Text-Driven Blog
The Expositor in the Pulpit – Part 5
NOTE: This article is an excerpt from an excellent little book on preaching, The Expositor in the Pulpit, by the Greek scholar Marvin R. Vincent. The book is the content of his lectures given to students at Union Theological Seminary in 1884. The book is a mu... Read More »
The Expositor in the Pulpit – Part 4
NOTE: This article is an excerpt from an excellent little book on preaching, The Expositor in the Pulpit, by the Greek scholar Marvin R. Vincent. The book is the content of his lectures given to students at Union Theological Seminary in 1884. The book is a mu... Read More »
Why I Became an Expositor
During my first semester of college, I was running from God like crazy. I had been to church my whole life and this was the first time I was out of my parents’ house, and no-one was making me go to church on Sundays; I could do whatever I wanted. And I was a... Read More »
The Expositor in the Pulpit – Part 3
NOTE: This article is an excerpt from an excellent little book on preaching, The Expositor in the Pulpit, by the Greek scholar Marvin R. Vincent. The book is the content of his lectures given to students at Union Theological Seminary in 1884. The book is a m... Read More »
The Expositor in the Pulpit – Part 2
NOTE: This article is an excerpt from an excellent little book on preaching, The Expositor in the Pulpit, by the Greek scholar Marvin R. Vincent. The book is the content of his lectures given to students at Union Theological Seminary in 1884. The book is a m... Read More »
The Expositor in the Pulpit – Part 1
When I was a teenage preacher, in virtually every pastor’s study I entered I saw on the shelf the four-volume set Word Studies in the New Testament by Marvin R. Vincent. The work was originally published in 1887 and it remains in print. It is Vincent’s b... Read More »
Preaching Revelation
The book to end the Book is an incredible book. Some look at it as a road map through which they can navigate modern events. Therefore they go slow. They stop to gaze at the magnificent visions in Revelation, and as they gaze they wonder exactly why it is writ... Read More »
Preaching Double Parables
How do you preach a double Parable? Jesus told as many short parables as he did long parables. For every Prodigal Son of Luke 15:11-32 (21 verses), there is a parable like the Unworthy Servant of Luke 17:7-10(4 verses), Trained Scribe of Matt. 13:51-52 (2 vers... Read More »
Preaching the Shorter Parables
Jesus had incredible structure to his sermons … but only sometimes. Think of the Sermon on the Mount. Its introduction (eight beatitudes) is followed with six antitheses: Jesus fights the thesis that keeping a warped standard of righteousness was enough. It ... Read More »
Preaching the Gospel Narratives
The sermon wasn’t going well, and I could feel it. If I could feel it, I think the audience could feel it as well. The reason? I did not have a firm grip on the main idea of the text. My text was Luke 16:19-31, the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Origin... Read More »
Preaching Proverbs
For a preacher, preaching from the Old Testament wisdom of Proverbs is like a little boy walking into LEGOLAND, the entertainment attraction dedicated to the full enjoyment of the classic Lego building bricks. One hardly knows where to begin. Because of its ar... Read More »
Preaching Prophecy
If the prophets are the leftovers of preaching, the Minor prophets are the vegetables—the really, really, last resort in text selection. With the exception of Jonah, rarely is a Minor prophet a go-to text. Why is it that these major chunks of the Old Testame... Read More »
