What? Friday Musings!
Dwindling Visits
I just received my weekly email summary of visits to this website, and the results clearly show a declining readership. Which is to be expected, as I have posted little in the way of interesting content or even "Friday Musings". As Steve Deace would say, this blog is "mediocrity at its finest".
Speaking of Steve Deace...
The news was released this week that afternoon sports radio personality Steve Deace will be leaving KXNO for greener pastures at big brother WHO. Steve is an interesting guy to listen to, because he often strays from typical sports radio topics into more weightier subjects like religion and politics. He isn't afraid to voice his opinion and is very public with his faith. As Keith Murphy said: "Steve Deace always had a lot more on his mind than sports. Some listeners didn't like that, but the guess is here they're going to miss Deace on KXNO. He's headed over to WHO radio to provide a long overdue conservative voice (kidding). Best of luck to Steve in his new gig. He's earned it."
Genesis 23
Due to the busyness of my wife's pregnancy, my daughter's birth, and weddings galore, it has been a while since I preached. But I am signed up for June 25th at Countryside and looking forward to the opportunity. I may (or may not) post some of my thoughts leading up to this, but I will post a link to the audio afterwards. I am also using the occassion to ask myself the question: "what are the big-ticket elements of a message that brings glory to God and encouragement/exhortation to the audience?"
I just received my weekly email summary of visits to this website, and the results clearly show a declining readership. Which is to be expected, as I have posted little in the way of interesting content or even "Friday Musings". As Steve Deace would say, this blog is "mediocrity at its finest".
Speaking of Steve Deace...The news was released this week that afternoon sports radio personality Steve Deace will be leaving KXNO for greener pastures at big brother WHO. Steve is an interesting guy to listen to, because he often strays from typical sports radio topics into more weightier subjects like religion and politics. He isn't afraid to voice his opinion and is very public with his faith. As Keith Murphy said: "Steve Deace always had a lot more on his mind than sports. Some listeners didn't like that, but the guess is here they're going to miss Deace on KXNO. He's headed over to WHO radio to provide a long overdue conservative voice (kidding). Best of luck to Steve in his new gig. He's earned it."
Genesis 23
Due to the busyness of my wife's pregnancy, my daughter's birth, and weddings galore, it has been a while since I preached. But I am signed up for June 25th at Countryside and looking forward to the opportunity. I may (or may not) post some of my thoughts leading up to this, but I will post a link to the audio afterwards. I am also using the occassion to ask myself the question: "what are the big-ticket elements of a message that brings glory to God and encouragement/exhortation to the audience?"
posted by Alan at 6:08 AM
5 Comments:
Big-ticket elements...
1. Christ-centeredness in a message is what creates a need for action. Because Christ did for us, we must then take action. It's not golgotha leap-frogging (this passage on head coverings reminds me of Jesus...) but finding the root of every passage in the gospel story of God redeeming fallen people.
2. Verse-by-verse exposition instead of topical preaching.
3. Continuity of message. People can follow the flow.
4. Making sure the message is about one thing.
5.
I've received a ton of help from Bryan Chappell's book, Christ-Centered Preaching.
5. ethos. Making sure people believe you because you are living in grace, personally applying whatever it is you are asking those people to do.
Good points Brooks.
The one I am contemplating most right now is how to stay Christ-centered without feeling like I am artificially imposing something on the text. Obviously this is more of an Old Testament question. I just ordered Bryan's book and am looking forward to what he has to say on this.
And, as you said, having the message be about one thing is crucial. A gifted teacher took me in and shared some of his insights with me a couple years back. My biggest take-away was to try to fashion every message around just one thought. I have a hard time following "list" sermons, like "5 ways to gain wisdom" or "4 marks of a healthy prayer life". Coming up with one sentence that summarizes the meat of what you want to say is hard, but very worthwhile. Knowing this now, I am very appreciative when I hear sermons that center around an identifiable point.
One more thing I am thinking about is how to best approach narrative sections. How do the elements of story (setting, characters, plot, conflict, resolution) best culminate in one point? Or maybe it is best to approach narratives from a different perspective.
I like to look at the narrative and see that every story ever told has something to say about some part of God's redemption of fallen man. In other words, every narrative section in the Bible was written for instruction -- every passage was written to show God's glory in rescuing his undeserving image-bearers.
I am beginning to preach Jonah coming up this summer. I see the whole story showing glimpses of different angles on the gospel. Jonah hears God. We hear God. Jonah runs. We run. Jonah is bitter. We are bitter. God saves people in spite of the people. That's the gospel.
I think that it takes stepping back from the view of preaching I grew up with, where fact-telling is supposed to change us. The gospel is not a fact; we cannot prove it. (Preach that at your church!) The truth is believed by faith, and because of that, the facts/information of the Bible needs to be viewed as tools for displaying God's redemptive plan.
I keep going back to redemption Alan because without redemption we are no different than the encylopedic Satan, who knows more facts about God than I do, yet is not redeemed.
OK, short answer. How do elements of biblical story culminate in one point, is basically what you asked. The easiest way to do this is to back up, see the forest (the general point), and then support the general point with the elements. But as you will read in Chapell's book, spiritual leapfrogging or saying, "The sandals Gideon took off reminds me of the sandals Jesus took off when he walked to the cross." The details are not the point... And that is where many, many preachers I have heard in my life have become extrabiblical, bordering on false teaching.
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