Bible Teacher. Pastor.Educator.

Preach with a pin, not with a hammer. ......by Scribblepreach..

One point. One single point. So here’s our principle: Preach with a pin, not with a hammer. A pin is a narrow, focused point designed to penetrate through surfaces. A hammer has a wide, flat surface, and its designed to bat around and flatten the outer layers. If we want preaching that penetrates the heart, we must preach with a pin. See what I mean below:

1. A single point forces good editing. If nothing else, preaching a single point is a brilliant help in editing content. The single most important question the preacher can ask himself when creating a final manuscript is: “How does this information contribute to my single homiletical idea?” If the preacher is honest, most of the interesting things we find in exegesis - the stuff that is fascinating, interesting, or relatively relevant – has to be thrown out. We don’t like to do that, because the course of the week digs up so much gold its tempting to put it ALL on display. This is where character comes into play – am I preaching for me, or am I preaching for them? Do I want to show off how much I know, or be funny and entertaining, or do I want to change lives? Lectures delve into details; preaching gets to the point. This is a painful process. At the end of the week, we know so much about the text that we’re often tempted to lump it all into one gigantic, vague “point” of the sermon. Sharpening and defining our point helps us resist this temptation, and limits our preaching to only what people need to hear in order to understand and receive the main point.

2. A single point guides listeners through the sermon. When digging deep into a text, we really do find a lot of great, fascinating information. WE know how it all fits together. But the law of the “curse of knowledge” tells us that we often impose our assumptions on our audience – THEY don’t know how it all fits together. In order to help them follow along, we need a single hook to hang all the points we’re making on. We need a single stake to which the congregation can be drawn back, again and again, so we can say – “See? This is how it all relates.” Even if you don’t give your main point away until the end (inductive preaching – that’s what I prefer), the audience can sense the difference between a focused message and scrambled eggs.

3. A single point makes a better argument. When we lay out several different points in a sermon, we don’t have time to argue well for any of them. When we come up with a boatload of applications, we don’t have time to flesh them out. But when we pick a single point, we have the time we need to make a solid argument for that point, and to flesh out in detail exactly how it looks to live it out.

4. A single point is memorable. Finally, preaching a single point is memorable. A couple of months ago I preached a sermon in which I asked several questions, then answered them. That was fine, but I never heard about it again. The next sermon I preached, I picked one single point, and was amazed at the result. WEEKS later, people were still mentioning that sermon, thinking of specific applications, still chewing on the truth presented that morning. Did I say everything I wanted to say? No. But I said everything I needed to say, and that’s enough. Preaching one point allows us to feed the sheep throughout the week. That is a beautiful, satisfying feeling for any Shepherd.

via scribblepreach.com

Pastor James Preaching to 4th -6th grade Students on trusting God.

 

How to use Bible Commentaries | HeadHeartHand Blog

The following is a summary of the lecture I’m giving today on how to use Bible Commentaries.

1. Use them
“It seems odd, that certain men who talk so much of what the Holy Spirit reveals to themselves, should think so little of what he has revealed to others. My chat this afternoon is not for these great originals, but for you who are content to learn of holy men, taught of God, and mighty in the Scriptures. It has been the fashion of late years to speak against the use of commentaries…A respectable acquaintance with the opinions of the giants of the past, might have saved many an erratic thinker from wild interpretations and outrageous inferences” (C H Spurgeon).

2. Use them for appropriate tasks
Commentaries vary in size, detail, level, and theological basis; they also have different roles in the exegetical process. The following classification is partly chronological – the first books are used earlier in the process than the latter books. (The books in brackets are OT focused and are merely exemplary not exhaustive).

• Critical: Emphasis on technical matters like the composition of the text rather than its meaning (e.g.  International Critical Commentary, some Word commentaries).
• Expository (Original Language): Close and detailed exposition of the text, usually requiring some knowledge of the original languages (e.g. some Word commentaries, New International Commentary on the OT, Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Mentor series by Christian Focus).
• Expository (English): Stay close to the text but do not usually deal with critical issues and do not require original language knowledge (Focus on the Bible series by Christian Focus, Evangelical Press Study Commentaries).
• Summary: Do not explain everything but focus on main points and present conclusions rather than extensive arguments. Excellent summaries of a verse or passage’s teaching. Big is not always better. (e.g. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, Bible Speaks Today).
• Classical:  Reputable commentaries from the past that usually do not deal with technical issues, but rather the theological meaning of the text (Banner of Truth Geneva series, John Gill, John Calvin).
• Applicatory: Suitable for lay-people, usually with more of an applicatory focus (NIV Application Commentary).
• Homiletical: Tend to be the result of sermon series or at least more sermonic in style (e.g. Welwyn, Dale Ralph Davis).
• Devotional: Extensive comments on spiritually rich texts. Focus on edification rather than critical or controversial issues (e.g. Matthew Henry).

3. Use recommended commentaries
Ask pastors and professors for their recommendations on various books. Weigh the recommendations. Just because a Word series’ commentary on one book is good does not guarantee that they are all good.

Spurgeon: “The best commentators are those who have written upon only one book. Few men can comment eminently well upon the whole Bible.”

There are many OT commentary guide books (e.g. Tremper Longman III, Douglas Stuart, Charles Spurgeon, etc). Here are some online recommendations:

• Joel Beeke’s best OT Commentaries
• Joel Beeke’s best NT Commentaries
• Best Commentaries
• Best Commentaries: Top 2 for each b

via headhearthand.org