{"id":4567,"date":"2019-02-28T10:16:02","date_gmt":"2019-02-28T16:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nafwb.org\/?p=4567"},"modified":"2019-02-28T10:16:02","modified_gmt":"2019-02-28T16:16:02","slug":"preaching-from-the-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/preaching-from-the-word\/","title":{"rendered":"Preaching From the Word"},"content":{"rendered":"

By J. Grant Swank, Jr.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Having preached sermons for nearly 40 years, I have tried the various sermonic forms and concluded that expository preaching\u2014preaching directly from the Word\u2014is best. Why?<\/p>\n

Expository preaching stays close to the revealed Truth.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is no other Book like His\u00a0Book. Therefore, to drift from it is to\u00a0slide into relativism and personal\u00a0opinions. To stay close to it is continually\u00a0to come under its eternal light.<\/p>\n

More and more, the revealed\u00a0Truth is being sidelined for flash and\u00a0fake. It is being substituted with cute\u00a0and cunning. Nevertheless, God never\u00a0set out to communicate such\u00a0cheap “gospel.” He was born and\u00a0died to set before the mortal mind\u00a0the divine mind. Therefore, to make\u00a0a life-long expounding of that heavenly\u00a0thought is the commission of\u00a0every Christian pulpit.<\/p>\n

Expository preaching opens up heavenly creativities which originate with the Holy Spirit Himself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

To go week after week into the Pastor’s\u00a0study in an attempt to come up\u00a0with one’s own imaginative lore and\u00a0luck is to trudge into eventual boredom. Rightly so. We mere mortals in\u00a0ourselves simply do not have what it\u00a0takes continually to manufacture that which nurtures the eternal soul.<\/p>\n

Therefore, we must be humble\u00a0enough as preachers to admit that we\u00a0need to come under the divine fire. It is\u00a0that flame which ignites the energies\u00a0to produce a sermon which can truly\u00a0bring one’s hearers into the\u00a0holy of holies. It is that igniting from\u00a0above which evidences an on-going\u00a0pentecost within the truly obedient.<\/p>\n

Expository preaching opens up spiritual nurturing theme upon theme, never to be come upon in any other literature than the Holy Scriptures.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One inspired chapter after another\u00a0overloads the earnest preacher\u00a0with enough accents to spin into numerous\u00a0sermons each week. These\u00a0truths abound for they unfold the divine\u00a0nature Himself.<\/p>\n

To neglect these revelations is to\u00a0bring sterility to the Christian holy\u00a0desk. To zealously attack the scripture’s\u00a0passages with fresh zeal at each\u00a0sermonic preparation is to uncover\u00a0treasures from above. These are what\u00a0each generation must feed upon in\u00a0order to find the daily strength to overcome\u00a0the trials of our sojourn.<\/p>\n

Expository preaching honors the Holy Spirit who inspired the Word.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He is its Author. He is the One who\u00a0superintended the Mystery. Therefore,\u00a0the preacher approaches\u00a0humbly that written Word in an attempt\u00a0to pray for the incarnate Word\u00a0to speak anew. With such petitions\u00a0heavenward, the incarnate Word\u00a0never disappoints. In fact, He stands\u00a0at the preacher’s door and knocks.<\/p>\n

The Holy Spirit will move the\u00a0preacher’s human spirit verse upon\u00a0verse, unmasking concept upon concept\u00a0frequently rushing the preacher’s\u00a0brain into such glad excitement as to\u00a0stir his soul beyond measure. Such a\u00a0privilege is given only to the studious\u00a0pastor who gives his best to each sermon\u00a0prepared and preached.<\/p>\n

Expository preaching lifts the Word to laity who seldom read the Word for themselves.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We wish it were otherwise; but\u00a0even in the most biblical environs,\u00a0the rush of today’s lifestyle truthfully\u00a0spells a biblically illiterate people.\u00a0This is sad; nevertheless, stark reality\u00a0will aid us at this point.<\/p>\n

All the more reason then that the\u00a0student-pastor keep the biblical foundations\u00a0intact within his own life\u2014then\u00a0in the formation of his sermons.\u00a0The stories of Adam, Noah, Abraham,\u00a0David, Daniel, Isaiah, Jesus, Paul\u2014how\u00a0they need to be told and retold.<\/p>\n

