Podcasts about expositional preaching

John Vandervelde, Simone Halpin, Kelly Brady, & Matt Marron respond to questions from Kelly and John's sermons on Sunday March 16, 2025.

Should our preaching be topical or Scriptural? Can you do both? Today we talk about preaching style and why it is important to go through the Bible verse by verse. 2 Peter 3:9 John 3:16

Send us a textUnderstanding the Book of ProverbsThe Book of Proverbs is one of the most treasured pieces of wisdom literature in the Bible. Known for its concise sayings and memorable instructions, Proverbs offers wisdom for daily living and emphasizes the fear of the Lord as the foundation of knowledge. Preaching through the Book of Proverbs expositionally presents many unique challenges. The book's structure, thematic and literary diversity, and focus on practical wisdom create an interesting yet complex struggle for preachers. Expositional preaching aims to faithfully convey the author's original intent in a passage while making it applicable to the congregation. This episode provides a framework for expositional preaching through the Book of Proverbs, addressing key considerations such as structure, themes, literary style, and application.1.  Introduction and purpose (Proverbs 1:1-7)2.  Fatherly discourses (Proverbs 1:8-9:18)3.  Solomon's proverbs (Proverbs 10-22:16)4.  Sayings of the wise (Proverbs 22:17-24:34)5 . Solomon's proverbs compiled by Hezekiah (Proverbs 25-29)6. Sayings of Agur (Proverbs 30)7. Sayings of Lemuel (Proverbs 31)8. The virtuous woman (Proverbs 31:10-31)Principles for Preaching Through Proverbs Expositionally1. Preach with a Literary Awareness2. Focus on Larger Sections and Themes in the First Nine Chapters3. Use Topical Exposition in the Middle Section (Proverbs 10-29)Examples of themes include:- The righteous versus the wicked- Diligence and laziness- Honesty and integrity- Wealth and poverty- Speech and its consequences- Family and parenting4. Maintain Christ-Centeredness5. Emphasize the “Fear of the Lord” as the Foundation6. Preach with a Sensitivity to ApplicatAsk Me Anything | EP. 4 "Faith + Politics"The podcast where we answer IT ALL! Watch or StreamListen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showSubscribe to this podcast. Leave us a review. Point your friends to this podcast.Contact me at: alancarr@gmail.com. The podcast is a ministry of Dr. Alan Carr and The Sermon Notebook (http://www.sermonnotebook.org)If you would like some Preaching Matters Podcast merch, you can support the show while advertising for the show.Podcast T-Shirt: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1477329809/podcast-logo-preacher-gift-sermon-notes?click_key=10bfd3485c9c310cd30c1ea506644847488583b2%3A1477329809&click_sum=c33942ee&external=1&rec_type=ss&ref=landingpage_similar_listing_top-1&frs=1Podcast Mug: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1468678138/coffee-mug-the-preaching-matters-podcast?click_key=372978b5d3b54393df102deea8e8e4a635954690%3A1468678138&click_sum=7538cce4&external=1&rec_type=ss&ref=landingpage_similar_listing_top-8&frs=1

Join Revs. Josh Hall and Jacob Chilton for Wednesday Night Bible Study. Tonight's lesson continues our study of Nine Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever, looking at the importance of Expositional Preaching. To learn more about First Baptist Church of Tallahassee, visit https://www.fbctlh.org.

Expositional Preaching through Malachi on Envy

Expositional Preaching through Malachi on Envy

Sunday, August 11, 2024 Values, Part 2 psbchurch.net

In this episode we spoke to David Helm, senior pastor of Christ Church Chicago and author of a number of books including Expositional Preaching. David recently preached a series on Matthew's Gospel at his church, and we sat down with him to talk to him more about a sermon he preached in Matthew 17:1-13, as well as more generally about expositional preaching.   You can listen to the whole of David's series on Matthew here.   The Bible Matters Podcast is funded entirely by the generous donations of its listeners. If you would like to become a financial partner with us on this journey, you can give to the project here.    The music for today's episode was written and produced by Leo Elbourne and Josh Stidwill. Listen to more of Josh's work here.       To contact us, email office@biblematters.org     

www.riverbendchurch.com Sermon from: 4/24/24

Today, I want to welcome David Helm to the podcast. David is the senior pastor of Christ Church in Chicago, IL. He is the chairman of the board of the Charles Simeon Trust, and a Council member for The Gospel Coalition. He has authored several books, including The Big Picture Story Bible, Expositional Preaching, and A Conversation With Jesus. 

