Friday, July 22, 2016

The Best Preaching Decision I Ever Made

Monroe County Courthouse
The best preaching decision I ever made was to preach through the biblical texts rather than preach thematically. For example, I preached (along with some associates) through the 4 Gospels chronologically over a period of 7 years. Currently I am in the midst of preaching through the Book of James, which will take three more months - verse-by-verse, holding tight to the context and the big picture.

 I don't preach thematically, since every theme one could ever want eventually gets addressed in the vast, comprehensive biblical text.

 One result is that we have a church growing in biblical literacy. And our people love it.

 One of the church's great distinctives is the Bible. The Bible is our text. The Bible gives us our rich, deep metanarrative. Therefore I will preach it. 

 Emphasize distinctives rather than try to be relevant. 
See also:

How I Prepare for a Sermon





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My book Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God will immerse you in the Christian theistic metanarrative. 
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