Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church
Expository preaching allows God to speak to the people through His powerful & eternal Word.
Expository preaching means that God determines what will be preached since I work verse-by-verse through books of the Bible.
Expository preaching models for the flock of God how to study the Bible — carefully, intentionally, reverently, methodically, and prayerfully working through books understanding the meaning of texts as they're properly interpreted in the immediate context.
Expository preaching obediently follows the authoritative demand of God that He gives to all ministers of the gospel: "Preach the Word!"
Expository preaching provides the necessary venue for the Spirit of God to work by means of the preached Word that has centered on Christ and His gospel to bring sinners to salvation.
Expository preaching conforms the people of God into the image of Christ.
Expository preaching glorifies God since it is God and His Words speaking to the people rather than a man's opinions.
Expository preaching counsels the souls of believers to trust confidently in God's Word, to run relentlessly to the cross of Christ, to pray fervently in the power of the Spirit, and to obey swiftly what God has said in His Word.
Expository preaching magnifies the absolute sovereignty of God since the preacher has no inherent power to convert or sanctify the hearers but it is God, and God alone, by His marvelous grace, who works in the hearers through the proclamation of sacred Truth.
Expository preaching gives people what they MUST hear not necessarily what people want to hear. God determines what is said, what text is preached, and what points to bring out in the message.
Expository preaching feeds the hungry souls of born-again believers who, like sheep, need to be fed the precious, pure, and satisfying food of the Word.
Expository preaching produces effects that are outside of the abilities of the man who stands to preach since the true preaching event is in fact a divine event -- the voice of God thundering through the Word of God and the Spirit of God applies divine truth to the souls of hearers according to His sovereign prerogative.
Expository preaching is the primary vehicle through which the Spirit of God draws the lost to Jesus Christ as the herald opens the Word of God and preaches it with authority.
Expository preaching unquestionably reminds hearers that God is the authority and His Word is what rules over us and tells us what to do. The preaching event is never about self-help, pithy, crafty, entertaining, crowd-producing, cute sermonettes. In true preaching, God, from heaven, condescends to His people through the proclamation of the Word and meets with His people to show them Christ by the illuminating work of the Spirit. This is authoritative, God-centered preaching.
Expository preaching reminds Christians to trust in God's truth in the Word & not on a man's dazzling message. Let their faith be in Christ!
Therefore, by God's grace:
I will EXPOSITIONALLY preach
I will BOLDLY preach
I will REGULARLY preach
I will PRAYERFULLY preach
I will OBEDIENTLY preach
I will FAITHFULLY preach
Haddon Robinson sums it up concisely:
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.
