Dieter Schneider
Puritan Board Sophomore
How do PB members decide what to preach on?
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It is oh so easy for me. I preach straight through books of the Bible. All I have to do after picking the book I want to preach on next is to decide how far the text goes (how many verses I am going to do). I never have any anxiety that way, and it helps make the context much more important. It shows the people how important the context is.
It is oh so easy for me. I preach straight through books of the Bible. All I have to do after picking the book I want to preach on next is to decide how far the text goes (how many verses I am going to do). I never have any anxiety that way, and it helps make the context much more important. It shows the people how important the context is.
It is oh so easy for me. I preach straight through books of the Bible. All I have to do after picking the book I want to preach on next is to decide how far the text goes (how many verses I am going to do). I never have any anxiety that way, and it helps make the context much more important. It shows the people how important the context is.
Plus it means that you preach on passages that you might be inclined to avoid if you had the choice.
If a man cannot preach expository sermons through the books of the Bible, then should he be in the ministry? Surely there are enough good commentaries and books on hermeneutics to equip the industrious man for this task.
THE WORD OF GOD. The starting point for an ordinary means of grace ministry is the Word of God. The Word gives power and significance to the Sacraments, direction and guidance to prayer, and comfort and exhortation to the believer. The Word is the main means God uses to provide faith to sinners, both to show them their need of Christ (justification) and also to mature and grow His saints (sanctification). It is vital therefore, that the Christian partake of this means by: reading the Word diligently, memorizing the Word and especially attending on the preaching of the Word. In my ministry, it is my first goal to cultivate a love for the Word of God in those to whom I minister. Ideally, attendance on the Word should be a way of life, something that one makes an integral part of every part of his life. The Bible speaks about this in describing the manner in which children are to be instructed: “these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deut. 6:6-9). This attitude of respect and desire for the Word can be encouraged in two ways, among others: (1) through a consistent and evident belief that the Word is sufficient for the believer’s life; and (2) through a respectful and diligent exposition of the Word. To this end, the preaching of the Word is an important focus of ministry. Sermons must be the fruit of careful work, not sloppy or hasty; they must be instructive in what the Bible says so that the people will understand the Bible better; and they must be applicable to the hearer’s life. Preaching should be a practical outworking of what the Shorter Catechism describes as what the Scriptures teach: “what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man” (WSC 3).
eeny meeny miney moe....
just kidding
I never get past the very basics it seems
Who can argue with Spurgeon's method of topical preaching? Yet the more I preach the more I find myself drawn to expository preaching. I am preaching through the Book of Romans this year. I also enjoy listening to preachers like Joel Beeke preach through the catechism. I think there is a time and a season for all of those types of preaching.
I consider what I think the congregation most needs to hear from the Word. Also factored in is what I have time to study. Romans, for instance, will have to wait until I have time to read all the myriad commentaries available. Job will have to wait until I finish plowing through Joseph Caryl.
I also mix up the various portions of Scripture. I don't preach Genesis followed immediately by Exodus. Congregations need a balanced diet. So, I alternate OT and NT, and in the OT I alternate between Pentateuch, History, Wisdom/Psalms, and Prophets. In the NT I alternate among Gospels, Paul, and generals/Revelation. My plan is to preach through the entire Bible over the course of my ministry.
I consider what I think the congregation most needs to hear from the Word. Also factored in is what I have time to study. Romans, for instance, will have to wait until I have time to read all the myriad commentaries available. Job will have to wait until I finish plowing through Joseph Caryl.
So you'll be preaching on Job in, er, 2012?
Daniel
There is no RPW mandate to preach book by book, verse by verse. This will be my practice, but we must allow for the minister to choose according to what the congregation needs.
Spurgeon said to preach the 'great texts'- which helps explain the popularity of his preaching. (This has been my practice too as a student- we are more itinerant).
I think that we can say it is what is best- but each session will have to decide what they want out of their teaching elders.
Brother in Christ.
...Job will have to wait until I finish plowing through Joseph Caryl.
...Job will have to wait until I finish plowing through Joseph Caryl.
I know this is slightly but this post makes me want to ask the following important question:
Does anyone know if there is an online link to Caryl's complete work on Job? I have been able to find various quotes and excerpts, but not the entire work.
Thank you.
eeny meeny miney moe....
just kidding
I never get past the very basics it seems
Me too.
