Expository Preaching.
Why is it important to know about expository preaching? A church whose pastor is committed to this type of preaching will be more likely to be healthy. Researching this topic will help you recognize good preaching that correctly handles the Word of God (2 Timothy 2).
Expository preaching is Biblical preaching, finding its message solely from Scripture. It explains the text, exhorts obedience to it, and lifts the glory of God. There are many advantages to using expository preaching as the primary means. Members always know where they will be in the Scriptures, it keeps the Word central by glorifying God through its proclamation, and it keeps pastors from injecting their emotions and opinions into their sermons. Expository preaching is as old as the Torah. In Deuteronomy, Moses stands before the people of God and exposits the Word of God, explaining what God meant by what He had said to the nation of Israel. In the New Testament, Jesus’s ministry was expositional, always revealing the true meaning of the Old Testament. Other New Testament expositors include men like the apostle Paul, who committed his letters to the exposition of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. Read more from the MacArthur Study Center.
“A sermon is the proclamation of the Word of God only if the text of the Word is accurately expounded and preached. So, in the strictest sense of the term, authentic preaching is expository preaching.”
The Foolishness of Preaching by Jonathan Landry Cruse (article) - For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1). If preaching were about the preacher’s skill, abilities, and charm, the cross would be emptied of its power. It’s not that the cross would suddenly become powerless but that people would not see its power. Faithful preaching doesn’t present the preacher; it presents the sending of Christ.
6 Advantages of Consecutive Expository Preaching by Derek Thomas (article) - some of the advantages of the consecutive expository sermon are that it introduces the congregation to the entire Bible, ensures that infrequently traveled areas of the Bible are covered, prevents preachers from unwittingly shaping the way their hearers read their Bibles, exposes a congregation to the full range of Scripture’s interests and concerns. We desperately need preaching that unpacks the Bible’s message and conveys a sense of the reality of God’s presence. In the end, only faithful expository preaching can do that.
Equipping Expository Preachers by the MacArthur Study Center (article) - John MacArthur’s preaching philosophy is inextricably linked to his conviction that “The only logical response to inerrant Scripture is to preach it expositionally. By expositional, he means preaching so that the meaning of the Bible passage is presented entirely and exactly as God intended it.” He defines expository preaching as “the proclamation of the truth of God as mediated through the preacher.
Why Expositional Preaching? by Tom Buck (article) - “as goes the pulpit, so goes the church” - whatever comes out of a church’s pulpit will shape that congregation more than anything else. The preacher discovers the point of a biblical text and makes it the central point of the sermon. The primary role of any pastor is to preach sermons that derive their main point from the original point of the biblical text. If your pastor truly believes the Scriptures are inerrant and sufficient, he will seek never to preach another sermon that does not handle the Scripture in an expositional way. He will strive to be faithful to the end, to let the Word of God do the work of God.
Art and the Pulpit by White Horse Inn and Dr. Carl Ellis (audio) - the sermon is a piece of rhetoric that is not merely made of wise words (Acts 4:13) but could also be described as a piece of art. Even if there are no icons, tapestries, and stained glass windows in a church, there is still art in worship and the sermon.
The Priority of Preaching in the Early Medieval Church by Robert Godfrey (video) - In this brief clip from his teaching series A Survey of Church History, W. Robert Godfrey discusses the priority of preaching in the early medieval church.
Expository Preaching Does Not Equal “Good Preaching” by Danny Steinmeyer (article) - not all expository ministry is created equal. Some of the tailings of expository preaching today are filling a sermon with trivia and leaving the people with a history lesson. The preacher's job is to provide a clear and faithful meaning of the text in its context, with a relevant explanation of why it matters and how it applies. Preach the gold, not the tailings.
Resources in Apostolic Preaching in Acts by The White Horse Inn (audio) - Preaching That Cuts to the Heart, Preaching Repentance to the Religious and Irreligious Alike, Preaching That Endures the Anger of Mobs, Preaching That Frees Us from the Law, Preaching the Resurrection Amidst the Mockery of the World
OnePassion Ministries by Steven Lawson (website) - OnePassion is committed to training pastors in expository preaching firmly anchored in proclaiming God’s Word and to impart the knowledge of the truth by equipping church leaders, maturing lay people, and launching a new reformation in the church today.
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Carl Trueman chats with David Strain, the senior minister of First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, MS, and author of Expository Preaching. David explains the layout of the books, including content designed to answer questions commonly posed by Christians who are new to the Reformed faith. Why is expository preaching so vital? Is preaching simply the communication of information?
Many men say they are an expositor, but they are not. There is room for diversity, but developing a biblical definition for expository preaching is essential.
There are several ways and manners in which to approach expository preaching. Dr. Lawson explores the different tracks of exposition upon which the expositor or preacher can preach.
“We threw a succession of little pieces of bread into the Lago Garda from the deck of an Austrian gunboat, and presently, small fish came in shoals until there seemed to be, as the old proverb puts it, more fish than water. They came to feed and needed no music. They flocked then around the preacher who gives his people food, even if he does not possess the sounding brass of rhetoric and the tinkling cymbals of oratory.”
These volumes offer a spiritual approach to Scripture, written in an easy-to-understand manner for practical teaching and study, and are a compelling companion to the Gospels. Ryle highlights pertinent passages and offers valuable insight into their significance and meaning. His interpretations are insightful, his observations are practical for daily Christian living, and his words reflect the great joy Ryle found in Scripture. Learn more about Bishop J. C. Ryle.
The booklet briefly describes the main principles on which expository preaching is based. It comprises eight sections dealing with subjects such as expository preaching's distinctiveness, its priority in the church today, the need for pastoral preaching, clarity of structure, and relevance in the application. This booklet lays out eight bedrock principles for the faithful exposition of Scripture.
Vos divides this into three main divisions: the Mosaic epoch of revelation, the prophetic epoch of revelation, and the New Testament. The wide variety of Scripture is discovered anew as the progressive development of biblical themes is explicated.
To read these pages- the fruit of Vos’s 39 years of teaching biblical theology at Princeton- is to appreciate the late John Murray’s suggestion that Geerhardus Vos was the most incisive exegete in the English-speaking world of the twentieth century.
The real power in preaching, which brings true revival and transforms lives, comes from God alone. This is why following the pattern for preaching in Scripture is essential. The apostle Paul gives that pattern in 1 Corinthians 2:1-9. Steven Lawson helps you understand...
the priority of biblical preaching - the chief obligation of every pastor
the poverty of modern preaching - what is lacking in many pulpits today
the power of the Spirit in preaching - what makes the difference between effective and ineffective pulpit ministry
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