things and would help the preacher to come up with an effective sermon. So we will look at some benefits of preparation. We have so many resources that can be used for spicing up the sermon, but time is the main factor that makes it possible. For instance, preachers are using the reference books and the bible Dictionaries to understand the context of the selected text and to interpret it accurately. Only by using these resources one can come to see the logical connection in the passage. But when a person begins his study at the eleventh hour, he will never be able to come to a conclusion of the sermon. The eleventh hour of study will result in all kinds of questions about the passage and would never let preacher make up his sermon in the way he wants. At the same time the preacher will not have time to find the answer in any other books. If any sermon is preached from this kind of situation, obviously it will be a disorderly sermon. This kind of problem only is solved by taking enough time for the preparation before preaching the sermon. So, the preparation before the preaching helps the preacher to use all the resources to come up with an effective sermon.

Better sermon requires better preparation, and better preparation requires enough time period. The preparation before the preaching is not only helps the preacher to use all the resources, but also helps him to prepare himself spiritually. When the preacher takes time to prepare the sermon, he should also spare some time for prayer and to receive the guidance from the Holy Spirit. Prayer and guidance of the Holy Spirit are always important in the life of the preacher. Holy Spirit is the one which will make the message alive to the people who hears. Bible says a carnal man cannot understand the spiritual things, and if this is true, then no preacher would understand the real things of God without the help of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit does not work according to our will, and no one can rush the Holy Spirit to work. Since every preacher needs the help of the Holy Spirit, the best way to have it is to spend time in the prayer. There are two areas in which the spirit comes to help the preacher. They are such as, knowing god’s word and knowing the struggle of the listeners.

We know that god does not do anything without man, and the same time man cannot do anything without God. Therefore, ultimately all the preachers need god to help them in a special way. In order to have that help one must prepare him spiritually. This preparation is possible only if a preacher decides to have prepared before his preaching. Almost every preacher might have experienced the disappointment for making some mistake in the pulpit. Some time it becomes most embarrassing situation in our lives. People make different kinds of mistakes when they come to the pulpit. Some uses wrong illustration while others struggle with different problems. Even some time the best preaching are counted useless because of some wrong use of words. Through this it has obvious that everyone makes mistake, but to have effective preaching it is important not make plunders from the pulpit. When a person gives sufficient time for preparation, the possibility of committing mistakes reduces to less; sometime it won’t occur at all. Thus, by spending sufficient time in preparation one will be able to utilize all the resources and proper illustrations for making an effective sermon. These kinds of effective sermons will be preached in the power of the Holy Spirit and will benefit the people.[4]

Preaching god’s word is one of the greatest privileges that ever entrusted to god’s people by god. In other words, it is one of the greatest responsibilities from god to his people. 1Corinthians 1:21 says, through preaching God has chosen to reveal himself to man. And through his word, god has planned to lead the human kind to salvation. Bibles says, faith comes from hearing of the word of god, and that faith makes them worthy of salvation. Therefore every preacher has to take preaching seriously and has to spend time in preparation of sermon. Any preacher who does not take preaching serious will be guilty of being unfaithful to god’s calling.

 

4. ASSIMILATION

The word assimilation has many meanings and one of the meanings of word assimilation is to take in and to appropriate. When a preacher sites down to prepare a sermon, the preacher should have to have a real goal, them, and the burden. Without having these things, the sermon and the preacher would be an empty vessel, which indeed make no profit. These kinds of things will be part of the preacher, if only he is a man who cares for people and walk with god. In assimilation the preacher must choose one topic and proceeds to bring all related scriptures which can enrich the sermon. Most of the time, it was an expository sermon where the preacher has many hours of study and particular topic or theme is being impressed upon the preacher by god. In all kinds of preaching, the process of assimilating begins only after when the scripture position has been chosen.

For the process of assimilating, every preacher must have to have the access to study material, which only possible if there is a good personal library. Study Bibles, commentaries, and dictionary are good source where one can gather enough sources from. There are people who object to the reading of commentaries and other resources other than the bible. For those who object the reading of other sources, Spurgeon said, "I think it's rather strange that one thinks so much of what he has to say and so little of what someone else has to say." To have a better in insight or understanding of the studies, one must approach the study material with a discerning mind. As for today’s situation, there are numerals of study aids have been made available to everyone. We need to be grateful to God for the study aids that are available to the entire preacher throughout the years.

