Prodigal Son For Modern Preaching

Making Scripture Real In Preaching – Use Your Senses

Posted on October 14, 2010

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Prodigal Son For Modern PreachingPerhaps the most effective thing a preacher can do to strengthen the connection between the congregation and the scripture is to interpret the Bible with your senses.  Here you use all of your senses when you seek to understand the scripture.  Yes I mean touch, sight, taste, smell, and hear.

This is related to the stylistic exegesis that I wrote on a little while ago.

Walk In the Text


Now I do not mean feel the pages or smell them! What I mean is that you need to get into the Bible story.  Seek to walk around in the story.  When you are exegeting the text, you can open your mind to a lot of sermons and more effective preaching by simply walking around and noting what is going on with your senses.

For example, let us assume that you are exegeting the story of the prodigal son for preaching.  Exegesis is not done when you complete a historical, theological, and literary exegesis of the tex. You need to now walk up to the prodigal son on his way to the far away country in the story.  Look at his face.  What do you see?  Do you see excitement?  Do you see hope?  Do you see desire?  What do you see on the road?  Do you see the one lane highway turning into a thoroughfare?  Do you see the lights of the city at night and the skyline of the day?  What do you smell?  In my imagination I smell new cologne.  I smell the new clothes that he has spent some of his money on.  What do you hear?  Do you hear the sounds of the city getting louder on the way to the city?

Comparing the Past To The Present

Now let’s turn it around to the road back home.  What do you see?  What do you see on the face of the son?  Do you see desperation?  Do you see a man wondering if he will be accepted?  Do you see fear?  How does his face look compared to how it looked on the way there?  What do you smell?  Now you may smell the young man.  Instead of cologne perhaps you smell the perspiration that comes form weeks of hard labor without a bath.

Now explicitly connect what you have learned to the people in your sermon.  When you do this, you are now in a position to understand and identify with the young man on a level that you could not before doing this analysis.  Now you will be able to help the people understand the the son better. And if they understand the son better then they can appropriate the lessons better.  You can then preach this story on a deeper level than you might have before.  Now you are ready to put your sermon together with the added insight of human experience.  It will provide examples, illustrations, and other important components to your sermons.

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Related posts:

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7 thoughts on “Making Scripture Real In Preaching – Use Your Senses”

  1. I am 57 years old and have been preaching since i was 15yrs old. I have never been pleased with my preaching. My study habbits stink and I never can stay with the notes.
    When I would read a scripture and use the text as my outline and preach right out of the bible is the only time the messages preached proved to be effective.
    I have an imagination for story telling and that has been most effective.
    your website has been the most helpfull to me of all that I have seen.
    I do not have any formal educatin or training and many times regret nottaking the time to get it.
    Thanks for being here and i will help support and promote this website.
    God bless

    Love and Respect
    Preacher

  2. I have learned so much from checking out soulpreaching.com. This site is one of my favorite sites and I usually check it out at least a couple times a week. Keep on doing what you are doing. This site is very beneficial for preachers and preaching.

  3. The articles of Pastor Sherwin are always invigorating to have something to ponder on and put it into practice. For instance, what I do to use my senses is to be the “actor” in the story. Like the prodigal son, how would I feel if I were in his position. In that way I could give life into that story.

  4. You helping Reverend!!! You are helping Reverend!!! Thanks now I can go back an describe the senses of the disciples getting on the boat and in the boat recorded in Mark 4:35-41

  5. Rev. Cox,
    very good information! I’m not a preacher however your website and emails are helpful tools I use when writing.

    thank you

    Tigner

  6. I use this method in bible study and it is most effective. It seems as though I am taking on the role of a story teller at a deeper level. Now I am hoping it will transfer to my sunday morning sermons and make for longer and more effective sermons. It may be that I need to transfer the study habits or prep work I do for bible study to the prep work that is done for sunday morning sermons. That may make a difference. Thanks

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