Last Saturday was the fourth of our ‘Preach the Word!’ seminars for practicing and would-be preachers and what a great day it was. As the months have gone by these workshops have become increasingly profitable in terms of both input and interaction and are exceeding our expectations in terms of worthwhileness.
Our Guest Expositor on Saturday morning was Dr Geoffrey Grogan who brought more than 50 years of ministry and teaching experience to bear on our time together. (More about Geoff Grogan here and here) Although not as strong as he once was he was visibly energised as he preached and taught us and it was delight to learn from him. In the afternoon, I continued our step by step look at the the process of ‘Preparing to Preach’ and we emphasised the fact that ‘Every text has a Heart’ and the need to be diligent in looking for the central theme, the big idea or what I call the MTh (main theme) of every passage of Scripture.
The material from Saturday is now available online here. I thought that over the next three days I would post here the 12 Important Principles for Expository Preaching that he shared with us.
1. Give quality time to an ever-deepening acquaintance with the text of Scripture.
Important for all Christians, indispensable for a preacher - for spiritual growth, for biblical theology, for godly wisdom.
Spurgeon said our blood must become Bibline.
2. Give thought to the importance and value of expository preaching.
For many reasons - e.g. authentic Christianity is biblical Christianity and all hearers (and preachers) need to face biblical truth in its practical implications. “There are two main streams emerging in the evangelical community, and this division may prove more fundamental in its long-term effects than any other. It is between those who make the Bible effectively, and not only theoretically, the mainstay of their ministry, and those who do not.” He then says that the former will produce strong realistic Christians while the latter “are almost certain to produce vulnerable Christians or painfully dependent people, who dare not move out from that particular congregation where they have been supported unless they can go somewhere else where they will be equally propped up.” (Oliver Barclay Evangelicalism in Britain 1935-1995: a personal sketch Leicester: IVP 1997)
3. Prayerfully consider the people’s needs and depend on God in all your preparation.
You need to depend on him for both guidance and power in preaching the Word.
You may know the congregation well, but remember that God knows them fully
4. Study examples of expository preaching in the Bible itself
a. Notably in The Epistle to the Hebrews, S J Kistemaker has shown that the main argument of the epistle is carried by the exposition of four Psalms - 8, 95, 110, 40
b. See also John 6 (Numbers 11vv4-9) and 2 Corinthians 3V7 - 4v12 (Exodus 34vv27-35), both interpreted and applied in terms of Christ.
A Prayer of George Whitefield:
““Yea…that we shall see the great Head of the Church once more . . . raise up unto Himself certain young men whom He may use in this glorious employ. And what manner of men will they be? Men mighty in the Scriptures, their lives dominated by a sense of the greatness, the majesty and holiness of God, and their minds and hearts aglow with the great truths of the doctrines of grace. They will be men who have learned what it is to die to self, to human aims and personal ambitions; men who are willing to be ‘fools for Christ’s sake’, who will bear reproach and falsehood, who will labor and suffer, and whose supreme desire will be, not to gain earth’s accolades, but to win the Master’s approbation when they appear before His awesome judgment seat. They will be men who will preach with broken hearts and tear-filled eyes, and upon whose ministries God will grant an extraordinary effusion of the Holy Spirit, and who will witness ‘signs and wonders following’ in the transformation of multitudes of human lives.”
