Moving Beyond One-Dimensional Sermon Applications

Let’s just get it out there. Preaching is hard.

In the midst of all the disputes over preaching, this fact remains undisputed.  Yes, preaching is wonderful and exhilarating.  But, it is also exhausting, frustrating, and difficult. Whether a person has preached one time, or a hundred times, they know this.

Why is that? What makes preaching so hard?

I would suggest that it has to do with the nature of preaching.  Preaching is not just delivering a message, passing along facts, or making a point (though it does include these things).  At its core, preaching is something that calls for a response in the listener.

Put differently, members of the …

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