What is "Preaching?"

When most people hear the word "preaching," they picture a pulpit, a prepared message, and an audience listening. But what did the word actually mean — and what did Jesus and the prophets actually proclaim?

To proclaim — but what?

Preaching in its Greek New Testament definition is simply to proclaim — to make an official announcement or public declaration. The word itself is neutral. The important question becomes: what is being proclaimed and preached?

The prophets and Jesus proclaimed God's Word — not their own

The prophets came proclaiming the "burden" of the words and message the LORD God had placed upon them. They did not arrive with their own ideas and words — they proclaimed God's Word. Jesus did the same: He proclaimed only what the Father gave Him to say.

"Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.'" — Mark 1:14–15 · NKJV

"He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me." — John 14:24 · NKJV

Word of God vs. Word of Man

Two Greek words help understand what is God's Word that can be rightly proclaimed and preached:

1. Logos — the written Word of God. When the words God spoke to the prophets and to Jesus were written down, they became part of the Logos — the permanent, authoritative written Word of Scripture. When a preacher or teacher proclaims Scripture, they are presenting, or preaching, the Logos Word of God — the written Word of God.
2. Rhema — the Spirit-inspired spoken Word. When the Spirit moves a preacher to speak a specific word of understanding or application into a contemporary situation — beyond what is written, yet never contradicting it — this is Rhema: God's spoken Word for that moment and to that people. Rhema cannot disagree with the Logos. If it does, it is a different voice entirely.
3. Men's words. When a preacher speaks into a situation from his own inspiration or understanding, without Logos or Rhema inspiration, those words are simply men's words. In much of what passes for preaching today, men's ideas fill the room — and God's Word is used defensively to support positions already held, rather than planted as living seed. Those words, however well-intentioned, are not living seed. They produce no lasting fruit.

Preaching in its biblical sense is always the proclamation of God's Word — in its Logos and/or Rhema expressions.

God's Written Word is the sermon

Seed4Soil makes God's Written Word — the Logos — the sermon and message. Our methodology establishes God's written Word in the hearts and minds of participants through storytelling, oral engagement, and inductive dialogue, before moving toward observation and application.

We then trust the Spirit to illuminate what He has already spoken — to reveal a current Rhema: a personal or communal application of the written Word to the lives of those present. We remain always aware that this kind of word cannot disagree with the written Logos. If it does, it is another voice — not the Spirit of God.