Eric's Blog - Entries from December 2009 Expository Preaching I hope you had a Merry Christmas --
Preaching is absolutely critical in the local church! Once Harvest Bible Chapel Joliet launches I will be preaching expository sermons on a weekly basis. Some may be familiar with this term and others may not be. Let me help to clarify.
What is an expository sermon?
Here is the definition that Haddon Robinson gives in his well known book Biblical Preaching:
“Expository preaching is the communication of a biblical concept, derived from and transmitted through a historical, grammatical, and literary study of a passage in its context, which the Holy Spirit first applies to the personality and experience of the preacher, then through the preacher, applies to the hearers.” p. 21
When I preach at HBC Joliet, I will have studied a passage of Scripture and understood it’s historical (how did the original hearers understand the passage?), grammatical (what do the various words and phrases mean in the passage?), and literary (is the passage a poem, a story, an epistle/letter etc…? And how should this knowledge impact my interpretation?) context. It is critical that I understand the proper context of the passage so that I give the proper interpretation.
Also, as I study the passage and prepare to preach it, my first focus is for the Lord to change me through the text. I count this as one of my greatest privileges of being a pastor. God’s word is powerful – I look forward to the transformation that He will bring in my life over the years! Then, out of my studies and personal transformation I will seek to proclaim the truths that the Lord has shown me to the congregation of HBC Joliet. I count this as an immense privilege as well! Being a part of supernatural transformation in the lives of people is one of the most exciting things to me in life!
I will typically preach through one book of the Bible at a time - 1 passage at a time.
Why preach expository sermons?
Preaching expository sermons helps to guide the preacher in his preparation to make sure he’s getting and giving the most accurate interpretation. If a preacher isn’t committed to doing the extensive study that an expository sermon requires, he is likely to misinterpret God’s holy word and therefore teach things that God doesn’t want taught. Accurate teaching is crucial to God’s church. God wants His children to know certain things. My job is to make sure that those certain things are being communicated.
Expository preaching protects preachers (including me!) from:
- Preaching Bible verses out of context
- Avoiding difficult (and there are many) subjects in the Bible
- Only emphasizing things that are to his liking
- Giving into to cultural ideologies that are not taught in the Bible
- Reading to simply get head knowledge
- Explaining the Bible without applying it to those listening
I trust that there will be much transformation occurring in the city of Joliet and beyond as a result of God's word intersecting with our lives in the years to come!
Below is a brief summary from my training in the Training Center last week.
Summary
-Discussions on Leadership
- top down management
- servant leadership
-Ministry Leadership Team meeting
- discussions about future church-planting strategies
- discussions on leadership and urgency
- discussions on principles and definitions of leadership
- recommended books for leadership
 Harvest "Bible" Chapel Last week was an eventful one at the Training Center. We are now in the Leadership phase of our training; we’re hitting that topic from a number of different angles. The church will rise or fall because of godly or ungodly leadership. What one godly leader can bring about is amazing! Consider: Augustine, Athanasius, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, DL Moody, Charles Spurgeon, George Mueller etc… Godly leaders tend to produce godly disciples and ungodly leaders produce ungodly followers. We must be careful who we choose to follow! In the Scriptures, the Lord reveals His high standards for leaders. I’m thankful that these high standards are taken seriously at my place of training – HBC Fellowship.
Below is a summary of my training last week and then following are some thoughts on our position on the Bible at HBC –
Summary
- Various discussions of leadership
- Shepherding
- Building and maintaining relationships
- Being trustworthy
- Managing
- Taking initiative
- Making wise decisions
- Finances in the church
- Facilities (types and fees)
- Case study of a church issue that needed resolution (we acted as an elder board and sought to come up with a resolution)
- Successful Christian businessman Earl Seals gave his testimony and a talk on leadership
- Examples of attendance and offerings from other HBC churches
- Discussions on creating a budget
- Discussions on qualifications of an elder (1Tim 3 and Titus 1)
- James MacDonald taught us on outlining a passage for a sermon
- Tony Caffey, the pastor of HBC Arthur spoke to us about leading his church
- Ryan Hall, the pastor of HBC Palos Hills spoke to us about the process he went through to get his church launched in Sept 2009
Scripture
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17
We call ourselves Harvest “Bible” Chapel for a reason. The Bible, or the Scriptures, or the Word of God are central to everything that we seek to do. Without the Bible I ultimately have nothing of substance to say. My words cannot ultimately change anyone – that’s what the Scriptures are for. Here are some key things that we believe about the Bible at HBC:
- There is no single book in the world like - the Bible
- The most important book in the world is the Bible
- All people should seek to know the Bible above all other books
- God Himself wrote every single word in the Bible “through” prophets and apostles
- The Bible is without error in the original manuscripts
- God reveals Himself through the Bible
- God confirms to readers that He wrote the Bible by the Holy Spirit
- Since God is a loving God, everything that the Bible teaches is for our benefit
- The things in the Bible that society agrees with are true
- The things in the Bible that society does not agree with are – true
- The teaching of the Bible is in line with logic and reason, and never contrary to it
- As people made in the image of God, we have the ability to understand what He has written for us
- Regular exposure to the Bible will make:
- The discouraged encouraged!
