From
The Shepherd Leader,
by Timothy Z. Witmer[1]
“The pastor should also be concerned to represent scriptura
tota (the whole counsel of God) in his preaching ministry. The best way to
provide this balanced diet is through the systematic expository preaching of
the Scriptures. Verse-by-verse preaching from whole books of the Bible serves
many purposes, including the following:
9. It is of great assistance in sermon planning. When
you plan a series on a book of the Bible, you don’t need to wring your hands
wondering what you are going to preach about next Sunday. Very few of us can
live as courageously as Spurgeon who sent people home early Saturday evening and
then climbed into his study to prepare for Sunday morning.
10. It provides the context for a long tenure in a
particular place. If you are serious about preaching the whole counsel of
God, it will take you a long time to preach through the entire Bible!”
One of the fun -- yes, fun, things that I experience on an ongoing basis is in planning for our worship services and my preaching schedule. My musicians often like to know my theme a week or so in advance. So yes I look at the text that is next in order and do a cursory read. From that I share the main point, the theme and some of the tag lines that will help them choose music.
Guess what?
9 out of 10 times I'm wrong. It's uncanny. But once I start my exegetical work and start analyzing the sentence/paragraph structure, what emerges is often different than what I expected. That's why it's fun. It's a treasure hunt. Piper calls is "expositional exultation".
Simply stated by Mark Dever: "Expositional preaching is preaching in which the main point of the biblical text being considered becomes the main point of the sermon being preached." (Preach: Theology Meets Practice)
Other blog posts in this series:
Points #2 and #3 can be read HERE.
Points #4 and #5, HERE; and
Point #6 HERE
Point #7 & 8 HERE.
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