I remember how awesome it was when I first started attending Calvary Chapel and the pastor taught chapter by chapter through the Bible. (That is one of Calvary's distinctives)
I am just a beginner (I've only preached 140 sermons) and I would like to start at the beginning of a book but the HS keeps bringing things up among the flock. Questions that they have. Issues that directly affect our particular church. Weaknesses that need to be addressed. I find myself being led, like Spurgeon, to the 'great texts'. Right now I am in the middle of a series on 'saving faith' inspired by Sermon 4 in Durham's "Christ Crucified".
I see a great deal of fruit when I do a series based on the catechism. I did that with the 10 Commandments and The Lord's Prayer.
I consider what I think the congregation most needs to hear from the Word. Also factored in is what I have time to study. Romans, for instance, will have to wait until I have time to read all the myriad commentaries available. Job will have to wait until I finish plowing through Joseph Caryl.
So you'll be preaching on Job in, er, 2012?
Maybe not, but I'll be preaching on JOb in the evening of 2009!
Spurgeon said to preach the 'great texts'- which helps explain the popularity of his preaching. (This has been my practice too as a student- we are more itinerant).
eeny meeny miney moe....
just kidding
I never get past the very basics it seems
Me too.
I remember how awesome it was when I first started attending Calvary Chapel and the pastor taught chapter by chapter through the Bible. (That is one of Calvary's distinctives)
I am just a beginner (I've only preached 140 sermons) and I would like to start at the beginning of a book but the HS keeps bringing things up among the flock. Questions that they have. Issues that directly affect our particular church. Weaknesses that need to be addressed. I find myself being led, like Spurgeon, to the 'great texts'. Right now I am in the middle of a series on 'saving faith' inspired by Sermon 4 in Durham's "Christ Crucified".
I see a great deal of fruit when I do a series based on the catechism. I did that with the 10 Commandments and The Lord's Prayer.
I have a suggestion, Ken. If there are specific questions that need answering, then have a 2-3 minute "question box" time in the service where you answer those questions directly. That way, you don't have to mess with the expository series. Tenth Presbyterian did this in the evening service.
Me too.
I remember how awesome it was when I first started attending Calvary Chapel and the pastor taught chapter by chapter through the Bible. (That is one of Calvary's distinctives)
I am just a beginner (I've only preached 140 sermons) and I would like to start at the beginning of a book but the HS keeps bringing things up among the flock. Questions that they have. Issues that directly affect our particular church. Weaknesses that need to be addressed. I find myself being led, like Spurgeon, to the 'great texts'. Right now I am in the middle of a series on 'saving faith' inspired by Sermon 4 in Durham's "Christ Crucified".
I see a great deal of fruit when I do a series based on the catechism. I did that with the 10 Commandments and The Lord's Prayer.
I have a suggestion, Ken. If there are specific questions that need answering, then have a 2-3 minute "question box" time in the service where you answer those questions directly. That way, you don't have to mess with the expository series. Tenth Presbyterian did this in the evening service.
Good idea!
But the kinds of questions I was referring to are things like: "Can women be leaders in the church?" "Can sodomites be leaders in the church?" "Do we choose Christ or does He choose us?" "How do I know I am saved?"
"Why don't we have a 'prayer walk' at our church?" These are questions that require more than a 'yes' or 'no' answer.
What would be nice is to have some kind of Bible Study/catechism class where these issues are addressed but we are not quite there yet. We have a long way to go.
But I will definitely think about the 'question box' idea, but how does that fit in with the RPW?
May I ask again since my question has not been answered? How do PB choose what to preach from? I am in agreement with expository preaching, but how does one pick a book / theme? Does it depend on events, the spiritual condition of the congregation? M Lloyd-Jones speaks of an impulse which prompted him to preach a series of sermons on 'Spiritual Depression'. I just wondered how godly men decide what to pick, e.g., for a series. I am interested to hear what PB members have to say. Just recently I intended to preach on a text I had prepared for, but on entering the pulpit I preached 'ex tempore' from another text which had been weighing on my mind for weeks. I do not necessarily recommend it, but it proved to be a blessing, judging by what was said to me after the service.
May I ask again since my question has not been answered? How do PB choose what to preach from? I am in agreement with expository preaching, but how does one pick a book / theme? Does it depend on events, the spiritual condition of the congregation? M Lloyd-Jones speaks of an impulse which prompted him to preach a series of sermons on 'Spiritual Depression'.
