Category Archives: Expository Preaching

On textual fidelity in preaching

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Expository preaching must remain faithful to the text of Scripture.  There are two ways, says John Stott, in which the expositor might depart from his text: forgetfulness and disloyalty.

G. Campbell Morgan, himself a fine expositor, noted of Benjamin Jowett, Master of Balliol College Oxford that he

declared that it was his habit to write his sermons, and then choose a text as a peg on which to hang them.  I am quite free to say…that the study of his sermons will reveal the accuracy of his statement, and show the peril of the method.…

Calvin: nine preaching engagements

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Peter Adam is Principal of Ridley Theological College in Melbourne, Australia.  In a recent lecture on John Calvin as a preacher, he sets out nine demanding engagements that Calvin sought to fulfil in his own preaching.

There are:-

1.  Engaging with God.  The preacher doesn’t just talk about God in some remote and objective way.  No: the preacher expects God to be present with and in his Word by his Spirit.

2.  Engaging with the 66 texts of the Bible. …

John Stott and Charles Simeon

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Timothy Dudley-Smith, in his fine biography of John Stott, draws some striking parallels between John Stott and  Charles Simeon (1759-1836).

‘Both were privileged sons of comparatively affluent parents, educated at public schools, undergraduates at Cambridge.  They shared a transforming experience of conversion to Christ, early and and severe trials and testing, and virtually a lifetime’s ministry in a single church.  Each cultivated habits well beyond the norm for early rising, disciplined prayer and the study of Scripture. 

…

The importance of expository preaching

Walking With Giants Posted on by

I like Walter Liefeld’s explanation of why expository preaching is so important:-

  1. it conveys the biblical revelation of God and his will, protecting the sermon (and its hearers) from the preacher’s subjectivism.
  2. it teaches God’s word in the setting chosen by the Holy Spirit.  It anchors the preacher’s message in its contextual intention.
  3. it meets human needs.  It allows God’s word (rather than merely my own thoughts) to reach hearts.
  4. it directs the attention of the hearer to the Bible. 
…

The road from text to sermon

Walking With Giants Posted on by

The effective expository preacher is involved in two different worlds

  • The world of the Bible
  • The contemporary world of himself and his congregation

The preacher needs to know how to develop the Biblical text into a message that will address people’s needs today.

The exegetical idea should be submited to three developmental questions:

  1. What does this mean?
  2. Is it true?
  3. What difference does it make?

Just four things can be done with a declarative statement

1. …

Preachers and their preaching – Charles Simeon

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Charles Simeon (1759 – 1836) was converted to faith in Christ while he was a student at Cambridge University.  He became the minister of Holy Trinity, Cambridge, where he overcame resentment and prejudice to exercise an influential evangelical ministry.

Simeon’s approach to preaching has been discussed by J.I. Packer in an essay entitled ‘Expository Preaching: Charles Simeon and Ourselves’.  This was first published in Churchman in 1960, is reprinted in Packer’s Collected Shorter Works (Vol 3), and is available online here.…