by Bret Capranica | Feb 25, 2009 | Miscellaneous, Pastoral Ministry, Personal, Preaching
My calf-skin Shepherds’ Conference Bible is my favorite preaching Bible. I love the durability of the calf-skin. I love the size of the print. Most of all, I have loved the translation – the New American Standard. I’ve been preaching from the NAS for about 18 years. But, if I were to win this brand new Calf-skin ESV, from “A Boomer in the Pew,” (I use the ESV in my morning devotions), it may be enough to bring me over to begin preaching from it. We shall...
![Eleven Reasons Why We Should Love Preaching]()
by Bret Capranica | Feb 24, 2009 | Featured Articles, Preaching
Biblical preaching must not be less than central in the ministry of a local church. That was the theme of my sermon this past Sunday evening. By “biblical preaching,” I mean the sort of preaching that is often called expository preaching. It is that sermon that takes a portion of the Bible and reveals the God-intended meaning of that portion of Scripture in such a way that the audience comprehends God’s expectations for their thinking and behavior. It is that sort of preaching that systematically moves through books of the Bible in such a way that the text of Scripture determines the theme of the sermon as well as the sermon’s major structure. In essence it exposes the congregation to the intended meaning of the stated biblical text. When Paul told Timothy to “preach the word,” I believe this sort of preaching is what he had in mind. Timothy was to explicate the meaning of Scripture (3:15-17). He was not called to creatively wow the crowd with slick presentations and stunning oratory (1 Corinthians 2:1-5). He was called to carefully, authoritatively, regularly, publicly expose his audience to the written word of God as it had been delivered to him. The Scriptures were the focus. When systematic preaching through Scriptures is the priority, God and Christ will become the focus. We do have a long rash of preaching that sprinkles the Bible into secular messages, rather than submersing our society into Bible drenched sermons. If Pastors rarely hemorrhage Scripture our congregations will rarely bleed the Bible when cut by the circumstances of life. In other words, I think we should...
