Page 84 - Homiletics I Student Textbook

Study Section 13: Living Biblical Truth

13.1 Connect

A series of lessons on preparing biblical sermons would be completely useless without a basic
discussion about the importance of living biblical truth. A preacher that stands in the pulpit
declaring to his audience what God has said and is calling them to do can quickly lose their
listening ear if he has not been and is not being changed by its truth himself. The preacher of
God’s Word must do more than talk the talk, he must also walk the walk.

In our homes, our children see through us quickly. When we ask them to do something they often reply,
“but Dad, you don’t personally do that!” You can reply, “Do what I say, not what I do” and you will find
that that advice does not fly very far. In raising children, you will find that they will COPY much of who
you are and what you do.

Romans 15: 18 I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me
in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—

Paul, in Romans 16, asked the church to become like him. That’s a tall order. As a pastor, it is difficult to
preach on a topic in which you are a total failure. So today, we are going to see the importance of
SHOWING your congregation how to live, not just telling them.

13.2 Objectives

1. The student should be able to define what living Biblical truth means in the life of a pastor.

13.3 Living Biblical Truth

When we come to the point of truly grasping God’s
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Word, we will find God’s Word grasping us.

A series of lessons on preparing biblical sermons would be completely useless without a basic
discussion about the importance of living biblical truth. A preacher that stands in the pulpit
declaring to his audience what God has said and is calling them to do can quickly lose their listening ear
if he has not been and is not being changed by its truth himself. The preacher of God’s Word must do
more than talk the talk, he must also walk the walk.

Another way of saying that a person should make it his practice to live biblical truth is to say that he
should be a doer of the Word. This is the terminology used by James in chapter 1 of his epistle. Verses
22 through 25 state…

90 J. Scott Duvall & J. Daniel Hays, Grasping God’s Word, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005), 214.
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