Welcome to our podcast where we dive into examples of expositional preaching. Today, we're looking at three different sermons to show you the power of expositional preaching. We start with "Do You Pass the Test?"—a sermon from the Epistle of 1 John. Then, we move to "What Do the Heavens Say?"—a sermon from the Psalm 19. Lastly, we discuss "Are You Convinced or Questioning?"—a sermon from Acts 19. These sermons are examples of how to preach expositionally in different genres of the Bible. Tune in to learn more about expositional preaching and how it brings the Bible's words to life.This is the second episode of a series on Spirit Filled Expositional Preaching. 

This is a session four panel from 9Marks at SBTS 2013 on Expositional Preaching.For more articles, books, and podcasts, please visit 9marks.org

This is a session five panel from 9Marks at SBTS 2013 on Expositional Preaching.For more articles, books, and podcasts, please visit 9marks.org

How does Andrew approach expositional preaching? Andrew discusses a class on how he was taught and developed his preaching processes. The guys also discuss an odd encounter at the church office. You can also watch the video podcast at youtube.com/tobethechurchCONTACT US:podcast@tobethechurch.comfacebook.com/tobethechurchtwitter.com/tobethechurchinstagram.com/tobethechurchyoutube.com/tobethechurch

A new MP3 sermon from Christ Bible Church Kingsport is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Expositional Preaching: The Necessity of Exegesis, Part 1 Speaker: Damon Joseph Broadcaster: Christ Bible Church Kingsport Event: Sunday Service Date: 6/9/2019 Length: 39 min.

A new MP3 sermon from Christ Bible Church Kingsport is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Expositional Preaching: An Introduction Speaker: Damon Joseph Broadcaster: Christ Bible Church Kingsport Event: Sunday Service Date: 6/3/2019 Length: 41 min.

This is a session three panel from 9Marks at SBTS 2013 on Expositional Preaching.If you have been helped by 9Marks and want to give and support our ministry, visit 9marks.org/talk

In this episode of Priscilla Talk, Erin, Keri, and Jenny chat with Colleen McFadden of Simeon Trust. They discuss how faithful expositional preaching from the pulpit can supercharge Word-centered women's ministry.

Short answer. Yes.

Ezra, Jesus, and Paul showed us to make sense of the word read in the ears of the hearer.

Ben Edwards talks with Rick Holland about expositional preaching.

Welcome to The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better.  In this episode, H.B. gives free advice to young ministers who aspire to pastoral ministry.  Go to school. Make sure your wife is on board.  Respect your pastor.  Preach as oftne as possible.  Be willing to serve anywhere.  Prioritize personal devotions.  Nurture ministerial friendships.  Read.  Live the life.  For more resources and information, visite hbcharlesjr.com

Welcome to The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preacher faithfully, clearly, and better.  In this episode, H.B. talks simple preaching. The nature of scripture is clear (2 Timothy 3:16). The purpose of preaching is to be understood. Jesus himself modeled simple preaching. Throughout history, strong preachers have been characterized by simple preaching.  How can I practice simple preaching?  Bible Exposition A Single Text  Proper Interpretation  A Clear Structure  A Bid Idea  A Gospel Focus  The Target Audience  Plain Language  Conversational Style  Believing Prayer  Godly Humility  For more information and resources, visite hbcharlesjr.com

Welcome to the HighView Podcast! This week, we are jumping back in the conversation we had about why preaching God's Word is essential to what we do at HighView Church. Follow us! ⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠Website --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/highviewpodcast/message

Welcome to the HighView Podcast! This week, we are breaking down why preaching God's Word is essential to what we do at HighView Church. Follow us! ⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠Website --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/highviewpodcast/message