Of Publick Reading of the Holy Scriptures.
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All the canonical books of the Old and New Testament (but none of those which are commonly called Apocrypha) shall be publickly read in the vulgar tongue, out of the best allowed translation, distinctly, that all may hear and understand.
How large a portion shall be read at once, is left to the wisdom of the minister; but it is convenient, that ordinarily one chapter of each Testament be read at every meeting; and sometimes more, where the chapters be short, or the coherence of matter requireth it.
It is requisite that all the canonical books be read over in order, that the people may be better acquainted with the whole body of the scriptures; and ordinarily, where the reading in either Testament endeth on one Lord's day, it is to begin the next.
We commend also the more frequent reading of such scriptures as he that readeth shall think best for edification of his hearers, as the book of Psalms, and such like.
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Of the Preaching of the Word.
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Ordinarily, the subject of his sermon is to be some text of scripture, holding forth some principle or head of religion, or suitable to some special occasion emergent; or he may go on in some chapter, psalm, or book of the holy scripture, as he shall see fit.
Let the introduction to his text be brief and perspicuous, drawn from the text itself, or context, or some parallel place, or general sentence of scripture.
If the text be long, (as in histories or parables it sometimes must be,) let him give a brief sum of it; if short, a paraphrase thereof, if need be: in both, looking diligently to the scope of the text, and pointing at the chief heads and grounds of doctrine which he is to raise from it.
In analysing and dividing his text, he is to regard more the order of matter than of words; and neither to burden the memory of the hearers in the beginning with too many members of division, nor to trouble their minds with obscure terms of art.
In raising doctrines from the text, his care ought to be, First, That the matter be the truth of God. Secondly, That it be a truth contained in or grounded on that text, that the hearers may discern how God teacheth it from thence. Thirdly, That he chiefly insist upon those doctrines which are principally intended; and make most for the edification of the hearers.
...
He is not to rest in general doctrine, although never so much cleared and confirmed, but to bring it home to special use, by application to his hearers: which albeit it prove a work of great difficulty to himself, requiring much prudence, zeal, and meditation, and to the natural and corrupt man will be very unpleasant; yet he is to endeavour to perform it in such a manner, that his auditors may feel the word of God to be quick and powerful, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; and that, if any unbeliever or ignorant person be present, he may have the secrets of his heart made manifest, and give glory to God.
In the use of instruction or information in the knowledge of some truth , which is a consequence from his doctrine, he may (when convenient) confirm it by a few firm arguments from the text in hand, and other places of scripture, or from the nature of that common-place in divinity, whereof that truth is a branch.
In confutation of false doctrines, he is neither to raise an old heresy from the grave, nor to mention a blasphemous opinion unnecessarily: but, if the people be in danger of an error, he is to confute it soundly, and endeavour to satisfy their judgments and consciences against all objections.
In exhorting to duties, he is, as he seeth cause, to teach also the means that help to the performance of them.
In dehortation, reprehension, and publick admonition, (which require special wisdom,) let him, as there shall be cause, not only discover the nature and greatness of the sin, with the misery attending it, but also shew the danger his hearers are in to be overtaken and surprised by it, together with the remedies and best way to avoid it.
In applying comfort, whether general against all temptations, or particular against some special troubles or terrors, he is carefully to answer such objections as a troubled heart and afflicted spirit may suggest to the contrary. It is also sometimes requisite to give some notes of trial, (which is very profitable, especially when performed by able and experienced ministers, with circumspection and prudence, and the signs clearly grounded on the holy scripture,) whereby the hearers may be able to examine themselves whether they have attained those graces, and performed those duties, to which he exhorteth, or be guilty of the sin reprehended, and in danger of the judgments threatened, or are such to whom the consolations propounded do belong; that accordingly they may be quickened and excited to duty, humbled for their wants and sins, affected with their danger, and strengthened with comfort, as their condition, upon examination, shall require.
And, as he needeth not always to prosecute every doctrine which lies in his text, so is he wisely to make choice of such uses, as, by his residence and conversing with his flock, he findeth most needful and seasonable; and, amongst these, such as may most draw their souls to Christ, the fountain of light, holiness, and comfort.
This method is not prescribed as necessary for every man, or upon every text; but only recommended, as being found by experience to be very much blessed of God, and very helpful for the people's understandings and memories.