We also have to be careful in gathering the materials from the source, because every source that we collect many not be appropriate to the scripture. In the processes of assimilation, one must evaluate the material that he collects from different sources, and must see the agreement with biblical truth. Since the information is enormous for study, there will be confusion at the time of assimilation in the mind during the sermon preparation. We have a vast amount of Information concerning the historical background, the particular culture, the specific customs, the geographical data, etc. and this information should be taken into consideration.[5]

When we trace back to the history, the preachers had the concept of passion in preaching. They mostly emphasized on the empowering of the Holy Spirit, which would be most compelling in nature.  The ancient philosopher Aristotle has spoken about rhetoric preaching to public. Aristotle, in speech about rhetoric, says that the public communication requires display of three things such as pathos (emotion), ethos (character), and logos (content). Though those three things are important in the public communication, yet we can add one more important thing to that line, which is kairos.  A good preacher must give his or her time in deepening of each of these influential forms. The assimilation of kairos will help preacher to develop the sermon in well manner. In order for the preacher to have the development and mature in the sermon the preacher must spar or find time. In other words, the preacher must gather the time so that the message he has engaged will be made in a profound and significant way.

The process of Assimilation of logos is possible only when the preacher gains flounce over the sermonic material. Before preparing the sermon the preacher must take time to know the stuff very well. To do so, the preacher has to look at the structure, language, and imagery of the sermon deeply. Such a preacher will be an instructor who would communicate the sermon effectively and sensibly.  The assimilation of pathos is one of the most important things for a sermon. The assimilation of the pathos emphasises upon the authorization or the empowerment of the sermon. This empowerment of the sermon can be achieved only through the prayer. Every preacher has to come on his knee before he goes to preach the sermon. When a person finds himself in the presence of god he actually brings more power in his sermon. The personal time with god wil bring the personal conviction in the heart of the preacher. The prayer brings the presence and the blessings of the Holy Spirit while he preaches.  

Finally, assimilation of ethos plays a great role in the preaching of a powerful sermon. The character of the preacher gives much weight to the sermon. Most of the time, we don’t see any connections between the preacher and his preaching. This way of preaching the sermon will never touch the lives of the people. People always connect the life and the preaching of the preacher and the responds according to that. So the walk and talk of the preacher is more important even in the preaching. This tells that every preacher has to take time to check him or herself before the get on the platform to deliver the word of god.   The real sense of the preaching is actually to perform the text. Assimilation is the processes by which the message is realized in and through the life of the preacher. The assimilation must be one of the main processes of preparing the sermon. In assimilation, time, matter, character, and power of the Holy Spirit are important thing that any man has to have before preach a sermon.[6]

5. SATURATION

When the assimilation is over we actually come to the next section called saturation. In assimilation we collect or gather the things and in saturation we put our mind to get it well. In the saturation people pay much attention to collected materials, but not to the god’s word. The most important material to be saturated is bible, which is god’s word. We find so many verses in the New Testament that supports the preaching which is saturated in god’s word. Those verses give the plain idea that preaching must be filled with god’s counsel.  Scripture saturate preaching will be the direct reflection god’s word. All the sermons that are preached were not for angels but for human beings. God’s word has been working as cure to the society destroyed by the sin. God’s word works an opposite force of sin. Bible is actually god’s word, and when the bible speaks, god speaks. 

When we see some preaching that works in the heart of the people, we call it as good preaching. The speciality of the preaching is that the preacher stays away from the people and the god’s word takes its role.  We know that god is pleased in preaching his word. The books of Ezra gives us good understanding of what does it mean to rally preach the word of god. a good sermon find its sole source in saturation of scripture. A sermon that is based on scripture cannot be called as good sermon, because scripture just a basis for any kind of preaching. To preach a powerful sermon it needs to be scripture saturated.[7] The preachers have to keep one thing in the mind that the preaching is always be biblical and practical. When we prepare a sermon we must be genuine to the text and then do an honest exegesis.[8]

The preachers are required to study and consume as much as bible verse that are relevant to the sermon. This is not to neglect other sources of materials rather we give importance to god’s word. When the preacher is done with bible then he or she can go to other sources, such as commentaries, dictionary, and books.  Saturation processes also includes more reading and storing of the material as much as possible without taking many notes. In this processes we need to depend on the Holy Spirit to bring the things back into memory in the time of sermon delivery. When we give our mind to evaluate and understand, it will give us more depth about the word of god.  Saturation on assimilated material gives the better understanding about the text the preacher wants to preach from. When we saturate more gods’ word and other resources, we actually get the better understanding of context, meaning, background, and intention of the scripture position, which eventually lays a good platform for the proper interpretation.[9]