Ezekiel 37:1-14 Preacher: Pastor Will O'Brien

Ezekiel 37:1-14 Preacher: Pastor Will O'Brien

Podcast: rwh.podbean.com Website: www.runwithhorses.net Youtube: https://youtube.com/@rwhpodcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RWHpodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rwh_podcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/RWH_podcast   INTRO Today on Run With Horses, we are looking at the church, the Bride of Christ. What does a healthy one look like?   My name is Norman and my goal is to help you Run Your Race Well, not just Surviving but Thriving as a Disciple of Jesus! There are a LOT of things you could do with your life, but I don't think anything compares with following Jesus and joining Him on His mission of bringing Hope to the nations. Thanks for including me in your journey!   So how do you find a good church to be part of? Not always so easy! In some parts of the world there are few choices so it means sticking with one that may be less than ideal in many cases. In other context, most anywhere in the USA for example, there are too many choices. It is hard to even visit most of them! So where do you begin?   I am old fashioned so I always begin with people. Ask someone you know in the area, a fellow believer, to give you recommendations. Ask believers who may be familiar with the area or have family there to give you recommendations. At the least you can rule out some options and put an asterisk by others.   I believe Baptist doctrine is intended to be an honest attempt to be Biblical doctrine so Baptist or Baptistic churches will be my first stop. With naming of churches being what it is these days that doesn't mean Baptist will be in the name! Many Baptist churches, Bible churches, Community churches, and as well as non-denominational churches have similar if not identical doctrinal statements. I would like to see a churches doctrinal statement but the difficulty comes in when you begin visiting churches to see how they live it out. Baptist doctrine does not always equal Biblical practice unfortunately.   A church website can tell you who a church is, beliefs and creeds, etc. A website can show you a lot of what a church does, service times, small groups, counseling ministry, etc. A website cannot really let you get to know a church. That takes time with the church, the people who make up the local body.   So what do you look for?   Mark Dever wrote a book, The 9 Marks of a Healthy Church. The 9 Marks he gives are: 1. Expositional Preaching, 2. Biblical Theology, 3. The Gospel, 4. A Biblical Understanding of Conversion, 5. A Biblical Understanding of Evangelism, 6. A Biblical Understanding of Church Membership, 7. Biblical Church Discipline, 8. Concern for Discipleship and Growth, 9. Biblical Church Leadership.   The IMB has an article on the 12 Characteristics of a Healthy Church. https://www.imb.org/2016/08/31/2016083112-characteristics-healthy-church/ The article actually precedes all of these with the word Biblical! I suppose it is good not to assume anything! The 12 Characteristics they list are: Evangelism, Discipleship, Membership, Leadership, Teaching and Preaching, Ordinances, Worship, Prayer, Fellowship, Accountability and Discipline, Giving, Mission   All of these are good to think about but they are long lists. I want to emphasize a few specific things.   Foundation of God's Word: The bible is taught and is followed. There should be a real love for God and His word. Jesus is lifted up as the standard for our behavior, attitudes and relationships. God's Word is lived out by His people. There is a commitment to do what it says.   Emphasis on Active Obedience: Hand in hand with the biblical foundation in the teaching is an emphasis on living it out. Practical daily obedience and a willingness to follow Jesus are encouraged and supported. Each person is challenged to be a Berean, actively reading the bible themselves and making personal application. The goal should be for every believer to be a self-feeding Christian who is engaged with others on the mission of Jesus to bring God's message of reconciliation to the world.   Training and Encouragement toward being a Disciple Maker: Following Jesus results in people pouring out their lives for others. Sacrificially giving time and resources to see the Family of God grow in maturity and faith is natural and necessary. Members are motivated, trained and released to serve the church and the community.   Focus on Life and Ministry outside of the building: Church life is the life of the people, not the service times printed in the bulletin. Relationships are encouraged, living the “one another's” is practiced. Small groups are utilized to train leaders, share the gospel, build up new believers and provide ongoing accountability and encouragement for all.   The command to Love one another is lived out: Forgiveness, confession, sharing testimonies of God's grace and the like are common and considered natural. Perfection is not expected, mistakes are. All kinds of people with all kinds of problems are welcomed and embraced with Grace and Love.   It's all good to look for a good church to be a part of. It is a task to take seriously. Just don't look for a perfect church. It doesn't exist. Look for a church you can contribute to and help to be the church God intends it to be. Invest in the lives of others in the church. Commit to be a giver to the church. Make ti your goal to build up every member and to make Jesus the center of every relationship. The church is, and will remain, a messy group to be a part of. But God loves His bride and we should too! OUTRO Thanks for joining me today! Check out runwithhorses.net for show notes and past shows. Write me at norman@runwithhorses.net if you have comments or questions. Join our facebook community and tell a friend if you have found this show helpful! Keep Running!

