Preaching the Psalms

Abe Kuruvilla has some insights here.

Preaching Hope and Lament from the Psalms

The latest issue of the Journal of the Evangelical Homiletics Society is out has an article by Ken Langley on preaching hope and lament from the Psalms. You can access the article or free here or the other articles here.

Free Webinar: 12 Steps to Sermon Preparation

David Allen is offering a free webinar on the 12 steps to sermon preparation that he uses. Dr. Allen is a gifted expository preacher. You can sign up here.

What Is an Outline?

This semester I am teaching an introductory class on preaching. One part of sermon crafting that we discuss is outlining. I begin this discussion with what an outline is. Here is my list. Feel free to leave a comment with your additions, questions, or thoughts.

1. Outlines are analytical aids that can help you to discerning the structure and flow of a passage. Outlines are organizational aids to help you organize and clarify your thoughts and the flow of your message.
2. Outlines are communication aids to help your hearers to know and follow where you are going.
3. Outlines are credibility aids that instill confidence in your hearers that you are organized and prepared (See Chapell, Christ-Centered Preaching,120).
4. Outlines can be mnemonic aids that help you and your hearers remember and process what is being preached.

The Primacy of Homiletics

See Peter Mead's post on the primacy of homiletics in seminary instruction.

"Too often homiletics is taught as a little addendum, an almost token seminar in public speaking tacked onto a robust theological education. Let’s think again about the importance of homiletics – for the sake of the institutions, but much more importantly, for the sake of the church."

The Anatomy of a Sermon

Darrell Johnson, building on an analogy used by Pitt-Watson (A Primer for Preachers [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1986], 10) compares a sermon to the human body. In this analogy, a sermon consists of:

-a heart (the theme and purpose statement)
-a skeleton (its main points, conceptual structure)
-a backbone (a natural harmony) -joints (smooth transitions) -lifeblood (emotional, passion, conviction)
-flesh (illustrations, everyday examples)
-muscle (application that requires and enables action)
-Spirit (the breath and breathing of the living God) (Johnson’s addition)

Darrell W. Johnson, The Glory of Preaching: Participating in God's Transformation of the World (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2009), 105.

The Miracle of Preaching

“The miracle of preaching, where does it happen? In what mode does human speaking of human words become speaking words that are the word of God? And the answer I want to commend to all who preach is in expository preaching. It is the only place I know where I can stand and have confidence that what I say is what the living God is saying. It is the only place I know where we mere humans can dare to say or think, ‘Thus says the Lord.’”

Darrell W. Johnson, The Glory of Preaching: Participating in God's Transformation of the World (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2009), 53–4.

Foundational Convictions Concerning Preaching

Darrell Johnson, in his recent book The Glory of Preaching identifies the following three foundational convictions concerning preaching.

1. When the living God speaks, something always happens.

2. When the preacher speaks God's speech, God speaks.

3. Therefore, when the preacher speaks God's speech, something always happens. Always?

Darrell W. Johnson, The Glory of Preaching: Participating in God's Transformation of the World (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2009), 10.

The Glory of Preaching

I am looking forward to providing a fuller interaction with Darrell Johnson's The Glory of Preaching soon. But in the meantime I thought I would introduce the book. Here is the publishers introduction of the book.

In these pages you will find a vision of preaching that is both illuminating and inspiring. Drawing from biblical and theological resources as well as years in the pulpit, Darrell Johnson takes us far beyond the mere mechanics of delivering sermons. He dynamically unpacks the link between the human task of speaking to a congregation and the real, gracious action and presence of the living Christ in and through our proclamation.

Johnson assists preachers to profoundly engage the biblical text and then liberates them to make use of their own personality, gifts and abilities as they communicate that message.

This book is for any pastor or student who wants to cultivate a deeper pulpit approach, one that participates in the transforming mystery of God working through our less-than-perfect proclamation. Here is a solid foundation for preaching the good news as if God was living, Jesus was resurrected and the Holy Spirit was faithfully at work among us.

Here is the table of contents:

Prologue: Something Always Happens
Part 1:Theoretical Foundations for Participating
1 Why Does It Happen: A Vision (Ezekiel 37)
2 Does It Really Always Happen?: A Parable (Matthew 13)
3 Where Does It Happen?: A Paradigm for Expository Preaching
4 How Does It Happen?: Verbs of Participation
Part 2: Human Mechanics of Participating
5 Moving from Text to Sermon: Inhabiting the Text
6 Moving into the Sermon: Ordering for Orality
7 Walking the Sermon into Every Life: Implications and Application
8 The Person of the Preacher: Truth Through Personhood
9 The Life of the Preacher: Living In
Part 3: Theoretical Foundations Again
10 Standing In the Mystery: The Space in Which We Preach
Epilogue: A Sermon--The Main Thing: Included! (Matthew 11:25-30)
Author and Subject Index
Scripture Index

You can read portions of the book here.

