Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, tagged Expository Preaching, Pseudo-Expository on July 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
If you have a commitment to expository Biblical preaching as it is understood on this site, then some versions of preaching obviously stand out as poor. The anecdotal platitudinal rambling with a verse attached won’t fool many of us. The non-expository topical sermon where verses aren’t handled with care and the Bible isn’t in authority [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, tagged Expository Preaching, Order, Progress, Unity on June 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Unity. Order. Progress. Three essentials in effective communication of a message. Yet it strikes me that we can sometimes take these for granted when we are preaching on a single passage. Unity? One passage. Order? Moving through the passage. Progress? Getting closer to the end. If this is all we have, then I suspect our [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, New Testament, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, tagged Expository Preaching, Textual Outline on May 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Observation does not work in haste. It takes time to keep looking at something and really see it. I’m told that you cannot get the best out of an art gallery by rushing around and taking mental snapshots (my default approach). I know that neither can you get the best out of a Bible passage [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Old Testament, Preaching, Religion, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Psalm 1 on May 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Every text says something. No text says everything. Our task is to preach the text’s something in a way that is faithful to the Bible’s “everything”. Our task is not to preach everything from this text’s something.
Balance – you don’t want to preach something that on its own is faithful to the preaching text, but [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, tagged Expository Preaching on May 8, 2009 | 4 Comments »
It is so important to understand the text before you preach it! I don’t mean just knowing what the big words mean. I don’t mean just having a collection of exegetical insights to share. I don’t mean even having a sermon vaguely based on certain parts of the text. I mean really understanding what the [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, tagged Expository Preaching, Prayer on April 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
There are a couple of short-cuts taken by many preachers that need to be highlighted for the sake of Biblical Preaching. Please be sure to read the explanation as well as the heading (it’s amazing how people miss the point of what’s written sometimes!)
1. Prayer. Prayer is not a short-cut. It is a necessity. It [...]
Read Full Post »
Yesterday I mentioned an easy mistake to make – finding the biggest detail and losing sight of the rest. Here’s another easy mistake to make:
Encompassing everything via a statement that is so vague it could come from any number of passages. I suppose it is an overreaction to the fear of missing the point of [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 6 - Message Idea, tagged Big Idea, Expository Preaching, Main Idea on March 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I suppose there are several easy mistakes to make when it comes to getting the main idea of a passage. I’d like to point out one today.
Do not look for the biggest detail of the passage and then omit the rest of the passage. It may be tempting to look for the weightiest element in [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Affective, Affective Theology, Expository Preaching, Ron Frost, Spreading Goodness, spreadinggoodness, Trinitarian on February 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
My post today is not here, but you can get there from here. It’s a guest post on a blog I appreciate very much – spreadinggoodness.org. It is a blog by Dr Ron Frost. I commend the blog to you, and I’m not just saying that because Ron has kindly invited me [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, tagged Charles Simeon, Exegesis, Expository Preaching, JI Packer, Leland Ryken, Preach the Word on January 28, 2009 | 1 Comment »
On one level it is a feeling that can come for any reason. A little moment of doubt. An unexpected event, or listener, or conversation, or comment . . . and suddenly the temptation is there to give up on the planned message. Some may have this feeling every time they preach. Others may never [...]
Read Full Post »
I have suggested this before, but decided to try it again on Sunday. One passage, two messages. In the afternoon I had some doubts. Perhaps I should do something different? I prayerfully decided to stick with the plan and I’m glad I did. (Despite this moment of doubt, the afternoon was less of a trial [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 1 - Passage Selection, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, tagged Expository Preaching on December 26, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I emphasize the need to preach a single text in most sermons. There are exceptions, but generally one text is the way to go. I want to be clear why I make this suggestion (today) and address a possible misunderstanding (tomorrow).
I strongly suggest preaching on one text most of the time, because it is so [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, tagged Grudem, How Long, Sermon Preparation, Time Wasting, Wayne Grudem on December 16, 2008 | 1 Comment »
As I wander through Preach the Word, I am taking advantage of little nuggets here and there to prompt posts. Today I’m influenced by Wayne Grudem’s article on “Right and Wrong Interpretation of the Bible.” He makes a point that I have probably made before, but it bears repeating.
Grudem writes, “It is possible to do [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Christianity, Genre, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Bible as Literature, John Drury, Leland Ryken, Literary Hermeneutics, Preach the Word on December 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I’d like to share another post in light of the chapter by Leland Ryken in the book he co-edited entitled Preach the Word (in honor of Kent Hughes). In writing of the importance of understanding the Bible literarily and not just theologically or historically, he states the following:
A biblical scholar who caught the vision for [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Christianity, Genre, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Gordon Fee, Leland Ryken, Literary, Literary Forms, Literary Types, Preach the Word on December 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Yesterday I noted Leland Ryken’s comment that expository preaching “keeps its focus on the announced text instead of escaping from it to other material.” Another feature of expository preaching, in his mind, is as follows:
2. “Expository preaching interacts with the chosen text in terms of the kind of writing that it is instead of immediately [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, tagged Expository Preaching, Haddon Robinson on December 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Two days ago we considered the move from passage to message in relation to the purpose statement. Now let’s look at the other core move at the apex of the process, the move from passage idea to message idea.