This sermon is in a series on Marks of a Healthy Church, inspired by Mark Dever’s book, 9 Marks of a Healthy Church. Main Point: The 1st Mark of a Healthy Church is a commitment to Expositional Preaching I. What is Expositional Preaching?“Preaching that takes for the point of a sermon the point of a […] The post Expository Preaching appeared first on Grace Church Crystal Coast.

This is The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better.  In this episode, H.B. talks about the ministry of application. A biblical sermon should consist of explanation, illustration, and application.  We are prone to skip over application, or do it wrong. It is critical that preachers take application seriously and work to do it effectively.  How can I practice the ministry of application effectively?  Apply the text. Pray for wisdom.  Know your audience.  Make pastoral applications.  Ask probinh questions. Craft your application.  Illustrate for application.  Address different categories.  Apply throughout the sermon.  Trust the Holy Spirit.  BOOK RECOMMENDATION: "Preaching that Changes Lives" by Mike Fabarez For HBC2 resources, visit hbcharlesjr.com

Particularly in churches needing to be revitalized, God uses the faithful, expositional preaching of His Word to bring real hope, real conviction, and real transformation to a congregation. The benefits of expositional preaching are many...for today, let's consider five of them.

God's people need to be fed good food from God's Word that comes through the weekly diet of faithful, expositional preaching. So, what exactly is expositional preaching? And why is it so important? Let's talk about it....plus, let's consider 5 types of sermons that fall short.

Steve Surbaugh

Ben Edwards talks with David Doran about the nature of expositional preaching. Mentioned in this episode: Register for the upcoming E3 Pastors at Conference at e3pc.org

At our training events, you never know who might just pop in for a surprise visit! Our guest on the show this week is Dr. Ed Stetzer, one of the best people around who can explain to us the cultural moment that we are in, and why verse by verse expository preaching might be particularly useful in the age and stage that we find ourselves. Not only because of the current cultural moment, Dr Stetzer also believes that the nature of Biblical inerrancy nearly demands that the Bible be taught expositionally. Dr Ed Stetzer,, is a professor and dean at Wheaton College where he also serves as Executive Director of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center. He has planted and revitalized churches , trained pastors and church planters on six continents, has earned two master's degrees and two doctorates, and has written hundreds of articles and a dozen books. He is Regional Director for Lausanne North America movement and is frequently cited in, interviewed by, and writes for news outlets such as USAToday and CNN. He is the Founding Editor of The Gospel Project, a curriculum used by more than 1.7 million individuals each week for bible study. His national radio show, Ed Stetzer Live, airs Saturdays on Moody Radio and affiliates.Recommended Episodes The Value and Power of Expository Preaching - David Guzik : https://www.expositorscollective.com/podcast/2021/10/19/value-and-power-of-expository-preaching-david-guzik Pastoral Preaching, Brevity and John Chrysostom - Gerald Bray: https://www.expositorscollective.com/podcast/2021/11/30/pastoral-preaching-brevity-and-john-chrysostom-gerald-brayPreach the Word, Don't Work the Crowd - Chris Thomas : https://www.expositorscollective.com/podcast/2021/6/15/preach-the-word-dont-work-the-crowd-chris-thomas Our next in-person Training Weekend for men and women of all ages will be in Boise, Idaho on October 14-15, 2022 at Calvary Boise. In this interactive seminar, attendees will meet in groups and build ongoing relationships. Register at https://www.expositorscollective.com/ Join our private Facebook group to continue the conversation: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ExpositorsCollectiveThe Expositors Collective podcast is part of the GoodLion podcast network, for more thought provoking Christian podcasts visit https://goodlion.io

