any helps,encouragements,wisdom for a very young preacher? This will be the first time I preach through a entire book...
Thanks in advance
Relax, pray, be filled with the Holy Spirit, and enjoy. Break it into understandable chunks, make each week stand on its own for those who missed the previous week(s), but also make it a unified message from week to week. Most of all enjoy the blessing you will give and receive from preaching through a book. I prayed for you while writing this reply and will continue. Good luck and God bless.
thank you!
would you mind looking at my vague outline?
I would be happy to help in anyway possible.
One of the best things you can do seems the most obvious but is often over looked. Read 1 Thessalonians over and over and over again. And while you're reading, observe from every angle. I've always liked this story from John MacArthur's "Rediscovering Expository Preaching" (http://www.logos.com/product/654/rediscovering-expository-preaching).
Preach the Word!
From "Rediscovering Expository Preaching":
At the risk of seeming to violate my own guideline of keeping illustrations short, I offer the following lengthy story about the great nineteenth-century scientist Louis Agassiz and how he taught one of his students an unforgettable lesson about the importance of observation. The principles it teaches can be applied to our Bible study.
The Student, the Fish, and Agassiz
By the Student
The same kind of prolonged pondering of the Scriptures will eventually pay even longer dividends, stretching into eternity.
any helps,encouragements,wisdom for a very young preacher? This will be the first time I preach through a entire book... Thanks in advance
I don't know if this will help you any or not. About 18 years ago, my wife and I were trying to find a church for our young family (3 kids under the age of 3). We ended up at a "Bible church" where they do verse-by-verse bible study every week. I had no idea a "lay" Christian could learn the word that way, that you could preach exegetically (or even what that might look like), or that I could be challenged to really understand God's word. All I'd ever been exposed to in my Christian life were what I view as standard evangelical church messages about being a good husband, or winning people to Christ at work, etc.
We're still going to that church 18 years later, and I'm still challenged each week to be like the Bereans and study the Scriptures daily to see whether these things are so.
Here's my point: Have a high view of your congregation's passion for the word and their ability to grasp it and be challenged to learn it for themselves. It seems to me like churches are a lot like government schools - teaching to their estimation of the lowest common denominator. It's OK to raise their expectations of themselves.
My $.02 ...
Donnie
I generally read the whole book and prayerfully ask myself a few questions:
Then week-by-week I approach each passage and ask myself some more questions:
Then, and only then, do I start a detailed exegesis of the passage (the Exegetical Guide is useful in speeding up this process). Here's an example of the simple Logos layout I use to get started.
After I have done my own exegesis, I look at commentaries suggested by the Passage Guide.
Weekly preparation is aided and amended buy considering what happened during the preaching the previous week. (Perhaps I suddenly saw something in a new light. The Holy Spirit often reveals new insights as we preach!)
Above all trust the Lord to honour His promise to take care of how His Word impacts people. cf. Isaiah 55:11.
Every blessing as you seek to expound the whole counsel of God.
Alan
That's a glorious letter of encouragement to the Church. God bless you (both the preacher and the listeners)!
In Christ,
Peter