For every preacher the preparation part for preaching will be most enjoyable part apart from the preaching event. The effective preachers not only saturate on god’s word but also on prayer. Prayer has become most essential part of the preparation of the effective sermon. Through prayer every preacher is able to give his mind and heat to the Holy Spirit to illuminate. When the preacher yields his mind and heart, the Holy Spirit convicts his heart and guides him to the right way. We are able to see the great anointing of in the life of the preacher who saturate in prayer before they preach. Mostly the preachers of the expository sermon come on their knees with bible in their in the hand before god. They always plead for the forgiveness of their sins, and hold unto the promises of god for the people. Prayer is a powerful weapon against the devil and it powers.   The prayer full man is like a diver in a rich area of the sea who dives in and comes up with hands full of beautiful pearls. Whenever he comes to god in prayer he understands the reality that there is lot more things to discover and that can be received only by coming to god’s presence. Presence of god is like a treasure which never becomes empty. Therefore, let every sermon be prayer saturated. God wants to apply the passage of the scripture to the preacher long before he applies it to the congregation through the preacher.[10]

 

6. MEDITATION

Meditation is another important step in the preparation of sermon.  A proper interpretation can be done only when a preacher gives his mind to meditate. Meditation is a process in which the preacher takes time put together all the collected information to see the right meaning of the text. The theologians would advocate for the role or the importance of preparation. To have the proper exposition, one must meditate over god’s word with god mind. That is the only way for the preacher to express himself as god’s mouth. a prayerful meditation will work well for achieving right interpretation of scripture.

The meditation processed works in so many different ways, not in particular way. God can speak to the preacher even after he has detached himself from bible and study books. For some people walking, riding, dreaming, or even upon awakening from a good night’s sleep have been the movement in which god reveals new thoughts.  We need to be grateful to god for dealing with us through so many ways. Meditation of god’s word must be deliberate, but at the same time it should be casual. When the preacher meditates the god’s word, the mind should be disciplined. The disciplined mind would help the preacher to thoughtfully digest the material that has been saturated and put in sub-conscious mind. In the meditation the preacher has to ask god to increase ability of the mind so that he can do the mediation in with more understanding. The preacher who meditates will always have the joy to walk his sermon, to talk his sermon, to go to bed and dream his sermon. Thus the message of god gets rooted in his heart, which will change his life before god changes people through the same sermon.[11]

7. INTERPRETATION

Interpretation of the biblical text is one of the most important thing preparations of the sermon. It tells that preacher has important role in exposing the real meaning of the biblical text that he preaches. The interpretation of the scripture remains as a cornerstone for the preaching and to the preacher’s life. Every preacher has to show their faithfulness in interpreting the scripture as certain as possible. In fact, there are many things that play a great role in the processes of interpretation.  They are such as presuppositions, opinions, culture, prejudices, unique experiences, and the gift of individuals. These are the main factors which determine the right degree of interpretation. Some people go with the rigid dogmatism, while other follows the flexibility and open- mindedness.  While interpreting the scripture we must allow the bible to talk, not our own thoughts. Even our personal opinion of the scripture plays a role in the interpretation. Already we have some preoccupied thoughts about bible and the reliability of the manuscript that we have, so we are so much aware not to commit mistake in any of the position of the bible. Since this is the case we using so many method to interpret the scripture, such as critical study, studying the background, intention of author, and context.[12]

There are so many hermeneutic devices that have to be used for having the proper interpretation of the scripture. Though it is true that we have so many devices for interpretation, if the preacher is not having the confidents in the word of god that he is going to interpret, then the possibility of right interpretation will be far from us. When we lack the confidence in the word of god, we actually become unworthy to interpret the word of god.  As for today we have so many versions of the bible available to us, but we are not able to trust any particular version. Each people blame other versions of translation. NKJV is one of the most criticised versions at the present time. Since this is the case of the translations, all the preachers should find a trustworthy bible to study and interpret. For more clear interpretation, we can have the help of bible dictionaries, concordances, bible atlases, and etc.