Marks of a Healthy Church Mark One: Expositional Preaching by William Klock We just confessed in the Creed that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.  These are historically known as the “marks” of the Church.  Despite our various differences and schisms, the Church is one.  Whether Anglican or Mennonite or Coptic or Baptist, we're all part of the one Church.  It's holy.  Jesus has called us, set us apart, washed us clean, and filled us with the Spirit.  It's catholic.  It is universal and it is complete in and of itself.  And it's apostolic in that it continues in the teaching, in the gospel, that was given to us by the apostles.  These identifying marks of the Church have served us well since the Fourth Century—and it's not like they were new ideas when they were written into the Nicene Creed back then.  But they are fairly abstract—in the sense that these things describe the Church in the broadest sense.  So how do we identify the church at the local level?  When you look at a local congregation, what sorts of things should define it?  Or we could ask what makes a local church a church as opposed to a social club or a group of do-gooders or even a cult?  Or we might ask what makes for a healthy church?  These issues became of paramount importance at the time of the Protestant Reformation.  If the Church is “broken”—as the Reformers observed—what needs to happen to set it right?  For the Reformers, whether German or Swiss, French or English or Scottish, the identify marks of a true local church, of a church faithful to Jesus and the teaching of the apostles, distilled down to two things: the preaching of God's word and the administration of God's sacraments.  This principle was written, in one way or another, into all of the Protestant confessions of faith, but here's how it comes to us in ours, in Article XIX of our Articles of Religion: The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ's ordinance, in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same. Anglican and Lutherans, Baptists and Presbyterians, we have our differences, but we are united in these two core marks of a church: we preach the word and we administer the sacraments.  Faithfulness to these two things—and whether or not we do these things with deliberate faithfulness to Scripture—is what determines the health of a church.  Not attendance and numbers, not programs, not activities, not vibrant fellowship, but faithfulness to preaching God's word and administering his sacraments.  All those other things can be good—and sometimes they come out of faithfulness to word and sacrament, but it's the word and the sacraments that create this community called the church.  We can build community around all sorts of other things—and churches often do.  We build community around programmes.  We build communities around styles of worship, whether a grand pipe organ and a choir or a rock band and fog machine.  We even build community around celebrity preachers.  But those things should not and do not define a church—let alone a healthy church.  Faithfulness to word and sacrament do.  We visited this topic almost thirteen years ago and it's my plan to revisit it again between now and Advent.  My own views have evolved and refined a bit in the last decade, but I think the key principles I preached back then are still basically the same.  So I want to start these first several weeks with that first mark, faithful preaching of the word.  The first four principles derive from our preaching.  From there we'll move onto the principles that are connected to or derived from our administration of the sacraments. So a faithful church, a healthy church is a word-centred church.  Such church should be characterised by people who take God's word seriously and who understand that it speaks with authority.  We should expect such a church's members to be committed to reading and studying the Bible for themselves.  We should expect that they will probably gather in groups to read and study the Bible together.  But at the centre of all of this should be a pulpit ministry devoted to and centred on the Bible.  Virtually every church includes some kind of sermon in its worship, but not every sermon is Bible-centred.  So we need to be very explicit about this.  The first mark of a faithful and healthy church is not just preaching, but what's usually called expositional or expository preaching.  Now, what is expositional preaching?  Expositional preaching is what I do virtually every Sunday.  Expositional preaching takes a text from the Bible—maybe given by the lectionary or maybe as we work through a book of the Bible verse by verse or chapter by chapter—expositional preaching takes that text, explains what it means, and applies it to the congregation—it tells you what to do about it.  In contrast there's topical preaching.  That's what I almost never do—but I am doing it right now.  In a topical sermon, the preacher preaches not about a Biblical text, but about subject—and hopefully what the Bible has to say about that subject, whether it's prayer or justice or holiness or expositional preaching.  There can be some crossover.  A topical sermon can be expositional as it explains what a certain text has to say about a certain topic.  But a steady diet of topic preaching isn't healthy for a church, because it's not driven by the word.  Topical preaching is driven by the preacher.  And if a congregation only ever hear what their preacher wants to preach about, they'll never grow beyond where their preacher is at.  And he won't grow either, because he's always digging into the Bible to find support for his ideas.  In contrast, expositional preaching is driven by the word.  The Bible's agenda becomes the preacher's agenda—and he's therefore always learning and often surprised by what he finds—and the congregation grows by hearing God's word.  Brother and Sisters, my ideas—no preacher's ideas or pet topics—will not transform you into the people God intends you to be.  Only his word will do that. Expositional preaching also requires and builds a commitment to God's word.  Many of us came from the Anglican Church of Canada.  How did a church go so badly awry, how did it stray so far from orthodoxy, and how did so many people just sit and let it happen?  It happened because the church lost her commitment to the word.  Her pulpit ministry failed.  The great expositional sermons preached in Anglicn pulpits from the Reformation through the 19th Century were replaced by ten or fifteen minute homilies—often topical, but typically paying only lip-service to God's word.  