Most Christians hear from God first through preaching. Long before many people ever open a Bible on their own, a sermon is where the gospel reaches them. Paul put it simply: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). Preaching is not the only way God speaks, and it is not the deepest, but it is powerful, and it is available right away.
So how do you get the most out of it?
A Letter from One Preacher to Another
Paul’s second letter to Timothy is a good place to start. Paul wrote it near the end of his life, expecting to be executed soon: “the time of my departure has come” (2 Timothy 4:6). Timothy was not a boy. He was a grown man in ministry, Paul’s protégé, leading the church at Ephesus. So this letter is a conversation between two preachers.
Paul reminds Timothy that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). “Man of God” echoes an Old Testament title for God’s messengers, such as Moses and Elijah. Scripture equips every believer, but it first equips those who preach it. Then comes the charge: “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2).
Preaching Is Level One
It helps to set expectations. Preaching is a real way to hear from God, but it is not the greater portion. Under the New Covenant every believer can “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16). You have access to more of the Lord than you can get from any preacher.
Still, there is a special grace on preaching. It is how most people come to faith in the first place: “how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Romans 10:14). Preaching unlocks your ability to receive from God immediately. So while you grow toward deeper ways of hearing from Him, it is worth making the most of this one.
1. Good Preaching Produces Good Results
In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul writes to a church arguing over which preacher was best. He describes preachers as builders working on one foundation, Jesus Christ. Some build with “gold, silver, precious stones,” and some with “wood, hay, straw.” Then he says, “each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire” (1 Corinthians 3:13).
Whatever that fire is, the builder whose work burns up “will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:15). One practical way to apply it: there will be days when you go through something hard, and on those days you find out whether the teaching you invested in actually holds.
Jesus gave the test: “You will recognize them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16). Good preaching is not the preaching that makes you feel the way you want to feel, and it is not the preaching that sounds deep because it confuses you. If it is the Word, it is good preaching. If it produces fruit in real life, it is good teaching.
Paul warned that “people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions” (2 Timothy 4:3). Most of the time, that does not look like someone saying sin is fine. It looks like teaching that is sincere and entertaining but goes nowhere and leaves you the same as when you came in.
2. Show Up
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:24-25).
Showing up is the part you control the most. You may not be able to research every teacher, but you can be in the room. There is something about gathering with God’s people that releases the power of preaching in your life.
When Paul preached at Troas, he “prolonged his speech until midnight” (Acts 20:7). A young man named Eutychus fell asleep, fell from a third-story window and was taken up dead, and Paul brought him back to life. There is power in a lot of preaching. It puts some things to death in your life and brings other things to life.
Think of it like fresh-squeezed orange juice. Hearing one sermon is like getting one orange: you get a little sip. Come back every week and you can collect enough for a full glass. Spend a few days at a revival or conference, session after session, and you can gather a whole bag at once. Week to week you gain instruction and principles. In concentrated seasons, many people receive a significant word from God about their future.
A few practical tips for showing up well:
- Bring a physical Bible.
- Put your phone away.
- Bring a notebook, so you can write down what the Lord speaks.
3. Serve
At the wedding in Cana, when the wine ran out, Jesus told the servants to fill the stone jars with water and take some to the master of the feast. The master tasted the water now become wine and “did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew)” (John 2:9).
The servants knew the secret. What you hear from a pulpit is a polished, curated message. But people who serve alongside a pastor get access to the behind-the-scenes insight that never fits into a sermon. Jesus discipled the same way: His disciples learned by being with Him and serving with Him. Showing up is how you receive at this level; serving is how you go deeper.
4. Trust the Anointing
There is also a part of preaching no one controls. “Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people” (Revelation 14:6). Some translations say “in midheaven,” the very edge of the sky.
Almost every preacher has had someone say after a service, “When you said that, it was exactly what I needed,” about something the preacher never said. Many pastors see in moments like that the Holy Spirit taking a sermon and making it land as exactly what the listener needed. That is the anointing, and it makes the difference.
Choose the Word
The church does not need more sensational teaching, endless predictions, or sermons that sound more like politics than the gospel. It needs the Word preached, believed and received. “The sum of your word is truth” (Psalm 119:160).
If you want to grow, choose preaching that is rooted in Scripture and produces fruit, show up consistently, find a place to serve, and expect God to speak.