There are some few hermeneutic principles that can be used for reaching a proper interpretation. They are as follows, 1. The typical principle, 2.The first-mention principle, 3. The progressive-mention principle, 4. The full-mention principle, 5. The context principle, 6. The agreement principle, 7. The direct-statement principle, 8. The Christ-centred principle and 9. The numerical principle. It is always important to preacher to equip himself in the art of interpretation. He must be like the sharpened axe to reach the proper interpretation of the scripture. Preacher also must be careful enough to ask such question like: what, what, when, where, how. These questions may play an essential role in getting the real sense of the text, most probably the real meaning of the text. The proper interpretation of the scripture conveys the proper meaning of god’s word. In this way god can speak to the people what he wants, not what preacher wants. So the preacher must be very much careful not to interpret the scripture in wrong way, but rather to have right interpretation.[13]

8. APPLICATION

Application is another important part of the sermon preparation. As for today, the sermons are preached to satisfy the people, but not with real application. Message becomes powerful when it is preached with the real application, and that is the movement where god works in the heart of the people. The application of the text has two aspect of approach. First, the passage has to talk to men and then to the people. So before the preacher preaches the sermon he has to look at the scripture and find application to himself. This is called self-application. 

The application of the scripture becomes the experience of the preacher, which would eventually bring a great transformation in the life of the people.  The preacher becomes worthy of preaching only when he is able to apply the scripture his life. When we dig into the scripture, the scripture speaks more to us, and this place becomes a place where we meet with god. Most of the times we find ourselves get corrected only when we study the word of god, so that become obvious that god speaks to us through his word. Once god speaks and inspires us through his word, then we get the confident that it would also speak to others. Therefore, the application must be for the preacher first and then for the people who listens.  

The application to the people is the main goal of the preaching. There are certain things that have to be taken into notice before bring the application. Most of the time, the applications are not related to lives’ experiences. If the applications are not related to the lives’ experiences then it will stand out without touching our lives of the people. Preachers must make the application of the scripture relevant to lives experience of the people. The right application of the scripture brings the life into the souls that listen to the word of god. God always want the people to be touched and revived by his word. so the preacher must be concern about the application of the scripture before his preaching to the congregation. every preaching must have the application, and the application has to be applied for both preacher and the listener.

9. PRESENTATION

The last and the final part of the sermon preparation is presentation. The good presentation makes the sermon more powerful, through that people are able to understand the thing well. Presentation is an act of communication that is followed by the preachers to communicate the message that they have prepared. When we prepare the sermon we actually prepare it with an intention. The aim and the goal of the sermon will come alive only when we have proper presentation. To have the proper presentation we have to know three main things. When these three things work together we will be able to communicate the message properly. They are such as:  the written form of our finished sermon; verbal communication style; and non-verbal communication skills.

First, we need to write down the things that we have prepared.  The written form of the sermon gives the idea about what we are going to say before we think about how we are going to say. Before we put all our skills in presenting the material we need to have it written form, which will be a kind of a manuscript. The next step in the presentation is verbal skills. Most of the time people don’t mind about verbal skills for powerful communication. The person who masters this skill will be the successful communicator. There are four things in verbal communication: (1) voice volume, (2) voice movement (3) voice speed (4) voice pause. The preacher must learn how to control and use the voice in the communication. When we know the variations in the voice and how to manage the movements between the speeches, we will be able to present the message. If we don’t mind the variation of our voice, then we are going to kill the listeners. That will be a great hindrance for the presentation. We can make our presentation both sweet and bitter, but it depends how we handle our voice. And another main factor of the presentation is non-verbal communication. This is very important in presentation or the delivery. Even before we preach people actually observe our standing, look, action, and behaviours. No one will listen to us if we fail to impress them. The personal appearance and the body language are the most important things in the non-verbal communication. People actually look at our appearance and behaviour. If we want be a good communicator then we need to win the people through our look and behaviour. We cannot be a good communicator if we neglect the importance of the look and behaviour. so, to present the message of god successfully to the people we must be skilled person in verbal and nonverbal communication skills.[14]