And that created a people with no passion for the word and that, in turn, created a people with little knowledge of the word—people ready to be carried about by every wind of doctrine. Brothers and Sisters, God's word creates God's people.  Many of us have seen what happens when you take it away or water it down.  God's people become lax in faith and lax in discipline.  Instead of conforming to the word, they conform to the culture around them.  And eventually they simply stop being God's people altogether—they apostatise.  And it's not just “liberal” churches.  Evangelicals at large are facing their own crisis, because so many of our churches are failing to preach the word.  Our preachers are preaching pop-psychology or they're preaching topically and preaching their own ideas—and even as they affirm the authority or inerrancy of Scripture, their churches are often looking less and less like the people of God and more like the culture around us.  Dear Friends, our churches must, first and foremost, by centred on God's word and that begins with our pulpit ministry.  If we look at the history of the Church we see a lot of ebb and flow, high points and low points, and one thing we see consistently is that the high points in Church history always align with those times and places where her people and especially her preachers were committed to preaching God's word.  People like to say that the great revivals of history were brought about by prayer.  That's only half the story.  Those periods of great prayer were brought about by periods of great biblical preaching.  Again, God's word creates God's people.  It won't happen any other way. Let's go back to the very beginning of the story.  Genesis 1.  What was God's agent of creation?  “God said…”  He spoke and the cosmos and everything in it came into being.  When Adam and Eve sinned, they were cast from his presence, but the word of the Lord remained.  He spoke, cursing the serpent and giving them hope in a promise of restoration.  When all humanity had lost the knowledge of God, he spoke again, this time calling Abraham out of Ur and leading him to the promised land.  And when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, the word of the Lord came again to Moses, and through him to the whole people—even to Pharaoh.  By his word he brought down a pagan king and created a people for himself.  At Sinai he spoke again, establishing a covenant with his people and giving his life—the means of life in his presence.  God's word creates and gives life. Over and over the Lord spoke to his people.  That phrase “the word of the Lord came” or something similar occurs more than 3,800 times.  By his word he created a people and by his word he sustained them.  By his word he made himself known.  By his word he created faith amongst them.  I was reading an article this week about literacy in ancient Israel.  Hardly anyone in the ancient world knew how to read and write—just a tiny handful of scribes.  But in ancient Israel and Judah the literacy rate may have been as high as fifteen or twenty per cent.[1]  Why?  Because they were a people of the word, particularly as the ancient oral traditions were recorded and became scripture.  They knew that God's word is life. Think of Ezekiel's vivid vision of the valley of dry bones.  This is one of my favourite passages in all of Scripture because it so often gives me hope as a preacher.  The Lord took Ezekiel to a valley full of dead, dry bones.  The Lord asked him how those bones could live again.  Ezekiel had no idea.  It looked hopeless.  Here's Ezekiel 37:4-6: Then [the Lord] said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.  Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.   And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”   And look at what happened when Ezekiel began preaching God's Word to those bones: So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.  And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them.  Then he said to me,  “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”  So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. (Ezekiel 37:7-10) The Lord explains to Ezekiel that the bones are Israel—her hope is gone.  But he will not leave his people dry and hopeless.  He promised in verse 14, “I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live.”  What's the Lord's means of giving life—of imparting his Spirit—to his people?  As in the beginning, his word, this time spoken through the prophet.  It's an amazing thing.  As a preacher it gives me hope.  Israel was dead.  Lots of people had lots of ideas about how to bring her back to life.  The nation certainly wasn't interested in listening to Ezekiel.  But preaching was the Lord's solution.  If he could speak into the pre-creation chaos and bring life, he can certainly speak to a lost, sinful, rebellious, and hopeless people and bring them back to life—giving them faith anew.  Brothers and Sisters, that's why the Church exists: a people created by the word and called to preach that word to the world.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Back to Ezekiel.  The Lord promised to speak to Israel and to give her his Spirit.  Through the prophet he promised, “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.  And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26) And the Lord did just that.  Think of the opening verses of John's Gospel: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.  In him was life, and the life was the light of men. (John 1:1-4)   The word incarnate.  God's creative power, there in the beginning, now incarnate, one of his own people, that he might bring the dry bones to life.  And what did the word incarnate do?  He preached, of course..  His was the ministry of a prophet, the word of the Lord proclaiming the word of the Lord—announcing judgement, but also calling Israel to repentance so that when he died for the sins of his people and rose from the grave, they would understand this fresh and mighty work of God and believe.  And when it was accomplished, what did he do?  He ordained apostles to proclaim this word to Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, and to the whole world.  We cannot know this God, we cannot know this Saviour, we cannot know this gospel apart from the word and without its proclamation.  It was like this for Israel and it is like this for the Church.  