Chrles Chat: A 2024 Preaching Series on the Christian and Government

The Next Book in the Bible That I Will Preach

The next book I plan on preaching (in 2024 – maybe late spring) is the Book of Ecclesiastes.

My normal preaching rhythm is to go back-and-forth between Testaments and mix up the genres. So, the last book(s) I preached was I and II Thessalonians, which means I need an O.T. book that would not fit under the didactic genre to preach next.

That leaves history, poetry and prophecy.

The last time I preached in the O.T. it was prophecy. I preached 4 of the Minor Prophets, which leaves me with O.T. history and O.T. poetry. The church I help pastor is doing its fair share of O.T. history in its Sunday School classes, which leaves O.T. poetry.

Poetry in the O.T. consists of Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon and maybe Job.

I preached through the entire Psalter at my previous church. I am currently doing a study of Proverbs in my small group. And I am not sure I have the maturity to preach through Song of Solomon yet. So, that leaves Ecclesiastes.

And while I have heard many say that Ecclesiastes is harder to preach through that what you might think, I am ready for the challenge.

Who should I use as a resource for Ecclesiastes? I have Barrick, Kidner, Kaiser, Leupold, Eaton, Provan, Swindoll, Wiersbe, Adams, Nelson, and Stedman.

Who am I missing? Has your pastor preached through Ecclesiastes? What other resource should I use?

In 2024, I look forward to exploring the meaning of life in this book by a wise man named Solomon.

The next book I plan on preaching (in 2024 – maybe late spring) is the Book of Ecclesiastes.

My normal preaching rhythm is to go back-and-forth between Testaments and mix up the genres. So, the last book(s) I preached was I and II Thessalonians, which means I need an O.T. book that would not fit under the didactic genre to preach next.

That leaves history, poetry and prophecy.

The last time I preached in the O.T. it was prophecy. I preached 4 of the Minor Prophets, which leaves me with O.T. history and O.T. poetry. The church I help pastor is doing its fair share of O.T. history in its Sunday School classes, which leaves O.T. poetry.

Poetry in the O.T. consists of Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon and maybe Job.

I preached through the entire Psalter at my previous church. I am currently doing a study of Proverbs in my small group. And I am not sure I have the maturity to preach through Song of Solomon yet. So, that leaves Ecclesiastes.

And while I have heard many say that Ecclesiastes is harder to preach through that what you might think, I am ready for the challenge.

Who should I use as a resource for Ecclesiastes? I have Barrick, Kidner, Kaiser, Leupold, Eaton, Provan, Swindoll, Wiersbe, Adams, Nelson, and Stedman.

Who am I missing? Has your pastor preached through Ecclesiastes? What other resource should I use?

In 2024, I look forward to exploring the meaning of life in this book by a wise man named Solomon.

Charles Chat: Should I Use AI in my Sermon Preparation?

How I Prepare a Sermon

Select the text to be preached. Since I am committed to expository preaching, all I usually do is decide how many verses I believe I can cover. And even then, I may not know that until I craft my sermon later.

Look and exegete the text from the original language (Greek for N.T. and Hebrew for O.T.).

Compare my translation with my preaching text (ESV) and other modern translations. If I have poorly translated it, I will make sure to address it then if I am able or look at a commentary for help later. 

Look at each word or phrase in the passage and decipher its syntax and vocabulary meanings.

Begin answering questions like the following: What does the text say? (looking at every word by itself, then looking at every phrase by itself, then looking at every sentence by itself, then looking at the whole passage). What does the text not say? What are the interpretive issues in the next that need to be solved that drive the flow of the passage? What are the interpretive issues that the audience will be overly curious about and I cannot afford to avoid?

Summarize the passage into 1-3 sentences as and being working on a main point or propositional statement for the message.

Consult commentaries (about 5-10) and any other resources and take notes so I might be able to come to a better understanding of the passage.

Transcript the sermon in the following order: main body, outline, conclusion, introduction, all transitions, and needed illustrations.

Review sermon transcript as much as I can before preaching.

5 Reasons Your Church Should Be Doing Expository Preaching

I believe the proclamation of God’s Word is central to every church gathering. It’s not the only thing we do that is important at a Sunday gathering, but without preaching why gather? When preaching takes place, there is a variety of styles that can be present: topical, biographical, topical exposition, theological, exposition, etc. All have their place in the feeding of the flock, but there is one form of preaching that best serves to build up the body of Christ. That form is expository preaching.

Expository preaching is when someone uncovers the meaning of a text that is set within its context of near passages and book. It is best done going verse-by-verse through books of the Bible – like sequential preaching. Haddon Robinson’s definition of expository preaching in his book Biblical Preaching is a classic: “Expository preaching is the communication of a biblical concept, derived from and transmitted through a historical, grammatical, and literary study of a passage in its context, which the Holy Spirit first applies to the personality and experience of the preacher, then through him to the hearers.”

In short, exposition is when we preach the original meaning of the text to our audience,

So, why is expository preaching the best form of preaching? Let me give you 5 reasons.

First, expository preaching lets God speak rather than man. In other words, you can’t control what you are going to preach next. It is God’s providence that guides the subject week-in-week-out. This week I am going to preaching I Corinthians 15:24-32.Why? Because last week I preached I Corinthians 15:23. God determines the text when the preacher exposits.

Second, expository preaching forces the preacher to proclaim the whole counsel of God. When you go verse-by-verse and book-by-book, it demonstrates you are being obedient to preaching the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27). There is not a single verse that would not help our faith (II Tim 3:16-17), so we should strive to know it all and preachers should strive to preach it all.

Third, expository preaching promotes biblical literacy in the church. Expositional preaching is a more serious form of study; it requires careful thinking, meditation, breaking down the part and putting them back together. And when someone sees the text explained in such a way, it creates deeper thinkers and better Bible-readers. It teaches the congregation how to study the Bible for themselves.

Fourth, expository preaching doesn’t allow the preacher to skip difficult sections. Lazy preachers choose the text and aren’t forces to deal with “double predestination” or “the problem of evil” or O.T. genocide. Exposition forces the preacher to stay in the chair and study harder to show himself approved (II Tim 2:15).

Fifth, expository preaching shows the importance of context. If you ever take a hermeneutics class, you will recall statements like “Context is king” or “If you look at the context” or “A text with no context is a pretext.” Context drives meaning and exposition is the best way of learning how to interpret Scripture based upon context, because you are constantly making connections to passages before and after.

So yes, churches must be devoted to the proclamation of God’s Word and, more specifically, the exposition of God’s   

If you are going to read one book on preaching, you must read John Stott’s Between Two Worlds. As a quote fan, I got frustrated reading this book because I kept highlighting good things Stott said and wanted to put them in my quote file. I would notice that most of my pages or paragraphs were marked yellow. The whole book is worth re-quoting.

Here is what he says about the importance of preaching in the church: “Preaching is indispensable to Christianity. Without preaching a necessary part of its authenticity has been lost. For Christianity is, in its very essence, a religion of the Word of God. No attempt to understand Christianity can succeed which overlooks or denies the truth that the living God has taken the initiative to reveal himself savingly to fallen humanity; or that his self-revelation has been given by the most straightforward means of communications known to us, namely by a word and words; or that he calls upon those who have heard his Word to speak it to others.”

Churches must be devoted to expository preaching.