Encountering God Through Expository Preaching
“Preaching occurs when a holy man of God opens the Word of God and says to the people of God, ‘Come and experience God with me in this text.’”
It’s rare for one sentence to sell me on a book, but this one did. Encountering God Through Expository Preaching explains this single sentence in three sections:
- Part One: The Holy Man, the Holy Text, and the Holy Spirit
- Part Two: Preparing to Lead the People of God to Experience God: Early Preparation
- Part Three: “Come and Experience God with Me in This Text”: Final Preparation
I don’t know of another preaching book quite like it. It’s written by three authors, a mix of professors and pastors. While it covers some of the usual territory — a defense of expository preaching, how to understand the text and shape it into a sermon, and how to deliver a sermon — it also covers, in depth, topics that are often overlooked. I don’t know if I’ve ever read a book that spends three chapters on the role of the Holy Spirit in preaching, or one that spends three chapters weighing three different approaches to sermon manuscripts (full manuscript, outline, no notes). This book rightly emphasizes the importance of the preacher’s life and holiness to the task of preaching, which is another topic that’s often assumed or overlooked. I also love that it includes a whole chapter on the public reading of Scripture, something that is shockingly neglected in many of our churches.
If you are a preacher who wants to sharpen your preaching skills, then you will probably enjoy this book. It covers familiar material in a fresh way, and it also covers overlooked material in a way that will challenge and refresh you. I can’t think of a preacher who wouldn’t benefit from reading this book.
If you are a new preacher, then this book will serve as a useful guide alongside other books like Haddon Robinson’s Biblical Preaching or Bryan Chapell’s Christ-Centered Preaching. It’s a great complement to the basic texts, covering similar material and rounding out areas that they don’t always explore in depth.
I especially appreciated the chapters on whether or not to preach without notes. The advantages of going noteless are compelling and have made me reexamine whether to move in that direction again. The key question, according to the book, is clear: “Will my notes help me to experience God and enhance my ability to lead my hearers to experience God, or will my notes interfere with these goals?” Each preacher will have to wrestle with that question.
If I have one criticism of the book, it’s that it is sometimes a little opinionated and dogmatic. I tend to favor a more winsome approach to controversial topics; this book prefers a “tell it like it is” approach. I’m glad that they hold their convictions with confidence; I wonder if it could be beneficial to be more irenic at points.
Encountering God Through Expository Preaching is one of the best books I’ve read this year on preaching. I highly recommend it for new and old preachers. You and your congregation will benefit if you read it.
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