There's a reason, again, why Christianity and Christian missions have promoted high literacy rates—why missionaries spend years learning the languages of pre-literate peoples, developing alphabets and grammars for them, so that they can then translate the Bible—the written word—so that those peoples can have it in their own languages.  There are folks today who think that preaching—a monologue by a single man at the front—is passé, but it has been the norm for both Jews and Christians from the beginning, because we are a people committed to the word of God, knowing that it is the only source of true life. We cannot know God apart from his self-revelation of himself.  We see this in Genesis as things go from bad to worse in those first chapters, as fallen humanity loses all knowledge of God.  They grasped for heaven at Babel, but did so in an act of unbelief.  Humanity was utterly lost.  But then, in his grace, the Lord spoke and called Abraham and faith sparked to life in the darkness of the world—because God spoke, because a man heard the word of the Lord, believed, and obeyed.  As St. Paul writes in Romans 10:17, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word”—and specifically he adds—“the word of Christ.” There are all sorts of philosophies of church growth today.  People argue for building churches around programmes.  People argue that you've got to find your niche and build it around that.  When I was visiting my parents I saw that someone had started the “Cowboy Church” not far from where they live.  When I was first ordained in the REC a friend gave me a manual for traditional Anglican church planting.  It was all about building contacts with anglophiles by getting involved in clubs and societies centred on all things English.  Other people build churches around a worship experience or a youth programme.  It's not that God can't or won't use some of those things, but Brothers and Sisters, a healthy church will always be built around the proclamation of the word of God, modelled in the pulpit and lived by the people.  Nothing else will last.  Someone once asked Martin Luther about his accomplishments.  He answered saying, “I simply taught, preached, wrote God's Word: otherwise I did nothing….The Word did it all.”[2]  That's the mindset the Church needs. But the word does more than create.  The word also sustains and sanctifies.  It is the water that causes us to grow and we will not grow without it.  When he was tempted by the devil Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”  Or think of the Words of the Psalmist, who wrote, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).  Without the word we will lose our way and starve.  We only have to look at Israel to see this.  Go back to King Josiah's day in 2 Chronicles 34.  After years of neglect, Josiah ordered a renovation of the temple and during that renovation the book of the law was found.  The word of the Lord had been lost—buried in a pile somewhere in the temple and forgotten for generations.  Josiah recognised the significance of that find.  He tore his clothes in grief and repentance and then gathered the priests and the elders of the people.  In their presence, he the King, read out the Lord's word and led the people in a covenant renewal ceremony.  God's word sanctifies his people. Jesus prayed this for us in his high priestly prayer in John 17: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”  And St. Paul wrote to the Christians in Ephesus, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word” (Ephesians 5:25b-26).  Brothers and Sisters, without immersing ourselves in God's word we will not hear him.  There are no shortcuts.  Only his word gives life and only his word sanctifies.  This is why topical preaching—where the preacher drives the agenda—cannot be our main diet.  Occasionally a topical sermon it's necessary, but it cannot be our staple food.  This is why regular personal reading and study of the Bible is necessary.  We must be confronted by word to know God and to grow into the people he has called us to be.  And, of course, it goes without saying that we don't hear merely to hear or merely to read, but we immerse ourselves in God's word, we hear him speak, so that we can submit to his will and his ways.  And there's the Spirit at work, renewing our hearts and making fertile soil for the word to take root.  A healthy church not only proclaims God's word, but listens and is daily remade and sanctified by it. Timothy was St. Paul's young protégé.  When Paul wrote to him to give him advice as to how to shepherd the flock, it's worth noting that he gave him none of the advice that is common today.  He didn't advise Timothy to start a new program, to buy a fog machine, to hire a paid choir, to take a poll to find out what people want to hear.  He didn't do any of that.  He wrote to Timothy and said emphatically, “Preach the Word!” (2 Timothy 4:2).  Or think of the early Jerusalem Church.  When the apostles were struggling to keep up with the day-to-day tasks of the church, they ordained deacons to carry on that ministry and declared, “We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4).  They knew that God's word is life. One day we will see God face to face and know him perfectly, but until that day we live, not by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from his mouth.  As a church named “Living Word” my prayer is that we will be a people known in our community for our commitment to the life-giving and sanctifying word of God.  That we will be a people who value and love God's word, who put it at the centre of our ministry and of our lives, and who not only recognise its authority, but who are also seeking to submit to it and to be transformed.  I pray that we will be a people so full of God's word—this water of life—that as in John's vision of the New Jerusalem, it will overflow from us to carry God's life—the good news about Jesus—to the world around us. Let's pray: Heavenly Father, you have sent your word, incarnate in Jesus, to deliver us from our bondage to sin and death, and you have given your word written through the inspiration of your Spirit.  Remind us always that without your word there is no life.  As we go about the work of your kingdom, let us keep your word at the centre, that we might be always shaped by it and declaring it's life-giving power to the world.  We ask this in the name of Jesus our Lord, the word incarnate.  Amen. [1] https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/78416/more-people-were-literate-ancient-judah-we-knew [2] Luther's Works (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1959), 51:77.