10. CONCLUSION

We have seen some eight steps for an effective communication of a sermon. It is necessary for the preacher to understand the value of the preaching, which is to know the values of his work. This must prepare him for the preaching in all the aspect. This preparation will give him make him worthy of preaching god’s word. Assimilation and saturation is more like basic steps in sermon preparation. These two will go together, because without assimilation we cannot saturate, and without saturation the assimilation is in vain. The process of saturation will get you know your stuff very well, and this is so much needed for preaching. Many of the time the preacher is not so much sure about his stuff. Meditation follows the saturation. Through this process the preacher will able to get the message of god into his heart, which will help preacher interpret the scripture. The interpretation of the scripture is most essential steps in the sermon preparation. This is the one that actually finds the meaning to the text or give the right sense of the scripture. This is so complicated and so important at the same time. Once we understand the meaning of the scripture then we have to move further application. This is for both preacher and listener. And the final and most essential steps are presentation. When the preacher fails to make a good impression in presentation, he actually collapses the whole show. Though all other steps are important, the good presentation make the whole show complete. When the presentation fails, the communication fails.  In the presentation, we need to do three things mainly: first, write the final form of the sermon and then mind the verbal and nonverbal communication. These eight steps will serve as an essential part in the powerful communication.  If a preacher is able to follow all these eight steps he will be a good communicator, and will touch thousand through his preaching.     

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Expository Preaching & Homiletics. “Elements of Expository Preaching”. http://www.onethirstministries.org/Course%20in%20Expository%20Preaching%20&%20Homiletics.pdf (accessed 8-9-14)

Fasol, Al. Essentials for Biblical Preaching: An Introduction to Basis Sermon Preparation. Michigan: Baker Book House, 1989.

Fundamental Baptist Institute. “The Strategy of Preaching”. http://www.fbinstitute.com/max/part1.html (accessed on 5-9-14)

Greg Laurie. “The Important of Preaching”.  http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/a-new-beginning/read/articles/the-importance-of-preaching-13983.html (accessed on 6-9-14)

Newton, Derek. And the Word Became a Sermon: A Practical Guide To Biblical Expository Preaching. Scotland: Christian focus, 2003.

Philips. “Scripture Saturated Preaching”.  http://www.colonialindy.org/uploads/1/0/9/1/10910125/_sunday_school_7-22-12.pdf (accessed on 8-914)

Pounds, Wil. “Saturate You in the Preparation of Sermon”. http://asermon.com/sermonworkshop/expositorypreaching.html (accessed on 8-9-14)

Preaching. “Process: Assimilation”. http://www.preaching.org/processassimilation/ (accessed on 7-9-14)

The Virtual Preacher. “Why the Preparation is Important for a Preacher”. http://www.virtualpreacher.org/articles/preparation-important-preacher-part-1/ (accessed on 7-9-14)

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[1] Fundamental Baptist Institute, “The Strategy of Preaching”. http://www.fbinstitute.com/max/part1.html (accessed on 5-9-14)

[2] Greg Laurie, “The Important of Preaching”.  http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/a-new-beginning/read/articles/the-importance-of-preaching-13983.html (accessed on  6-9-14)

[3] Fundamental Baptist Institute, “The Strategy Of Preaching”

[4] The Virtual Preacher, “Why the Preparation is Important for a Preacher”. http://www.virtualpreacher.org/articles/preparation-important-preacher-part-1/(accessed on 7-9-14)

[5] Fundamental Baptist Institute, “The Strategy of Preaching”

[6] Preaching, “Process: Assimilation”. http://www.preaching.org/processassimilation/(accessed on 7-9-14)

[7]  Philips, “Scripture Saturated Preaching”.  http://www.colonialindy.org/uploads/1/0/9/1/10910125/_sunday_school_7-22-12.pdf (accessed on 8-914)

[8] Expository Preaching & Homiletics, “Elements of Expository Preaching”. http://www.onethirstministries.org/Course%20in%20Expository%20Preaching%20&%20Homiletics.pdf (accessed 8-9-14)

[9] Fundamental Baptist Institute, “The Strategy Of Preaching”

[10] Wil Pounds, “Saturate You in the Preparation of Sermon”. http://asermon.com/sermonworkshop/expositorypreaching.html (accessed on 8-9-14)

[11] Fundamental Baptist Institute, “The Strategy of Preaching”.

[12] Al Fasol, “Essentials for Biblical Preaching: An Introduction to Basis Sermon Preparation”. (Michigan: Baker Book House, 1989), 41-42.

[13] Fundamental Baptist Institute, “The Strategy of Preaching”.

[14] Derek Newton, And the Word Became a Sermon: A Practical Guide To Biblical Expository Preaching. (Scotland: Christian focus, 2003), 245-250.