This preaching tip was shared by Preacher’s Block co-founder, Hunter Bethea. If you’re interested in joining the most focused preachers in the world and getting these tips sent to your inbox every week, sign up here.
Use the opportunity of your sermon not just to teach people about what Scripture says, but also how to read Scripture for themselves. It’s like the proverb, “Give a man a fish, it’ll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, it’ll feed him for a lifetime.”
We do this by not just telling people what Scripture says, but how we got there. So, for example, rather than just saying, “The author is referencing [Scripture passage], which helps us see that…” we can say, “Does this passage sound familiar to you? It sounded familiar to me, so I looked down at the footnotes and say that the writer was referencing [Scripture passage]. When we’re studying Scripture and another passage is referenced, we should go to that passage and see how the context of that passage informs the passage we’re reading.”
This helps our people not just know what Scripture says, but teaches them how to study Scripture for themselves. Give it a try this week!