Eavesdropping on a Preacher

Even so, a persistent, stubborn little group of people did believe "this incredible notion," quite tenaciously, without compromise and without fear. They began to preach about it and they began to convince other people that it was the truth. Let us eavesdrop on a couple of their sermons. We are inquisitive outsiders. We want to know what the Christians are shouting about, so we follow Peter around and take notes on his sermons. The notes we accumulate turn out to be similar to the outlines of some of the sermons in the book of The Acts, which scholars tell us go back to a very early date in the life of the Christian Church. (They are found in Acts 2: 14-39; 3: 13-26; 4: 10-12; 10: 36-43.) They represent the general pattern of preaching which was probably followed. First of all, the preacher "proclaims" the good news. He tells us what it is that he believes, what the heart of his Christian faith really is. Only after that does he deal with the question, If this faith is true, what are we to do about it? So the pattern becomes, first the preaching, then the teaching; or, first the proclamation of the good news, then some advice on "what to do about it."