Preaching vs Teaching

Is there a difference?

Let's start out by reading 2 Timothy‬ ‭4‬:‭1‬-‭2‬:

“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”

In reading this, we can discern that preaching & teaching are different, but both are needed. I want you to know the difference & see why you need both.

So I'm going preach about pie! Dutch Apple Pie is my all-time favorite pie! Made with a flaky homemade pie crust, a delicious flavorful apple pie filling & crowned with a sweet buttery streusel crumb topping. A warm piece (or two) out of the oven, pie doesn’t get any better than this! And to even sweeten the deal, a scoop of either creamy vanilla bean or creamy French vanilla ice cream! Yummo!

Does that make you want it? Well that’s preaching! I'm telling you about it! I’m describing it! I’m getting you excited about it! I’m proclaiming how good it is! But if you were in a situation where you had to make a pie to save your life, that "speech" wouldn't have helped you! You need to be taught, amen!?

This is where teaching comes in! This is where the work comes in & why some people don’t like teaching as much as preaching!

With preaching, I’m hyping up your emotions. With teaching, you’re going to have to get your apron on, use your brain & do some work!

Let me teach you how to make pie.

1. You’ll need unbleached all-purpose flour to be used in each layer. The crust, the filling & the topping.

2. You’ll need granulated sugar & brown sugar. These sugars sweeten the pie. Without these, it wouldn’t really be much of a dessert.

3. Add salt to build some flavor in the crust & a hint in the topping.

And so on & so forth.

Now, after I tell you all the ingredients you need & what they’re for, then I’ll teach you how to put them together to actually make the pie. Now if you needed to make a pie to save your life, you’ve been taught & can do it!

That’s the difference between preaching & teaching! And we need both!

A preacher who never teaches will likely fill his sermons with jokes & funny, amusing & shocking facts that tickle your emotions that will cause you to remember the effect (how you felt) of his "speech" as opposed to a truth and/or application of a message.  

Teachers who never preach will likely be boring, dull & dry lifeless communicators & will make you want to nap until it's over! Does this remind anyone of college lecture days? LOL!

Let me ask you this:

Why would someone want to listen to someone teach about Christ if they weren’t excited about Christ!?

With all that Christ did & does for us, we have every reason to be excited about Him, amen? I encourage you to be emotionally hyped up about Christ! (With all self-control of course!)

I felt lead to do a post on this topic because I want to make sure you know how to evaluate if you have a healthy balance of preaching & teaching in your life so that you’ll continue to learn & grow! You need both so that you’ll be equipped for the work of ministry & so that you yourself will be built up! By this, you'll be ready to serve others, contribute to the Body of Christ, but most of all, fulfill your calling from God - whatever that may be!

Message summary:

There is a difference between preaching & teaching. There is a difference between a speech & a message.

Closing Scripture:

“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4‬:‭11‬-‭12

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