Chapter 3 Now What? Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on rock.—Matt. 7:24 Ethos We have referred to Aristotle’s approaches to persuasive rhetoric as one way to grasp what we mean by sermonic claim. Logos is the appeal to the hearer’s intellect; thus, one aspect of the claim is the theological content of the sermon. Pathos is the appeal to the hearer’s emotions. In terms of preaching, the preacher’s passion during the sermon hopefully