The themes of redemption, hope,\u00a0sanctification, heaven and grace need\u00a0to be laid continually before the waiting\u00a0congregation. This is best seen when\u00a0preaching expositorily\u2014jeweled upon\u00a0jewel upon jewel\u2014not from earth’s\u00a0coves, but from heaven’s coffers.<\/p>\n

Expository preaching grows the\u00a0preacher himself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the pastor spends more\u00a0time in his secular reading than he\u00a0does in the sacred reading, his pulpit\u00a0and prayer closet show it. The leanness\u00a0is not worth it in the end. In\u00a0short order, the sensitive pastor realizes\u00a0what is occurring, then hopefully\u00a0flees back to the Book.<\/p>\n

Living a lifetime with the scriptures\u00a0deepens the preacher’s own\u00a0wells for divine understanding. More\u00a0and more the secular age cries out\u00a0for those Christian pulpits that are\u00a0mounted by men who truly know the\u00a0timeless Truth which sets us all free.\u00a0These preachers first know the Truth\u00a0in their own experiences; then they\u00a0relate its gusto to their hearers.<\/p>\n

Expository preaching outlasts the sermon. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Hearers take home the Word of\u00a0God, not simply a current event or a\u00a0tickling humor or a flighty bit of zesty\u00a0“wisdom.” Marinating in the sermonic\u00a0themes from scripture continues\u00a0throughout the hearer’s day, hopefully\u00a0throughout the next week until the\u00a0next sermon is heard.<\/p>\n

When the pastor opens the Word\u00a0to expound upon it, verse by verse,\u00a0theme by theme, accent by accent,\u00a0the people hear, not so much from\u00a0the human behind the pulpit, but\u00a0from the Lord Himself.<\/p>\n

The ever-present Holy Spirit remains\u00a0faithful to His own revelation. He then\u00a0works far more meticulously within the\u00a0souls of the hearers than any onlooker\u00a0could ever detect\u2014on Sunday and\u00a0then through the next Saturday.<\/p>\n

Expository preaching brings excitement to the pastor himself in preparing and preaching the text.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is an adventure which weekly\u00a0becomes especially alluring. There is\u00a0a captivation about his work that is\u00a0beyond description.<\/p>\n

While other clerical labors may\u00a0grow stale, the expository preaching\u00a0enlightens and enlivens with its own\u00a0magnetism. There is an enticement\u00a0about it which defines its own eternal\u00a0definition. In other words, the\u00a0preacher knows for certain that he\u00a0indeed has hold of something\u00a0formed in the forevers\u2014it has come\u00a0from “out there” and will return to\u00a0the “out there.”<\/p>\n

Such timelessness baits for the\u00a0good of the gospel. It converts the\u00a0soul. It cleanses church life. It brings\u00a0heaven down to earth. Expository\u00a0preaching reveals itself to be its own\u00a0blessed reward.<\/p>\n

J. Grant Swank, Jr. lives with his wife, Priscilla, in Windham, Maine, where he pastors the New Hope Church. Article adapted from Contact\u00a0<\/em>magazine, July 2000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By J. Grant Swank, Jr. Having preached sermons for nearly 40 years, I have tried the various sermonic forms and concluded that expository preaching\u2014preaching directly from the Word\u2014is best. Why? Expository preaching stays close to the revealed Truth. There is no other Book like His\u00a0Book. Therefore, to drift from it is to\u00a0slide into relativism and personal\u00a0opinions. To stay close to it is continually\u00a0to come under its eternal light. More and more, the revealed\u00a0Truth is being sidelined for flash and\u00a0fake. It is being substituted with cute\u00a0and cunning. Nevertheless, God never\u00a0set out to communicate such\u00a0cheap “gospel.” He was born and\u00a0died to set before the mortal mind\u00a0the divine mind. Therefore, to make\u00a0a life-long expounding of that heavenly\u00a0thought is the commission of\u00a0every Christian pulpit. Expository preaching opens up heavenly creativities which originate with the Holy Spirit Himself. To go week after week into the Pastor’s\u00a0study in an attempt to come up\u00a0with one’s own imaginative lore and\u00a0luck is to trudge into eventual boredom. Rightly so. We mere mortals in\u00a0ourselves simply do not have what it\u00a0takes continually to manufacture that which nurtures the eternal soul. Therefore, we must be humble\u00a0enough as preachers to admit that we\u00a0need to come under the divine fire. It is\u00a0that flame which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pastors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4567"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4568,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4567\/revisions\/4568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}