"A preacher should be able to take any verse in the whole Bible, and preach the entire Bible from that verse." - Gene Scott (paraphrased)
In spite of the eccentricities of the late Gene Scott, his words (paraphrased above) have always struck me as rather profound. I have sought to be able to live up to that ideal, of being able to begin anywhere in Scripture and tie the whole counsel of God into it.
This doesn't mean using one verse and going off topic. Rather, it means taking any place in Scripture as a starting point, and tying that starting point in to the rest of Scripture, as the case may demand, and being able to present the whole counsel of God. This of course requires EXTREME familiarity with the whole of Scripture. I do not claim to have reached the goal yet, but I am still working on it.
I mentioned earlier that a teacher/preacher should be "instant in season and out of season". While the actual verse refers to the teacher being able to teach whether people want to hear it or not (whether the teaching is "in season" or seems to the audience to be "out of season"), it does speak to the need to be able to preach and teach whenever necessary. And this, I believe, requires the teacher to have a stock of teachings on hand.
I do not mean that a teacher/preacher should have a handful of sermons, memorised and ready to go at a moment's notice, that can be recycled when needed. Rather, there should be certain doctrines and exhortations that the teacher/preacher has available, that can be expounded upon at any time, without "preparation". And by "without preparation" I mean without having to cobble together notes, an outline, illustrations, etc.
To put it bluntly, a teacher/preacher should be able to stand up and extemporaneously deliver a message of teaching or exhortation or admonition at any moment. And, to be able to do this, requires the individual to study certain doctrines and certain truths, and know them so well that each subject can be taught and each truth delivered to any audience at any time. Whatever changes need to be made, depending on the situation and the audience, can be made on the spot, and the actual form of words used (the actual things stated) will require the leading of the Spirit and the God-given wisdom of the preacher (acquired through prayer and study of the Word).
So, what subjects should be on the list? A teacher's "list" should of course be ever expanding, as he grows in knowledge and wisdom and experience during his walk with God. But to begin with, here's a few suggestions:
Hebrews 6:1-2 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, (2) Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Here's a good starter list. Repentance, faith, baptisms and laying on of hands, resurrection, and eternal judgment, should all be subjects the teacher can expound upon at will. So to begin, one would study these subjects, one at a time, and know the passages which teach them, until one can teach each of these doctrines by heart.
Some more suggestions:
The Identity of Jesus Christ. This covers such things as the humanity and the deity of Christ, the Incarnation, His characteristics, His personality if you will, His life and accomplishments, His death, His role as our Passover, His role as the Atonement, His role as High Priest of the order of Melchizedek, His function as the power of God, the wisdom of God, our righteousness, our sanctification, the Shepherd, the Chief Apostle, the Logos or Word of God, and so forth. This is important not only to build up the saints, but to reach the lost, for the identity of Christ is the key piece of information the lost need to hear. This of course also includes the Oneness of God and Christ. But rather than a merely academic exposition of Oneness Christology,
the teacher should be able to show the practical implications of Oneness.
The gifts given to the body. Not only the "spiritual gifts" of
1 Corinthians 12-14 (and
Romans 12 and
Ephesians 4), but the gifts to each individual, the promises by which we partake of the Divine Nature (
2 Peter 1:4). This subject encompasses the whole of ecclesiology (the doctrine of the church and it's organisation, purpose, operation, membership, etc). Being able to expound and explain and exhort concerning the gifts given to men (including the lost!) that come from the grace of God is one of the hallmarks of a genuinely apostolic preacher and teacher. Many saints suffer from "low self esteem", and they do not need some pep talk from the likes of Doctor Phil, they need to know and understand just what exactly God has done on their behalf and what He makes available to them! AND, how to actually obtain the promises...
Prophecy. It is not needed to give a two week seminar on the finer points of Bible prophecy. What is needed is to have a firm view of the Big Picture laid out in Scripture, and
how it applies to both sinner and saint, here and now. This is not about preaching from beforeitsnews.com, or sensationalistic nonsense drawn from the headlines of American Pravda. Rather, we're talking about the fact that the kingdoms of men are doomed. Christ reigns now, and whatever happens in this world is the outworking of His Kingdom Plan. Understanding where we're going takes a lot of the wind out of the sails of false doctrines and goofy sensationalistic money making schemes promoted by the prophecy pundits of today's world.
The key, though, is to make it practical. How does one get in on and help to advance God's Kingdom in this world today? What can they do, starting RIGHT NOW, to participate in the Divine Program? It is far more than just "invite your friends to church!"
Holiness and sanctification. I'm not talking about "standards", I'm talking about what sanctification actually is, and how it's received, how it works itself out in the life of the believer by faith. Sinners always need to know how to be justified, and believers always need to know how to be sanctified. A teacher should always be able to bring forth the glorious promises of
Scriptural entire sanctification. Too many are living below their potential because they simply haven't been shown from the Bible just how far God really wants to take them.
If you'll notice, I keep harping on the practicality of teaching and preaching. Except for certain very specific and limited circumstances, any teaching and preaching that doesn't bring home the bacon, so to say, by giving people real life practical application of doctrine, is useless.
Take Oneness for instance. We can get wrapped up in the academia of it all, theologising about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, but what difference does any of that really make? A man trying to raise a family, or a woman raising children by herself, simply do not have time for (and probably do not have any interest in) the finer points of metaphysical speculation. BUT, when the Oneness of God is explained so as to show and demonstrate that God is not merely some abstract Divine Idea in the sky, but that God became a human being and lived the life that all mankind are subject to, that He did indeed "walk in our shoes" (yet without sin), then we see the practical application of Oneness theology.
Again, Oneness theology posits that God was manifested in flesh. The Word became flesh. This is Oneness. And this is eminently practical. Because we are to be conformed to the image and likeness of Christ. We, too, are to be "God manifested in the flesh". Our lives are to be "the Word made flesh". God's Word and Life and Light is to be manifested in and through our lives. This requires that we be conformed to the word, that we be transformed by the renewing of our minds, daily. That we "continue in His Word" and be his "disciples indeed". Because the Plan of God is to manifest Himself in and through humanity, YOUR humanity, YOU.
So then, EVERY teaching and ALL preaching should aim for practical application, for both the sinner, and the saint.
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