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Why does that happen? It’s because God works through preaching.
know that the temptation to skip prayer for other ‘more productive’ activity is not new. It’s just incredibly easy now—distractions are literally at our fingertips. And nowhere is that more obvious than when it comes to praying for (and before) preaching.
And so we pray.
God doesn’t use people because they are gifted. He uses people (even preachers) because he is gracious.
the apostles gave their attention “to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4).
Paul clearly expects—and longs for—the prayers of the Christians at Colossae for his preaching. So what should we do?
First, resolve to make sure that from now on (whatever your habit has been in the past), you will pray for your own preaching. Perhaps you have been totally consistent in this for years. It may be that you would never dream of standing up
The second part of the challenge is this: make sure that your church prays together for the preaching.
daughter doesn’t need prayer—I’m arguing for both/and rather than either/or.) So, again, it’s just worth checking—is there a dedicated time during the week when people gather specifically to pray for our core business? If not, please make one.
messed-up people like you and me. But those of us who had the privilege of ‘passing through’ went on from there with an indelible sense that preaching and praying go together.
Corinthians 4:2 says:
But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practise cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
He says we are to commit ourselves to “the open statement of the truth”. But ‘open statement’ is a bit weak here. The Greek word he uses, according to Louw and Nida, means “to cause something to be fully known by revealing clearly and
The key to preaching, then, is to make the message of the text obvious. Help people to see it and feel it. Help people to understand the text. Paul is talking about what I would call ‘expository preaching’, in which the message of the text is the message of the sermon.
preaching that allows the text to speak.
The great reason why the preacher must return continually to the Bible is that the Bible is the greatest sermon in the world. Above every other function of it the Bible is a sermon, a kerugma, a preachment. It is the preacher’s book because it is the preaching book.[3]
Charles Spurgeon, the great 19th-century Baptist preacher, repeatedly said that we need to defend the Bible about as much as we need to defend a lion. A much better strategy is to let it loose.
When we teach the Bible, our goal or aim should always be to ‘uncage the lion’.
Where God is explaining something, we need to help people to understand. Where God is warning us, we need to help people feel the urgency and weight of that. Where God is wooing us, we need to help people feel the pull of his love. Where God is correcting us, we need to show people that they are going the wrong way and to help them get back on track. Where God is comforting his people, we want people to feel the security and warmth of his comfort. And that, in a nutshell, is expository preaching.
Expository preaching happens when the message of the text = the message of the sermon. Or perhaps better, expository preaching happens when the vibe of the passage = the vibe of the sermon.
Preaching that changes the heart, then, is simply preaching that allows the words of God to speak.
Luther once said of the Reformation, “I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word… And while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends… the Word did it all.”[5]
Calvin was, at one stage, exiled from Geneva for a period of several years. When he left, he was in the middle of a series of sermons preaching through the Bible. When he came back, he stood up the next morning and started to explain the very next verse.
These words should also be on your doorposts, wrists, walls, iPhone covers… and anywhere else you might see them. Why? Because the word of God has the power to change us. The word of God has the power to stir up love and obedience and sustain commitment year after year in every generation.
This is usually called ‘expository preaching’ or ‘systematic exposition’.
Uncaging the lion involves rather a lot of hard work.
Conclusion: The advantages of heart-changing, expository preaching What are the advantages of teaching the Bible in this way? Expository preaching:
God has already done for us in the death and resurrection of his Son, and then to move from that grace to what God asks and enables us to do. When we preach the gospel we are not simply telling people how to be good or leaving them to wallow in the overwhelming sense that they are irredeemably bad.
It’s easy to blame the listener. Maybe it’s the seven-minute attention span of ‘the Sesame Street generation’. Or of those multi-tasking time-slicing you-phone i-tubers.
always repeat the first sentence of a new idea three times, to make sure people stay with me.”
“Vary the words each time, but make sure you don’t add any new information.”)
At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. (Col 4:3-4)
not trying to be more eloquent; he’s not longing to be wittier or more entertaining. All he wants is to be clear. (Though maybe Eutychus would suggest Paul should also ask for prayer to know when to stop!)
Whitefield’s preaching was singularly lucid and simple… His style was easy, plain, and conversational. He seemed to abhor long and involved sentences. He always saw his mark, and went direct at it… The consequence was, that his hearers always understood him. He never shot above their heads. Never did man seem to enter so thoroughly into the wisdom of Archbishop Usher’s saying, “To make easy things seem hard is easy, but to make hard things easy is the office of a great preacher”.[6]
Clarity. Being comprehensible without being condescending. Being simple without being simplistic. As Einstein put it, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler”.
bruises. Say less. Please. Stop before someone dies.
always use the shorter, simpler word.
The more complex your subject, the more helpful it is to describe it in ordinary words.
JC Ryle, “that English for speaking and English for reading are two different languages; and that sermons which preach well, always read ill”.[11]
“The apostle Paul says, ‘The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God’.” That’s because he didn’t ‘said’ it. He still ‘says’ it.)
Illustrate the obvious, and the complex ideas will take care of themselves, because your listeners will be fresh and focused enough to stay with you.
Christ-Centered Preaching, Bryan Chapell
Without a clear purpose, listeners have no reason to listen… All good communication requires a theme. If the preacher doesn’t provide it, listeners will instinctively try to find a unifying thought.[2]
Translate the passage from the original language if you can do it quickly, but otherwise just copy word by word from a good English translation. Fill that wide left column until your hand hurts, and then
The big idea of a passage most often
emerges when you spot the repetitions in the text and follow the chain of logic between them.
With these precautions in mind, it’s worth remembering that every part of Scripture was originally written with a pastoral intention—it was meant to be applied. The original authors always intended their audience to think or do something differently as a result of hearing or reading their words.
write your sermon. In the words of Haddon Robinson, “Application starts in the introduction, not in the conclusion”.[8] Here’s the twist: the application comes at the end of your research, but it comes first as you design and build your sermon. If you take a look at the sample sermon in chapter 8, for
The first problem is that, most of the time, we read the Bible in ‘mono’.
need to start with the fact that the Bible was written for them.
