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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...
by Bret Capranica | Jan 23, 2007 | Preaching
Exegeting the Text Welcome to my neurosis. I again offer these posts as “the way I do it,” not as “the way it should be done.” So, here’s the beginning of the study process for me. I begin my study of a passage each week (rarely am I more than a week ahead in preparation) by translating the paragraph or pericope from its original language. Here’s where my seminary training has been most helpful. I copy and paste the text (Greek or Hebrew) into a blank page in MS Word (more on Bible software later – I use Libronix and Bible Works). I will triple space the text and print it out. I then move through each word, translating it in its basic definition, parsing each verb, while circling and noting any significant issues I will need to follow up on syntactically and/or lexically. So that I can see them at a glance, I underline each verb (or verb form) with a red pen. I do this so I can quickly focus my attention on the action of the text, seeing if it is more descriptive (indicatives) or prescriptive (imperative), or the type of action emphasized in a narrative text. I print it out so that I can take it with me and review it and work with it wherever I go (church office, home study, freeway . . .). After my initial run through the text, I write out a fresh working translation. On my Word document, I insert a section break after my Greek or Hebrew text, and then write out the translation. The purpose in my...
by Bret Capranica | Jan 14, 2007 | Preaching
For many this may be irrelevant material, however, for those of you in our congregation, you may not realize the particular approach I (and the other pastors, to one degree or another) take in choosing what I will preach each Sunday. Planning My Preaching Until my studies in the Doctor of Ministry program, I did not give much time and attention to long range planning for my preaching. I would merely take off and cover what I thought I should from week to week. The benefit in this approach is that I can pause a series of messages at any time to address a particular need in the congregation or move slower or faster in how much material we cover each week. The downside to this approach is that I tended not to vary my preaching in any other genre of biblical material than the particular book we are studying. Neither I nor our congregation was exposed to a vast amount of material within the Bible. After attending a Weekender at Capitol Hill Baptist Church, I heard Mark Dever discuss his personal approach to preaching and he made the statement that whatever he was doing in his preaching, he wanted to expose his congregation to every form of biblical genre every year. While I have not adopted his approach in the particulars, I have tried to address this issue in my own preaching. I now plan my preaching three months at a time. I do not publicize this plan (as Dever does), giving me the liberty to adjust it as I see fit. However, I do plan to preach...
by Bret Capranica | Jan 12, 2007 | Preaching
Before I begin to describe the details of how I study, prepare and deliver sermons, I want to first describe the preaching environment I am privileged to participate in. At this point, I will briefly describe my own personal approach to expository preaching. While I have always maintained the same basic approach to study and preaching, I tend to always be refining and developing that approach. If I read or am exposed to some good ideas that I think might enhance my ability to study more effectively or preach a text more thoroughly, I try to implement it into my approach. So the follow posts simply reflect the pattern I now follow after about nineteen years of preaching. Furthermore, I don’t tend to think that everyone or really anyone ought to pursue the preaching process the same way I do. This is merely my approach. I am certainly open to enhancement, question, correction or rebuke. The ministry context in which I find myself creates a unique opportunity and presents a few challenges. I share the regular preaching ministry with what our church calls a co-pastor. We are equal in terms of authority and responsibility within the church. My partner preaches each Sunday morning, generally focusing on Old Testament texts. I preach each Sunday evening, with a primary focus upon New Testament texts. In reality, while our titles may be that of co-pastors, we actually have a team of pastors, three of which preach regularly. The third pastor oversees out children’s and student ministries and is preaching every Sunday morning and evening to these students, yet he also fills the...
by Bret Capranica | Jan 11, 2007 | Preaching
What has been said so far about expository preaching is not to suggest that there is no place for a topical message or that topical preaching cannot have an expositional element to it. Topical preaching can be effective when it collates all the relevant biblical texts into a coherent message. The onus for the preacher is to make sure that his use of those biblical texts do not violate their intended meaning in the contexts from which they originate. For example, doctrinal messages like those on the attributes and nature of God, the nature of man, the effects of sin, acceptable worship or messages on biblical eschatology could all be good biblical, accurate and applicable topical messages. Topical preaching reflect the idea that Scripture is its own best interpreter and that it never contradicts itself. Topical preaching can be helpful to an expository ministry by expanding on an issue touched on in a previously exposited text. For example, I paused my series in the book of Revelation after preaching chapters four and five to speak about how heaven could help corporate worship. Topical preaching can provide a helpful segue between expository series or even within a series on a biblical book. I preached a few topical messages on Christian cooperation after my series on the book of Jude in order to give some further practical implications of the content of Jude. Yet, troublesome waters abound if topical preaching is the norm for a pastor’s pulpit ministry. The purely deductive approach to preaching provides problems when the preacher is tempted to emphasize his own ideas and preferences than the ideas...
