The Teaching Ministry Of The Pulpit

Many pastors struggle with preaching the Old Testament. As a professor and pastor, Allan Moseley's vast experience and knowledge go a long way in helping expositors enrich their pulpit ministry. The purpose of his book is to offer both exegetical and preaching help by means of a workable 8-step method. The author's preaching model starts with the initial step of determining the genre and meaning of the text to doing word studies and discovering the main ideas of the text to applying the sermon in a life-changing and Christ-honoring manner. Some books on preaching from the Old Testament are written by authors who do not actually preach, or preach only occasionally. Pastors and budding preachers need a book written by someone who has knows what it is like to be a pastor and has prepared sermons every week for years. His book reflects his classroom teaching on the subjects of exposition and hermeneutics, and it provides helpful illustrations of expositional principles that rise from his own preaching ministry.

“God has appointed preaching in worship as one great means of accomplishing his ultimate goal in the world.” —John Piper John Piper makes a compelling claim in these pages about the purpose of preaching: it is intended not merely as an explanation of the text but also as a means of awakening worship by being worship in and of itself. Christian preaching is a God-appointed miracle aiming to awaken the supernatural seeing, savoring, and showing of the glory of Christ. Distilling over forty years of experience in preaching and teaching, Piper shows preachers how and what to communicate from God’s Word, so that God’s purpose on earth will advance through Biblesaturated, Christ-exalting, God-centered preaching—in other words, expository exultation.

Who ministers to the minister? Surely the preacher has it all together—he doesn’t deal with the issues so common to the human experience, does he? The one who mans the pulpit every Sunday is not superhuman; he is by no means above the fray. He often shares and is well-acquainted with the struggles plaguing his audience. How should the preacher manage his time and control his stress level? How does he balance family and ministry? How does he deal with critics and discouragers? Preachers need strengthening. They need to be fit for the pulpit.

With concise and practical guidelines for recovering the identity of the church, Clark Williamson and Ronald Allen demonstrate that the central task of ministry is teaching the Christian faith. The authors believe that how well ministers understand what is required of them and how well they do what is required of them is part of the problem of churches today, as well as part of the solution.

A down-to-earth, practical introduction to the ins and outs of preaching for lay preachers, bivocational pastors, and others newly arrived in the pulpit. Recent years have seen a considerable increase in the amount of financial resources required to support a full-time pastor in the local congregation. In addition, large numbers of full-time, seminary trained clergy are retiring, without commensurate numbers of new clergy able to take their place. As a result of these trends, a large number of lay preachers and bivocational pastors have assumed the principal responsibility for filling the pulpit week by week in local churches. Most of these individuals, observes Clifton Guthrie, can draw on a wealth of life experiences, as well as strong intuitive skills in knowing what makes a good sermon, having listened to them much of their lives. What they often don't bring to the pulpit, however, is specific, detailed instruction in the how-tos of preaching. That is precisely what this brief, practical guide to preaching has to offer. Written with the needs of those for whom preaching is not their sole or primary occupation in mind, it begins by emphasizing what every preacher brings to the pulpit: an idea of what makes a sermon particularly moving or memorable to them. From there the book moves into short chapters on choosing an appropriate biblical text or sermon topic, learning how to listen to one's first impressions of what a text means, moving from text or topic to the sermon itself while keeping the listeners needs firmly in mind, making thorough and engaging use of stories in the sermon, and delivering with passion and conviction. The book concludes with helpful suggestions for resources, including Bibles, commentaries, other print resources and websites.