# Best book on how to preach Old Testament narratives?



## Polanus1561 (Apr 12, 2018)

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Preaching-Old-Testament-Narrative/dp/0801022967

saw this recently and while browsing I found it excellent especially for a young preacher in making a clear concise sermon out of OT narratives.

Any alternatives I should consider?


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## JTB.SDG (Apr 12, 2018)

Check out Murray's Jesus on Every Page. Great stuff:

https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Every-Page-Simple-Testament/dp/1400205344


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## Guido's Brother (Apr 12, 2018)

Him We Proclaim by Dennis Johnson is also very good.


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## Polanus1561 (Apr 12, 2018)

just to add on, books that not only draw out Christ out of the OT but also the technical ways to handle preaching a narrative in an orderly way


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## JTB.SDG (Apr 12, 2018)

John Yap said:


> just to add on, books that not only draw out Christ out of the OT but also the technical ways to handle preaching a narrative in an orderly way



John, with Murray's book, the whole book isn't about this but there is a chapter devoted to it that was quite good.


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## Guido's Brother (Apr 13, 2018)

JTB.SDG said:


> John, with Murray's book, the whole book isn't about this but there is a chapter devoted to it that was quite good.



Johnson's book is subtitled, "Preaching Christ from all the Scriptures." It's a book about preaching the OT.


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## KSon (Apr 13, 2018)

I would enthusiastically second Wes' recommendation of Johnson's book. I've also found some helpful nuggets in Greidanus' book as well:

https://www.amazon.com/Preaching-Christ-Old-Testament-Hermeneutical/dp/B015X41WG8


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## Jack K (Apr 13, 2018)

John Yap said:


> just to add on, books that not only draw out Christ out of the OT but also the technical ways to handle preaching a narrative in an orderly way



All the recommendations here so far have been good. Dennis Johnson is my favorite of them (though I suggest his newer book,_ Walking with Jesus through His Word_, over_ Him We Proclaim_), but his isn't really a technical, how-to-preach book.

David Murray's_ Jesus on Every Page_ isn't a how-to book either. It's good, but seems to be written to try to convince preachers to like the Old Testament and start preaching from it. I appreciated what Murray said, but didn't learn much that was new or come to see anything I didn't already believe.

Sidney Greidanus is now the old master of the Christ-in-your-sermon authors._ Preaching Christ from the Old Testament_ will give you a good amount of step-by-step methodology (toward the end of the book) for preparing an Old Testament sermon that is Christ-centered. He doesn't address narrative preaching only, but most of his examples come from narrative passages. His_ Preaching Christ from Genesis_ is a follow-up book that is stronger in several ways: it gives narrative-based examples and simplifies his original methodology.

You might also take a look at Bryan Chapell's_ Christ-Centered Preaching_. He doesn't limit his method to the Old Testament or to narrative passages, but the book leans in that direction and presents clear, step-by-step directions for crafting a sermon. He has only one chief method for getting to Christ from a passage of Scripture, whereas Greidanus offers seven or eight.

And if you think it might be helpful, message me and I'll share chapter 6 of_ Show Them Jesus_ with you. It's written for children's Sunday school teachers rather than for preachers, so you may find it too simplistic or not specific enough about crafting a sermon. But it is directly about Old Testament narratives, and people have told me it ended up being helpful for sermon prep.

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