Preparing to Preach

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Preparing to Preach
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Expository Preaching HOW?
1. The Flesh of the Text
2. The Bones of the Text
3. The Heart of the Text
4. The Brain of the Sermon
5. The Heart of the Sermon
6. The Bones of the Sermon
7. The Flesh of the Sermon
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Text
Sermon
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3. Every Text has a Heart

• Flesh
• what is the writer saying?
• Bones
• how is the writer saying it?
• Heart
• why is the writer saying it?

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3. Every Text has a Heart
The MTh (main theme)
Any single sermon should have just one major
idea. The points or sub-points should be part
of this one grand thought.. Every sermon should
have a theme, and that theme should be the theme
of the portion of Scripture on which it is
based.
Miller, Donald G The Way to Biblical Preaching
New York Abingdon 1957 pp53-55
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3. Every Text has a Heart
The MTh (main theme)
The preacher must develop his expository
treatment of the text in relation to a single
dominant theme
Stibbs, Alan M Expounding Gods Word IVP 1960
p40
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3. Every Text has a Heart
The MTh (main theme)
Ideally each sermon is the explanation, interpret
ation or application of a single dominant idea
supported by other ideas, all drawn from one
passage or several passages of Scripture.
Robinson, Haddon Biblical Preaching Baker 1980 p33
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3. Every Text has a Heart
The MTh (main theme)
Reduce your text to a single proposition, and
lay that down as the warp and then make use of
the text itself as the woof illustrating the
main idea by the various terms in which it is
contained. Screw the word into the minds of
your hearers. A screw is the strongest of all
mechanical powers. when it has turned a few
times, scarcely any power can pull it out.
Charles Simeon Qtd in Stott, J R W I Believe in
Preaching London Hodder and Stoughton
1982 p226
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3. Every Text has a Heart

• Finding the MTh
• accurate and adequate
• truth and totality
• content and context

b. FORMULATING the MTh