What is some advice you have for a person aspiring to be a preacher?<\/p>\n\t
First, study. You can’t preach accurately what you don’t know. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth<\/em>” (II Timothy 2:15). If you need someplace to start, start with I Timothy, II Timothy, and Titus. These are the books written to young preachers about their work. Then read Acts for examples of preachers spreading the Gospel and the Gospels to learn how the Master Teacher, our Lord, taught people.<\/p>\n Second, you can’t preach well if you aren’t an example of how Christians ought to live. “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity<\/em>” (I Timothy 4:12). The mark of a false teacher is the disconnect between what they claim and what they do (Matthew 7:15-20).<\/p>\n Third, work with a few older preachers for a while. Everyone has their own style and techniques. You’ll have to develop your own, but it is good to work where you can ask someone how to handle hard situations and experience things you might never have thought about. “And sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and\u00a0our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ<\/strong>, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith<\/em>” (II Thessalonians 3:2, also Romans 16:21). “For this reason I have sent Timothy to you,\u00a0who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord<\/strong>, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church<\/em>” (I Corinthians 4:17). An older preacher can also help you in your personal studies<\/p>\n Finally, one doesn’t have to be a “hired” preacher to preach. Start doing the work where you are. Get “on the job” experience. As an example, I preached for twenty years before I ever received financial support for preaching, so I’m not suggesting anything I haven’t done myself. That does mean you have to have a way to support yourself while you are preaching. And such experience becomes important later. Most preachers, myself included, have to work two jobs from time to time to make ends meet. If you aren’t in a position where you can support yourself, you may find yourself threatened to conform to some teaching or face losing support. Few things irritate me more than brethren thinking they can get their way by using funds as a club. It has always been useful to me to be able to say, “I don’t need your money. Now, let’s get back to what the Bible says about the matter.”<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: What is some advice you have for a person aspiring to be a preacher? Answer: First, study. You can’t preach accurately what you don’t know. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (II Timothy 2:15). If you need…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1511,536],"class_list":["post-34460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-preachers","tag-preaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":37888,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-a-good-minister\/","url_meta":{"origin":34460,"position":0},"title":"What Is a Good Minister?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant adapted from an article by Ken Weliever \"He's a good preacher,\" is often used to describe various gospel preachers. But what makes a good preacher? How would you define one? Is he a great orator? Can he captivate the audience? Does he preach soothing words? Can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51035,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-preacher-and-his-study\/","url_meta":{"origin":34460,"position":1},"title":"The Preacher and His Study","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Hiram Kemp The preacher of God's Word is to speak with all the authority God has given him (Titus 2:15). He is to speak as the oracles of God (I Peter 4:11). He is to proclaim the gospel as the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16). However, all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":542,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/preachers\/","url_meta":{"origin":34460,"position":2},"title":"Preachers (Article)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 9, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Among the duties or roles within the church listed in Ephesians 4:11-12 is the work of the evangelist. The word is translated from a Greek word which referred to a person who brought joyous news of victory from the battlefront. When the same word is used\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58723,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/advice-to-young-preachers\/","url_meta":{"origin":34460,"position":3},"title":"Advice to Young Preachers","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 4, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Andy Sochor Plain Bible Teaching, 7 September 2011 Some might wonder how it is that someone like myself - a thirty-year-old with no \"full-time\" preaching experience - would be so bold as to hand out advice to young preachers (many of whom would be my peers). I am not so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51293,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-qualifications-of-preachers\/","url_meta":{"origin":34460,"position":4},"title":"The Qualifications of Preachers","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by David R. Pharr Twice Paul refers to Timothy, as a \"man of God.\" \"But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness\" (I Timothy 6:11). \"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43810,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-have-a-good-paying-secular-job-but-what-i-really-want-to-do-is-preach\/","url_meta":{"origin":34460,"position":5},"title":"I have a good-paying secular job, but what I really want to do is preach","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I am a recent college graduate, and I currently have a secular job with a high salary. I don't know, but I always feel sad whenever I'm going to work, thinking that this is not the world I wanted to be in, this is not the job I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34460\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}