At first, the young man felt totally inadequate to stand and preach. But then, after careful instruction from his mentor, he began to feel competent. In fact, the pastor detected an attitude of prideful self-confidence.

So, at sunrise on the morning before the aspiring preacher was to enter the pulpit, the instructor took his apprentice on a field trip . . . to the cemetery. When they had arrived the pastor told him, "Alright now, preach to them. Tell the dead to get up. Really preach. Tell them to get up out of their graves."

Confused, the young man stood silent. Then at his mentor's insistence, he spoke. But he found his effort entirely futile. He felt inept and ashamed. Anguish flushed his face. Tears filled his eyes.

Finally his teacher spoke. "We are so foolish to think that we can transform the dead. And your preaching will be foolish and powerless unless you invite God in to make the difference. Then, He will make the dead live."

If we are going to preach powerfully in a missionary age we must preach prayerfully in Spirit-dependence. Preaching is Spiritual.

Fifth, Preaching is Theological.

When I talk about preaching, whether with eager students or veteran preachers, the question always comes up, "How do you go from text to sermon?"

Almost everyone seems more or less confident that they can get at the meaning of the text. We've been trained to do exegesis of a passage. And almost everyone seems more or less confident he or she can hold his or her own on the homiletical side. At least we know what we aspire to homiletically.

Accordingly, we feel comfortable preaching the Epistles, because they allow us to move from text to sermon so unremarkably. But take us into the Gospels or the various Old Testament genres and our confidence dissolves. We struggle with the theological bridge that connects the ancient text with the contemporary audience (Warren, 1999, 337). We may have been trained in a system of theology, but most of us have not been trained in, and, therefore, do not practice, doing theology. We break down between exegesis and homiletics.

As a result we end up preaching moralisms, psychologisms, and imitations. David's laments become, "Pray with honest emotion." Elijah's retreat from faithfulness becomes, "How to maintain mental health." Jephthah's superstitious pledge becomes, "Keep your marriage vows no matter the cost." Such "talks" fall short of biblical authority because they miss the theological essence of their texts.

Before we can preach in terms of our immediate audience, we must answer, "What does this text tell me about God and His relationship with His creation? What does this text tell me that is true in all times, in all cultures, for all people?" (Ross, 1988, 44).

I've been preaching through Joshua recently. I looked forward to preaching the promised victory of God's people at Jericho. But preaching the utter destruction of every man, woman, child, and animal held little appeal. I would have preferred to skip that part of the story. Passages like that cause many in our day to reject the "small and mean" God of the Scriptures (Allen, 1997, 67, 117-22). But failing to address the doubts of my listeners, would have sold God short.