“Intermediate Preaching”
‘Books About Preaching’ and ‘Expository Preaching’ – Lesson #1
by Art Wallis
Someone asked me if there were any good books dealing with preaching or sermon preparation. I have a list of 75 book titles, but so as not to belabor the point, I will only share a few of them with you at this time. Several of these may be out of print, but some may have been reprinted because they are classics.
Batsell Barrett Baxter – “Speaking for the Master”
Andrew W. Blackwood – “Biblical Preaching for Today”, “Expository Preaching for Today”, “Fine Arts of Preaching”, “Planning A Year’s Pulpit Work”, “Preaching from Prophetic Books”, “Preaching from Samuel”, “Preaching from the Bible” (I & II), “Preparation of Sermons”
John Brodus – “A Treatise On the Preparation And Delivery of Sermons”
Don DeWelt – “If You Want to Preach”
Harold E. Knott – “How to Prepare An Expository Sermon”
Clarence Edward Macartney – “Preaching Without Notes”
Robert J. McCracken – “The Making of the Sermon”
Austin Phelps – “Theory of Preaching”
Professor M. Reu – “Homiletics” –Baker Book House
Clarence Stonelynn Roddy – “We Prepare & Preach”
Alfred Nevin Sayres – “That One Good Sermon”
John W. Tyndall – “Five Thousand Sermon Subjects”
Aquilla Webb – “Cylopedia of Sermon Outlines”
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Hint for the Week: Some preachers like to plan where they are going with their sermons as much as a year ahead of time. If you have a yearly sermon planner or a yearly sermon schedule, it will help you keep on track with where you want to be and when you want to be there. This should be very flexible, but at least it will help point you in the right direction.
Some Helps for Expository Sermons
When you are getting your sermons ready to preach, you need to remember that if you have a lot of visitors at the morning service, that they will probably not be able to handle a lot of heavy doctrine. Therefore, you will probably preach a “topical sermon” because it is usually a little easier to understand than is an “expository sermon” that goes into a lot of detail and background material. And since most of you in this class only have opportunity to preach on Sunday mornings, I may have done you some injustice by not stressing enough more information dealing with “expository” and “textual” sermons. We will try to remedy that in the remainder of this lesson. Also, realize that you may need to write and preach several of these for Sunday mornings, just to help you get some practice at it, and also so that your audience gets used to hearing something besides “topical sermons”.
Under “normal” full-time preaching circumstances, it is usually better if you preach a topical sermon in the morning and an expository or textual sermon at the night services.
A good expository sermon will answer several important questions concerning a Bible text that is under consideration:
1. How does the passage relate to life?
2. What is it really trying to say to us today?
3. How does this passage relate to the congregation to which you are preaching?
Once you have answered those three questions, you will be well on your way to knowing which direction your expository sermon will take.
Preaching an expository sermon is like a work of art. You must become the master artist. You must maintain the focus and center the sermon around Christ. Christ should always be at the center of all of your sermons.
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I want to share with you six Homiletical devices used for developing an expository sermon: (John Becker - class notes)
Six Rhetorical Processes Six Sources
1. Narration 1. Scripture
2. Interpretation 2. History
3. Illustration 3. Literature
4. Application 4. Experience
5. Argumentation 5. Observation
6. Exhortation 6. Imagination, interrogative statements
Remember that “every Scriptures has a ‘key’ word”. You may build your sermon off of that.
It will help you in developing your expository outline if you can answer at least some of the following questions about it:
1. Who is the “speaker/preacher” in the text? What kind of person is he?
2. In the various addresses (sermons/lessons) answer the who, what, when, where, why, and how questions.
3. What is the “time” element/setting? (Roman or Jewish?)
4. Learn all the facts about that “place” at that particular point in time.
5. What was the “occasion” when the sermon/lesson was given? Understand the history, background, significance, etc. of it.
6. What was the “aim” of the sermon….what kind of a response was the speaker expecting from the audience?
7. What was the “subject” of the passage under consideration. Keep it in its proper context.
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Different Styles Of Outlines
There are many different styles of outlines that can be used. We talked about basic outlines in our Basic Preaching Class. Now we want to give you a few more options as to types of outlines you may be interested in using.
1. Two-Point Outline – ½ of the outline is devoted to truth from the Bible and the other ½ is devoted to application of that truth in our daily lives.
2. Question Outline – Each point is in the form of a question. You might start with the who, what, when, where, why, how, how much or how many. It is the lazy man’s sermon outline and is quite easy to prepare.
3. “Ladder” or “Unfolding Telescope” Outline – Each point grows out of or builds upon the previous one.
4. Classification Outline – This divides people, things, places, etc., into various classifications or groupings. Such as: The Lost Sheep, The Lost Coin, and The Lost Son from Luke 15.
5. Series of Statements Outline – widely used – A succession of statements or observations related to the truth under consideration.
6. Jewel Outline – View the truth from various phases or angles. Such as: the various bits of information concerning the crucifixion from the four Gospel accounts.
7. Hegelian (3-point) Outline – Three ideas of: thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. Such as: This is the way things ought to be, This is the way things are, This is the way things may be with God’s help.
8. Guessing-game Outline - Is it this? No….Is it that? No….Is it this other thing? Yes
A. In the early 2000’s, some preaching classes at our colleges & universities are using something that is a sort of a spin-off on the Guessing-game Outline, called the “Inductive” sermon. I personally don’t recommend it. One central Iowa preacher was let go, in part, for using this kind of outline. You can’t see where the speaker wants you to go until you get there….then you wonder how you got there and it can cause confusion.
9. Rebuttal Outline – Find positions exactly opposing something that someone else has said or printed that is contrary to sound doctrine.
10. Life-situation or Problem-solving Outline –
A. Problem – this is the situation
B. Principle – this is the basis on which it is to be solved
C. Program – this is the way to go about solving it
It will help keep the congregation’s attention if you vary the style or type of sermon outline that you use.
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How To Outline Expository Sermons
I. The traditional expository sermon is one that interprets a chapter or a portion of a chapter of the Bible.
1. Formulate a theme for the main truth or main truths.
2. Find a key verse and make it a text to work from.
3. Group verses together under various outline headings.
4. Make an outline unified on homiletical principles.
II. An exposition on a whole book of the Bible.
1. Each point is stated, then illustrated by material from the book, and finally it is applied to modern mankind in current day situations.
2. OR, you can give the historical setting of the book, the book’s contents, or the permanent message of the book.
III. Exposition of Biblical Characters.
1. Desirable or undesirable traits or personality problems are used as the topics; it is illustrated by details in the character’s life
2. OR, tell the story of the character’s life and draw a lesson from that.
3. OR, tell the story of the character’s life, section by section and give an application at the end of each section.
4. OR, let each point utilize particular facts about the character’s life that substantiates the point….give the application from the points.
Conclusion: I would like to end this lesson for today with a little more information on just what “Homiletics” is. We learned a definition of “Homiletics” in our Basic Preaching Class, but I want to give you just a little different definition or explanation of it here today. “Homiletics is, in its simplest form, the science or art of Christian discourse on that subject including all that pertains to the preparation and delivery of sermons.”
Brethren, what you are doing in these preaching classes is learning “Homiletics”….you are learning how to prepare and deliver sermons, communion devotionals, or Bible class materials, so that you can be a better worker in the vineyard of the Lord!
May God bless you as you continue to learn to be a more effective speaker for Him!
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