Much Thanks to Adrianna Wright at IVP for the review copy.

Metaphors

There is an interesting article in the Dallas Morning News on metaphors. While the article is not specifically related to biblical studies, there is food for thought here which may relate to both hermeneutics and homiletics. You can access the article here.

Preaching Versus Lecturing: A False Dichotomy?

There has been a recent discussion in the blogging world about the difference between lecturing and preaching (see here). My problem with the discussion is that this perceived dichotomy assumes too much and draws lines where I am not sure they ought to be. Preaching is presented as being driven by conviction and passionate in delivery. On the other hand, lecturing is presented as being driven by formality and lifeless in delivery. While such distinctions can sometime be true, these distinctions are not necessarily true. Both preaching and lecturing are acts of communication and both can by heartfelt and life-changing. Rather than drawing distinctions, maybe we ought to embrace the differences and the fact that preachers and preaching styles are varied. People tend to prefer some preachers and preaching styles and I think that is okay. I suspect that is why God calls and uses all kinds. I also have my preferences, but I am learning to realize that God has called only one Chuck Swindoll, Mark Dever, or John MacArthur, and I am not any of these men and neither are you. Be who you are and preach the Word!

Expository Preaching Workshop Audio

Free audio of the 2009 Expository Preaching Workshop sponsored by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is available here. Here are the titles of the sessions.

David Platt – For the Glory of God: Theological Foundations for Text-Driven Preaching
Calvin Pearson – The Day that Preaching Died
Steven Smith – Expository Preaching and the Nature of the Church
George Harris – Tips for Effective Sermon Preparation
Jerry Vines – Text-Driven Preaching - Preaching Jonah
David Platt – For the Sake of the Nations
Jerry Vines – Jonah
David Allen – Preaching the Difficult Passages of Scripture - Heb 6:1-6
Paige Patterson – The Gospel in Prepositional Phrases

In particular, I would commend David Allen's talk on Hebrews 6. His view of this warning passage is also my view.

Mead on Delivery Diagnostics

Peter Mead has posted a helpful reminder to those of us who preach to evaluate our delivery. See Peter's excellent list of diagnostic questions here.

Advice for Student Preachers

R Scott Clark offers some excellent advice for student preachers. He offers the following eight suggestions:

1. Determine from the text the one, central, unifying theme of your passage.
2. Preach only one sermon at a time.
3. Remember your congregation.
4. Keep your head up (and leave the manuscript at home).
5. Smile.
6. Relax.
7. Learn the difference between law and gospel and how those two “words” relate in your passage.
8. Be careful in application.

Read the entire post with further explanations here.

Toward a Definition of Biblical Exposition

Cal Habig has been posting a series related to preaching workshops given by Kent Hughes. One recent blog entitled "Toward a Definition of Biblical Exposition" contains the following helpful list from Hughes.

The preacher has done his work when...

• he has worked out the theme of the book - the "melodic line."
• he has prayerfully interpreted his text in its context, using the established principles of interpretation
• he understands the text's application in its historical setting, and in the whole of Scripture.
• he has discerned wherein it is a revelation of Jesus Christ, and has made the appropriate inter-canonical connections;
• he has made the trip "from Jerusalem to Portland," [fill in your city's name] and he understands its present relevance
• he has stated the theme of the text, its "Big Idea"
• he has outlined his exposition using the literary structure of the text as a guide to his sermon's symmetries
• he has used stories and illustrations which really do illuminate the text
• he has written or outlined his sermon using language that actually does communicate in today's culture
• he has submitted himself to the text so that it has so plowed his soul that he is sympathetic to, and desires the truths of the text to be active in his life;
• as he stand in the pulpit in full dependence upon the Holy Spirit, the exposition of God's Word passionately flows from the inward affections of his heart without affectation.

How to Prepare a Sermon

Mark Barnes has posted a simple and helpful explanation and demonstration of his sermon preparation process here. In particular, this pastor shows how he utilizes Logos software in the process. Thanks to the Logos blog for ointing this out.