• What does it feel like to be rejected?
• What is the younger son feeling in the pigsty?• What feelings is the father experiencing as he waits for his son? • Are you feeling angry towards or sorry for the older son? Why?
Feeling questions on David and Goliath may be:
• Do you feel David was too confident in light of the situation?
• How do you think Saul felt when David volunteered?• How would you have felt if you had been in the army watching David?
5. Allegorical questions
These questions take an allegorical approach to the Scripture therefore they must be handled with care, but in some contexts they may be appropriate. This is more difficult to illustrate with a parable because, in a sense, the parable is already an allegory. Allegorical questions on the prodigal son may be:
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• When do you act like a "parent," and what results does that produce?
• Who is the prodigal in you and what does he/she want?
Allegorical questions on David and Goliath may be:
• Who or what are the "Goliaths" in your life?
• What "stones" have you found helpful in slaying Goliaths?• When have you seen a faith-filled "David" slay a giant?
As I have shown, there are many good reasons to preach interactively. It allows listeners an opportunity to become more active participants in the sermon and may well prove to be an effective method of reaching and influencing postmoderns. So while interactive preaching requires a degree of risk, as long as the authority of the Word is maintained, the contemporary, biblical preacher can confidently develop ways to preach interactively using audience interaction to explain, illustrate and apply the truths of God's Word.
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John Sweetman is the Principal of the Queensland Baptist Seminary, Australia.
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1. John R. W. Stott, Between Two Worlds (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), p. 60.
2. Ibid., p. 61.
3. D. Stephenson Bond, Interactive Preaching (St Louis: CPB Press, 1991), p. 56.
4. Ibid.