Present the Word
How will your preparations transform your presentation?
For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel. Ezra 7:10
As we’ve seen this week, the heart of teaching and preaching begins and flows from the heart of the teacher or preacher set by faith on the grace of Jesus. John Piper once said to a group of ministers, “The main battle of ministry is in you, not in them. The main battle for my people is in me.” Ezra knew this.
Ezra also made sure that his teaching was not all abstract but accessible as well. He taught the statutes of the Law, its content and broader applications, but he also taught the rules, the application of the Law to specific situations. Our teaching and preaching must do the same. Paul was a master at this. Consider the common structure of epistles such as Ephesians: a lengthy discourse on the Gospel and its broader, Kingdom implications (chapters 1-3) followed by more specific commands that illustrated how the Gospel will and must impact our relationships in marriage, family, community, and at work (chapters 4-6).
Ezra was able to see the transcendent truth of God’s Word make an imminent impact on his listeners because he had allowed it to do so in his own life first. The preachers and teachers whose hearts are prepared and altered by the grace and truth of Jesus will more effectively proclaim and apply that grace and truth to their hearers.
Evaluate the progress of your people in their faith in and practice of the Gospel. How might your progress in faith and practice be affecting theirs?
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