“The Three Hearts of Preaching” (part two)

Here at RFYM, we are excited to share with you the thoughts of a new contributor to these articles. Highly respected pastor, church leader, author, and Bible teacher Knute Larson has shared with us this week’s series of articles—and on the very significant theme of preaching. We welcome Knute, and encourage you to give careful thought and consideration to Knute’s good words in part two of “The Three Hearts Of Preaching.” (BC)

***

The first heart is God’s. I must seek to know what He intended.

The second heart is my heart. I must get it for myself before I try to help others embrace it. This means I receive and embrace the truth, and then communicate it with passion. Like it’s true. Like I love it.  Like it is mighty important.

A friend asked me to evaluate his sermon from video and I did it with one word: “Okay.”

“What do you mean? He wondered.

“Okay,” I said. “I guess that was true. You probably believe it, though it was not too obvious.”

“Okay.”

It shows when we speak, whether this has grabbed our own hearts.  Or is it just something we are saying. Blah, blah, blah.

Truth gets into your heart and changes how you think and act, because it is what you believe.

I always believed God’s truth would change hearts, and I know it has to begin with me.

And people can tell. And they will tell. They will tell their friends, and it will help the church.

We get to this second heart by prayer, careful study, honest application, and sincere admission of need.

Consider these practical steps:

• Take time. Think and pray. Make it personal to yourself!
• Figure what this would look like if it were true in your own heart, if you embraced it.
• Stay clean with God and others as you study. Remove the barriers to your own heart!
• Think through what you really want the listeners to feel or believe or do when they leave. Can you write that out?
• Be ready to emote what you feel and believe,  and to mean what you say.
• Make sure you are studying in your best hours of the day and week. This is the good of a master schedule, with certain hours each day for study unless there is an emergency. Find even your best emotional cycle in each week. Then guard that schedule!

When I realize how good this is for me and the church, I love it. I teach it from my heart, with passion and love. So we begin with God’s heart, and sense the truth deeply in our own hearts. On Friday we will see the third and final heart of preaching