Preaching | Steven W. Smith

Wholly Bible: Preaching Revelation

by Steven Smith on November 27, 2013 in Preaching

The book to end the Book is an incredible book. Some look at it as a road map through which they can navigate modern events. Therefore they go slow. They stop to gaze at the magnificent visions in Revelation, and as they gaze they wonder exactly why it is written this way. They p... Read More »

Wholly Bible: Preaching Parables

by Steven Smith on November 25, 2013 in Preaching

The parables of Jesus are go-to texts in preaching. They are so familiar, so convicting, so artful that they just beg to be preached. However the familiarity of the text can lull us into exegetical slumber: the state in which we never rethink our approach to understanding them. A... Read More »

Wholly Bible: Preaching Prophecy

by Steven Smith on November 21, 2013 in Preaching

If the prophets are the leftovers of preaching, the Minor prophets are the vegetables—the really, really, last resort in text selection. With the exception of Jonah, rarely is a Minor prophet a go-to text. Why is it that these major chunks of the Old Testament are largely negle... Read More »

Wholly Bible: Preaching Law

by Steven Smith on November 6, 2013 in Pastors, Preaching

If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to that prophet or that Read More »

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 »

Category Archives: Preaching