Eric's Blog - Entries tagged "Preaching"

MonMondayDecDecember28th2009

Posted Monday, December 28 2009 @ 3 PM byEric Posteluk Tagged Preaching Staying Connected 0 comments Add comment

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

MonMondayDecDecember14th2009

Preach the Word

Posted Monday, December 14 2009 @ 3 PM byEric Posteluk Tagged Preaching Staying Connected The 4 Pillars The Bible 0 comments Add comment

Preaching 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

Sermon prep time

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!”