- The confused sure!
- The blind see!
- The enslaved free!
- The depraved pure!
- The hopeless hopeful!
All ministry that flows out of Harvest Bible Chapel Joliet will have God’s word as the foundation. This is The Book that changed my life – by God’s grace it will do the same for many others who join us at HBC Joliet!
 Preach the WordPreaching is on my mind. I just finished my second phase in the Training Center on it. During this phase we covered numerous things regarding preaching: studying and preparation time, boiling down the main point of a passage, outlines, explaining the text, illustrating the text, applying the text, intros and conclusions, delivery and most importantly having a heart for the Lord through the process. Believe it or not it is possible to study the Bible, prepare a sermon, and even preach a sermon, and not be focused on the Lord! It is absolutely crucial to guard against that. A preacher’s heart needs to be aflame with God’s truth! There are two other phases coming up. The phase that I’m currently in is on leadership in the church.
Here’s a little summary of some of the things that happened last week in my training:
Summary
- Discussion with spouses on marriage and ministry
- All 6 of us in the Training Center put together a 1 hour service where someone gave announcements, worship was led, and we preached (video taped)
- Christmas party at HBC Rolling Meadows
- I counseled a young couple
Scripture
“preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” 2 Timothy 4:2
One of the 4 pillars at Harvest Bible Chapel has to do with preaching the word of God. As the pastor and preacher for Harvest Bible Chapel, God has given me the role to publically communicate what the Bible teaches. There are some things in the Bible that many people like: be a good listener, be a wise person, be generous, be faithful, love your spouse, love your children, love your neighbor as yourself. There are others things in the Bible that many other people don’t like: all people are sinners, everyone will be judged after death, Jesus Christ is God, we are utterly hopeless apart from Jesus’ death and resurrection on our behalf, hate sin and love righteousness, be willing to be mocked for Christ etc...
God has called me to teach everything that the Bible has to say – whether it is popular or whether it is not. God has a message that He wants the whole world to know. My job is to proclaim that entire message. I am not to pick and choose what seems best to me. Sometimes people will immediately like what I preach about. Other times, people will dislike or even hate what I’m preaching on. This should not be a surprise to me since Jesus and the apostles experienced the same thing. If every single person likes what I preach about, I’m not communicating everything that God wants me to communicate. My job is not to try to figure out what will make people most comfortable when it comes to preaching God’s word, my job is to simply preach it and allow God to work and allow people to respond. Yes - I am to preach with love, but love doesn’t always mean that people don’t get offended.
The Truth is what changes people, the Truth is what brings people to God, the Truth is what leads people to heaven – the untainted Truth is what I plan to preach at Harvest Bible Chapel – “God help me!”
 Trust & Joy We’re still going through our section on being trained in preaching in the Training Center (where I’m being trained for ministry right now at HBC Elgin). I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it! David Jones is leading us; he’s doing a wonderful job breaking down all the various aspects of preaching an effective sermon.
I can’t imagine where I’d be spiritually if I hadn’t heard good preaching for all the years I’ve been following Christ. By the Holy Spirit, those preachers have made the word of God come alive for me; I hope to do the same for many others for the rest of my life. I count this an immense privilege.
Here’s a summary of some of the things that went on in the training center last week for us.
Summary:
Sermon prep time throughout week
Visited some property that “might” be given to HBC and had a church service where James MacDonald preached
Delivery in sermons
Use of notes in sermons
Practiced delivery before classmates
Reviewed classmates sermon
Reviewed my sermon with classmates
Scripture:
“…our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.” Psalm 33:21
There is a direct connection between our joy and our trust. When we trust God to take care of us on a moment by moment basis, we will find joy in Him welling up inside of us. When we trust in other things to take care of us or to ultimately comfort us, we will find our joy diminishing. God is trustworthy; anything apart from Him – isn’t. God created us to trust in Him for our every need, and the result of that is for us to be continually joyful in Him!
We can trust in God because He is “holy.” He is utterly unique, the one and only true God. One God made and rules all things. He is the one to look to; He is The One to trust.
The glad heart is the trusting heart, and the trusting heart is the glad heart. As trust rises, joy rises.
 Rejoice in our SufferingsHello everyone!
I’m running a couple days late on getting this blog out since I was in Florida with Barbie. Last week was a shorter week in the class room so my summary will be shorter than usual.
Summary
- discussions on introductions for sermons
- listened to various recordings of pastors giving introductions
- practiced creating intros and presenting them before our classmates
Scripture
“…we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope….” Romans 5:3-4
In our world suffering is a reality. Either we recently have come out of suffering, we’re currently suffering, or we’re about to enter into suffering. As Christians, we should not despair in our suffering. Since we're spiritually alive in Christ (born again), we continually live under the purposeful and loving hand of God. God is sovereign (in control) over our sufferings. He is wonderfully molding us through them. Our suffering is never futile. It has purpose.
As we rest in the fact that we live under the purposeful and loving hand of God, we can actually rejoice in our sufferings. God brings about this kind of joy in our hearts when we're gripped by the truth that He has a good purpose for us. As we trust God through the pain, He supernaturally enables us to rejoice while we’re still suffering. The pain is still there -- but underneath the pain we are able to have joy.
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