A new MP3 sermon from Clearcreek Chapel is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: The Commitment to Expositional Preaching Subtitle: Chapel Distinctives Speaker: Pastor Russ Broadcaster: Clearcreek Chapel Event: Sunday - AM Date: 9/4/2022 Bible: 2 Timothy 4:1-5 Length: 48 min.

9 Marks: Part 2 — The foundational mark of a healthy church is that it is committed to God's Word.

Preaching is not conversation or discussion. It's not casual talk about religious things. Preaching is heralding a message permeated by the sense of God's greatness.

What is expositional preaching? How do I know whether I'm preaching expositionally? Dick Lucas, best known for advocating expositional preaching, answers questions about his own background and ministry. Original publication: 05.22.2002

Episode 16 :: Brandon and Keith discuss Expositional Preaching, and the role that Christians play in participation.

Resources mentioned in this episode:Expositional Preaching by David HelmThe Jesus Story Book Bible by Sally Lloyd-JonesAccording to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible by Graeme GoldsworthyThe Christ of the Covenants by O. Palmer RobertsonGod's Big Picture by Vaughan RobertsSUBSCRIBE to the Learning to Preach Podcast on YouTube!If you have questions or ideas for other preaching topcics, comment below or send us an email: podcast@cdomaha.com

Brandon and Jordan interview Dr. Tyler Scarlett about expositional preaching. They find out what it is, what it isn't, why it's important, how to become better, and how to listen well.Check out Tyler's Preaching recommendations here:1) Haddon Robinson, Biblical Preaching (https://www.amazon.com/Biblical-Preaching-Development-Delivery-Expository-ebook/dp/B00IGDKNI2/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1SXURZ2JA2RAU&keywords=haddon+robinson+biblical+preaching&qid=1570218414&sprefix=haddon+rob%2Caps%2C287&sr=8-1)Support the show