1PointPreacher Ep. 4 - Choosing a Book to Preach

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1 Point Preacher
Episode 4

Show Notes:

Time to talk about text selection.

You need to think through the process of deciding "what" to preach.

Having the biblical conviction of preaching consecutive expository sermons, preaching through books of the Bible, there's the choice of what book to preach from beginning to end.

What book am I going to preach next?

We'll go through the various factors involved.

1. What was/is preached
   What did you just finish preaching?
   *If your church is blessed with more than one preacher, what is he currently preaching?
   In other words: what has been the diet of the congregation so far?
   Example: imagine 3 preachers on rotation all preaching a different Pauline epistle. Would that be a wise decision for a balanced preaching diet?

2. Congregation
   Gauge the people: what are the conversations like? What foundational truths are missing?
   Example: choosing 1 Corinthians to address wrong understanding of offering and tithing.

The responsibility of the shepherd is to care for his flock. He must be among them, and be acquainted with their level of understanding and maturity.
The primary means of feeding and protecting his flock is by preaching. He must preach to meet their real needs.

Maybe at this moment, the congregation is in need of rebuke. Or correction towards a popular false teaching.

1. Book Length Some books are very long. Take the synthetic approach—the bird's eye view. Example: Genesis outlined by characters. The length of the book doesn't determine how long it will take to preach. The depth you choose will determine that. We're convinced that sequential exposition is the right way to preach: from beginning to end—section by section, segment by segment, pericope by pericope, phrase by phrase. That does not mean only one level—one verse at a time.

Length is important, especially if the congregation is not acclimated to sequential exposition. Don't commit them to a two year preaching plan through a book. You can pick a long book, without taking two years to preach through it. Take a bird's eye view. It's allowed.

1. Proportion Balancing the Old and New Testament. We are to be whole-Bible churches and whole-Bible Christians. The whole Bible is the diet of the people. If you have more than one service, then have one preaching in the Old and one in the New.

Did you just finish a NT book? Consider an OT book. Alternate.
That will show and communicate the unity of the Bible. All of Scripture is profitable.

Proportion both Testaments. A whole-counsel-of-God diet.

Recommended: preachers should not share a book series—preachers rotating in preaching the same book.
To do that carefully would require meeting every step of the way.

1. Genre Consider the various types of literature or genres. Letters: NT epistles, didactic literature. Narratives: Gospels and OT historical books. Poetry: much of the prophetic literature are in poetry. Job, Psalms, wisdom literature—Proverbs, Ecclesiastes. Sub-Genres of Psalms: ascent, wisdom Psalms, and the majority of Psalms are laments. What genres have been preached recently? Check those boxes off. Preach a new genre. Provide a whole-Bible diet.

Acquaint your people with the diversity of Scripture.

Example: I just finished a Minor Prophet. Josh is preaching Romans, an Epistle. Ronnie is preaching the Sermon on the Mount—a narrative book, but it's a didactic section.

So what will I choose now? Not an epistle, narrative, or prophetic book.

The poetic books have a lot of variety.

Example: A series made up of selections from the Psalms. Is that allowed?
There are five books of Psalms.
Within those are so many kinds of Psalms.
Each Psalm is a unit unto itself. This is the inspired hymnbook of the Bible. Psalms is not composed like the other books of the Bible. It doesn't have chapters. They are songs.

The whole Psalter has a structure. It's not a random collection.

From the structure and the five books, I can choose a selection from all of the sub-categories of Psalms, and make a sequential expository series, giving everyone a taste from the whole Psalter.
The introduction and concluding Psalms, and one or two Psalms of each genre from each of the five books.

Here's a factor for this particular choice: we recently incorporated the singing of Psalms in our worship service. We use the 1650 Scottish Psalter, the free app.
iOS app: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/1650-split-leaf-psalter/id1198280376
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.charisdevelopment.thesixteenfifty&hl=en_US&gl=US

Considering that, the congregation can more fully appreciate the singing of Psalms because they are having the Psalms preached to them.

We don't discern that many pastors get this: if you aren't good with Hebrew Poetry, don't choose Hebrew Poetry yet.
Buy Godfrey's book. Study. Find sound resources, free resources. Free recorded seminary classes.

Poetic books are not easy to break up.
If you are not good with figurative language, don't get into poetry yet. Learn first. Buy a pastor coffee and have him teach you.

Take a language course.

Study your culture's use of figurative language, so you can teach them well.

1. YOU One of the factors is YOU. You are, perhaps, the biggest factor. If you simply don't have the skills and training for a particular genre or part of the Bible, you need to get that first.

There's a tension: between setting a good challenge for yourself. Not avoiding the hard things in Scripture. The whole Bible is your territory as a pastor and your responsibility to preach.
However, you're not preaching all 66 books at the same time. It's your discretion what to preach when. If you don't have the tools, or are not as confident as you should be, get that training.
Don't just default to the literature you are comfortable with. Like seminary graduates defaulting to epistles, because they did not practice with the rest of the Bible.

Challenge yourself, but will you be unprepared, rushed, irresponsible? Then put that challenging book on hold, give yourself the time to prepare.

1. Preaching Method Another factor: preaching method. This podcast is about 1 Point Preaching. I adopted this method recently. What I consider is what genre I have not preached yet, using this method. I first chose a narrative text, then a short prophetic book. And then an epistle. That leaves several genres left to practice. What are you skilled at? What can you get prepared for? What can you preach responsibly, given your time? Because you are the biggest factor.

What are you good in, what are you weak in?

Remember that the whole counsel of God is your responsibility. If you're not there yet, get there. You need to be ready at any point to preach any part of the Bible.

If you have a congregation that is reading the Bible, they will inquire of you regarding the difficult parts.

Teaching doesn't only happen behind the pulpit. Your teaching and feeding of the flock should happen beyond the pulpit, weekly.

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