Monthly Archives: October 2013
Wholly Bible: Preaching Old Testament Narrative
by Steven Smith on October 30, 2013 in Pastors, Preaching
Isn’t she someone else’s wife? David ignores the question of his servant and sleeps with her anyway. She’s pregnant. David ignores the opportunity to come clean and orders her husband to be killed. The stealth of deception is absolutely shocking. Cold, sterile, calculated, ... Read More »
Wholly Bible: Preaching Gospel Narratives
by Steven Smith on October 28, 2013 in Pastors, Preaching
The sermon wasn’t going well, and I could feel it. If I could feel it, I think the audience could feel it as well. The reason? I did not have a firm grip on the main idea of the text. My text was Luke 16:19-31, the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Originally I Read More »
Wholly Bible: Preaching Wisdom
by Steven Smith on October 23, 2013 in Pastors, Preaching
The structure of the text should be the structure of the sermon. This axiom is easy enough to follow when preaching a New Testament Epistle where you can follow the clear paragraph structure of the text, using rhetorical clues to divide the text such as verbs and conjunctions. Ho... Read More »
Wholly Bible: Preaching the Psalms, Part 3
by Steven Smith on October 14, 2013 in Pastors, Preaching
Have you ever sat next to someone in church who has a terrible singing voice and just doesn’t care? They just sing it like they really mean it. I envy this person. Without the slightest bit of self-awareness, they simply rear back and let the song fly. They’re too enraptured ... Read More »
Wholly Bible: Why Genre Matters in Preaching, Part 2
by Steven Smith on October 10, 2013 in Pastors, Preaching
As we established in the last post, the genre of the text of Scripture affects the tone of the text. By tone, or spirit, we mean the author-intended emotive design of the author. Thus, a Psalm feels like a song, and prophecy feels like a prophet has spoken. This is somewhat subje... Read More »
Wholly Bible: Why Genre Matters in Preaching
by Steven Smith on October 7, 2013 in Pastors, Preaching
Riding on the City of New Orleans, Illinois Central Monday morning rail Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders, Three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail. All along the southbound odyssey The train pulls out at Kankakee Rolls along past houses, farms and fields. PassinR... Read More »
Why Thomas White is a Great Leader for Cedarville University
by Steven Smith on October 4, 2013 in Education
In a recent visit back to Fort Worth, Thomas White, President of Cedarville University, and I visited his favorite BBQ restaurant where I heard him, after placing his order, say, “Oh, and I’ll have fries for my vegetable.” He has a way of using his “redneck metanarrat... Read More »
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Steven W. Smith is the Vice President for Student Services and Communications and Professor of Preaching at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Learn More About Dr. Smith »