Many rightly point out that really there are three steps. To use some Haddon Robinson terminology, you [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 1 - Passage Selection, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail on November 22, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Perhaps you have already thought it through in this way, or perhaps this will be helpful to you. The eight stage preparation process can be stated in the form of questions:
1. Passage Selection – Which passage will you prepare to preach?
2. Passage Study – What does the passage say and mean? (What is the content [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 1 - Passage Selection, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail on November 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I just read a post on communication that related to content versus visuals in their relative importance. The conclusion was that neither trumped the other, but in fact connection trumped them both. In the more specific realm of biblical preaching, we have to give precedence to the content, but that does not mean we neglect [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, New Testament, Old Testament, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion, Stage 1 - Passage Selection, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, tagged Hebrews on November 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I don’t mean preaching your sermon based on another contemporary preacher’s sermon. I mean preaching a sermon based on a Scriptural sermon. There’s lots of them. It can be fascinating to wrestle with a sermon in its context since you would expect to find a sense of context, purpose, application, explanation, etc. If you haven’t [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Bryan Chappell, Haddon Robinson, Preaching Books, Ramesh Richard, Sermon, Sermon Preparation on November 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
So the critical matter of the role of the Spirit raised issues concerning evaluation of past “fruit,” and more importantly, the dynamic tension between good stewardship and self-reliance. Now another objection:
Doesn’t homiletics create a methodological strait jacket? People with years of experience in reading a passage, soaking in it and then coming up with something [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Genre, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, New Testament, Preaching, Religion, Specific text, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Clausal Layout, Diagramming, Exegetical Outline, Syntactical Analysis on November 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Here in London you can visit the British Library and look at such priceless items as Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Alexandrinus. While it is a privilege to see them, they are not the easiest things to read and understand. Written in uncials, ITISNOTEASYTOREADTEXTWITHOUTGAPSORPUNCTUATION. Never mind the fact that it is in Greek, just the running [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Big Idea Preaching, Take Home Truth on November 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Last night I was involved in a very enjoyable Bible study in Ephesians. After wrestling with the text together for a good while, we tried to summarize the section in one sentence. Having made a first pass at a summary statement (or main idea), I mentioned that now there is a chance we could preach [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Bible, Big Idea, Culture, Explicit Communication, Implicit Communication on October 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Here’s the question again:
Since our culture is shaped by the communication of implicit and pervasive ideas, and much of the Scriptures use a narrative communication with ideas implicitly conveyed, are we communicating effectively when we state explicit ideas in preaching?
Two more thoughts:
Generally speaking, explicit statement of the idea is necessary if people are to have [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Genre, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 6 - Message Idea, tagged Bible, Big Idea, Culture, Explicit Communication, Haddon Robinson, Implicit Communication on October 22, 2008 | 1 Comment »
A while ago I was asked a very perceptive question:
Since our culture is shaped by the communication of implicit and pervasive ideas, and much of the Scriptures use a narrative communication with ideas implicitly conveyed, are we communicating effectively when we state explicit ideas in preaching?
I think a question of that depth requires a better [...]
Read Full Post »
When you study a chunk of biblical text, you are looking to state the idea of that chunk. The idea encapsulates, condenses, summarizes and usually abstracts from the details present. In terms of the hermeneutical process, we sometimes refer to the stage of principlization (coming between interpretation and application). The reason for deriving the principle [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion, Stage 1 - Passage Selection, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Authorial intent, expository, Expository Preaching on August 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I split the preparation process into two. Stages 1-4 focus on the text. Stages 5-8 are concerned with forming the message. Before beginning to think about the message, it is a good idea to consider the listeners (audience analysis). Until this point the focus is on the text. From this point on the focus is [...]
Read Full Post »
When we preach, our desire is for God’s Word to truly mark the lives of those listening. We want them to learn, certainly, but more than that, we want them to be changed. We want them to apply the Scripture in their lives that they will not be hearers only, but doers also. We want [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 1 - Passage Selection, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged 12 Skills, Sermon Preparation, Spiritual Preaching, Wayne McDill on August 12, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Periodically I come across people who think it is wrong to study preaching, or to prepare in any specific way for a sermon. Perhaps there are more, but they don’t make themselves known to me – quite possible. I like this succinct paragraph from Wayne McDill’s 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching (p219):
Some preachers are [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 6 - Message Idea, tagged Big Idea, Main Idea, Sermon proposition, Take Home Truth on August 5, 2008 | 3 Comments »
When you read books on preaching, you often find stunning Big Ideas. Often the ones included are pithy, memorable, poignant, poetic, clever, assonant, etc. Let’s be realistic and recognize that those preachers do not come up with stunning Big Ideas for every sermon (unless they only preach a handful each year). Probably the reason so [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Specific text, Stage 1 - Passage Selection, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged 1Peter 4, Spiritual Gifts on July 21, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Monday’s a good time to pause for thought. Perhaps you preached yesterday. Perhaps you’re preaching again next Sunday. Let’s always remember that God, in His grace, has given gifts to every believer. To some of us He has given “speaking” gifts. In 1Peter 4:10-11, Peter urges everyone to invest their lives in each other through [...]
Read Full Post »
