So, every sermon should answer the question, "What must I do?" based on the prior statement, "Here's why you must do it."

I mention briefly three demands of faithful application.

First, it must be credible. Our listeners must see clearly the connection between our exegesis and our theological proposition, the universal truth expressed in that text. Then they must see clearly the connection from our theology to the application. If they miss these connections, they will disregard our application.

Second, application must be adapted to our audience. While the message of our preaching remains the same, the form in which it is sent and received, must be appropriately fitted. We understand adaptation when it comes to language. We speak Spanish in Spain. We understand adaptation when it comes to illustrations. We allude to their music or their movies when we preach to 20 year olds. Applications, as well, must be adapted for the audience before us. "'You must not steal' means you have to write your own term paper."

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Third, application must be specific. When it comes to obedience, most of us are resistive enough that we need the challenge of specifics. Haggai didn't merely say, "You need to get right with God." He told the people to go up to the mountain, bring back wood, and build the Lord's house (Haggai 1:8). It may seem unnecessary, and perhaps condescending, but sinners need specifics.

The task of the preacher is to evoke life change. Passing on the baton of obedience is difficult, but necessary work. And if we do not pass on the baton of obedience, if we merely pile up knowledge, our listeners will not run race of life, toward Christlikeness, success-fully. Preaching is Applicational.

Eighth Preaching is Doxological.

Preaching that does not begin and end with worship of the one, true, and living God is not faithful preaching. God's receiving glory is our ultimate goal in preaching. This is perhaps the most assumed, yet least expressed and reflected upon, and, therefore, most forgotten concept in preaching.

God's reputation is at stake. His great and good name is being challenged. Preaching guards His reputation, defends His character, gives, and gets Him the glory He is due.

Ironically our world languishes, starving for a God worthy of their worship. They long to know Him. But they look in all the wrong places.

The rapid changes in our world, from technology to philosophy to spirituality, have left our hearers feeling disconnected from God, themselves, and one another (Bibby, 1987, 259-71). Unable, or perhaps unwilling, to understand and respond, many preachers have failed the challenge, giving way to culture and offering mere fragments of meaning, personhood, and fraternity. We have been reminded that preachers today are speaking to independent, insignificant, and isolated listeners in search of transcendence, significance, and community (Stott, 1988, 123-32). The people of our missionary age are independent as a result of abandoning God, insignificant as a result of losing themselves in the machine of production, and isolated as a result of consuming as a means of existence. Yet they long to find God, to find themselves, to find their neighbors.