Monthly Archives: September 2007

by | September 30, 2007

Lack of Application? Not Just A Pulpit Problem.

A follow-up thought to yesterday’s post. The difference between a true expository sermon and an interesting biblical lecture is often the speaker’s awareness of sermonic purpose. As Bryan Chappell wrote (Christ-Centered Preaching, p52) “Without the ‘so what?’ we preach to … Continue reading →

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Filed under Homiletics, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Stage 5 - Message Purpose

by | September 29, 2007

Expository Preaching is More Than a Commentary

In Christ-Centered Preaching (p55), Bryan Chappell makes the following distinction: “Expository preaching is not a captioned survey of a passage. By this I mean the typical: ‘1. Saul’s Contention, 2. Saul’s Conversion, 3. Saul’s Commission’ (Acts 9:1-19). In my own … Continue reading →

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Filed under Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail

by | September 28, 2007

Review: It’s All in How You Tell It, by Haddon and Torrey Robinson

Subtitle: Preaching First-Person Expository Messages. This book, by Robinson and son, has a clear target. The sleek and well prepared script of the book flies effortlessly to hit that target. Unhindered by extraneous information, disconnected asides or time-consuming tangents, the … Continue reading →

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Filed under Homiletics, Preaching, Review

by | September 27, 2007

And When You Think You Know Them . . .

As a preacher it is important to know who you are preaching to.  This takes work.  Often the focus of this work is on building relationships and getting into their world.  Conversations are priceless, counseling matters much, visiting homes and … Continue reading →

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Filed under Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Stage 8 - Message Detail

by | September 26, 2007

Take Seven Steps to a Sermon, No Less

As you know, on the right hand menu of this site I have seven stages of preparation for a sermon.  The order is somewhat significant.  There is a general order there, although aspects of stage 7 – sermon details, could … Continue reading →

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Filed under Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching

by | September 25, 2007

Who You Preach To – Part Two.

Ramesh Richard presents a helpful angle on the variety of people listening to any sermon. He presents three attitudes that will be present at various times in a message. “An expositional ministry,” he writes, “allows you to put a weekly … Continue reading →

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Filed under Audience Analysis, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail

by | September 24, 2007

Who Are You Preaching To?

Preaching can be considered a relatively simple equation. You try to get the biblical message to the people sitting in the pews. Yet we so easily give all our effort to one half of that equation. We may study the … Continue reading →

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Filed under Audience Analysis, Homiletics, Preaching

by | September 23, 2007

On This You Cannot Work Too Hard

Pastoral ministry and family life rarely yield the full quota of hours we would like to perfectly prepare each sermon.  However, there are some elements of a sermon that don’t do well with a short-cut approach.  Time spent on this … Continue reading →

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Filed under Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail

by | September 22, 2007

Story Basics

Much of the Bible comes to us in story form. We should as familiar with the basic ingredients of a story as we are with riding a bicycle or driving our car. Sadly, many preachers are not. Rather than quickly … Continue reading →

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Filed under Genre, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Stage 2 - Passage Study

by | September 21, 2007

Hearing Is Not Like Reading

The difference between writing for the eye and writing for the ear is often overlooked by preachers.  We tend to be book people – we may have studied formally for more years than many others, then our work requires us … Continue reading →

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Filed under Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail