Review of Kenneth Langley's Theocentric View of Preaching

Kenneth Langley’s Theocentric View of preaching is found in Scott M. Gibson’s and Matthew D. Kim’s Homiletics and Hermeneutics: Four views on Preaching Today.

The Theocentric view is like the Christocentric view in some ways. Some who hold to the Christocentric view advocate preaching Christ from every. The Theocentric view advocates preaching God from every text. Both are not using exclusively the historical/grammatical method of interpretation and preaching or teaching only what is in the text. This was the essence of my post “Text-Driven (Grammatical-Historical Hermeneutic) Preaching.”

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“The Factual Data” Sheet for Sermon Preparation for Narratives (Nehemiah)

The idea of “The Factual Data” sheet comes from reading that Warren W. Wiersbe’s homiletic teacher, Lloyd Perry used a generic “Factual Data” sheet for sermon preparation. I have adapted “The Factual Data” sheet to the different genres of Scripture instead of one-size fits all approach.

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Step Seven: Prepare the Conclusion

“Some preachers are in their approach toward the runway when, at an altitude of only a few feet from the ground, they get a new thought and —instead of landing —zoom up into the air again. Then, once more, they circle the field, line up with the landing strip, lower their flaps and start to come in for the landing, only to shoot up into the sky instead” (Jay Adams, Preaching with Purpose, p. 66). Haddon Robinson adds that your conclusion should not resemble a crash (Steven Mathewson, The Art of Preaching Old Testament Narrative, 150).

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Step Five: Develop the Sermon Outline (Part 3: Illustrations)

James Braga defines an illustration as “a means of throwing light upon a sermon by the use of an example” (How to Prepare Bible Messages, 231). Haddon Robinson says an illustration can either be like a beautiful lamp and a streetlight. When you walk into someone’s expensive den and notice an ornate lamp, you compliment its beauty to the owners. But if you are walking down a city sidewalk at night, the streetlights provide you visibility but you hardly notice them. A sermon illustration should be like the streetlight. It throws light on the subject you are preaching but doesn’t unnecessarily draw attention to the illustration. The illustration is always a handmaiden to explanation.

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Step Five: Develop the Sermon Outline (Part 2) Argumentation

Albert Mohler in his book, He is Not Silent has Chapter 3 “Preaching is Expository: A Theology of Exposition."In this chapter, Mohler contends that our view of God's revelation in His Word will be reflected in our preaching. If we possess a low view of revelation then our preaching will not have much or any theology in it. If we have a low view of the doctrine of revelation, then in our preaching we will preach “pop psychology and culture, or we will tell compelling stories." We preach the theology of a passage because it is God's authoritative Word that is life changing.

In this step, we insert the theology of the text.

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Step Four: Construct The Sermon Outline

John R. W. Stott gave this advice on constructing the sermon outline in chapter six in Between Two Worlds: There must be structure to subordinate our material to the theme of the sermon. One danger is a too prominent outline like the protruding skeleton of a starving prisoner of war. Double or triple alliteration of main points is an example. Another danger is artificiality of outline.

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STEP TWO: Study the Passage

This takes time. A large block of uninterrupted time early in the morning is usually the best. There is an excellent interview between C. J. Mahaney and Mark Dever on this necessary step. Mark Dever says that he first reads and rereads the passage that he is going to preach and spends about 35 hours a week in sermon preparation. Dever tells the following story to make his point:

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STEP ONE: Choose the Passage

John Calvin was dedicated to preaching verse by verse through books of the Bible. Steven J. Lawson in his book The Expository Genius of John Calvin wrote that Calvin preached through “Genesis, Deuteronomy, Job, Judges, I and II Samuel, I and II Kings, the Major and Minor Prophets, the Gospels, Acts, I and II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, I and II Thessalonians, I and II Timothy, Titus, and Hebrews” (page 33). Calvin was banished for three years (1538-1541) from Geneva by the City Council because he refused to let members living in open sin participate. When the city began to struggle, the City Council invited Calvin to return. “In September 1541, Calvin reentered his Geneva pulpit and resumed his exposition exactly where he had stopped three years earlier—-on the next verse! Similarly, Calvin became seriously ill in the first week of October 1558 and did not return to the pulpit until Monday, June 12, 1559—-when he resumed at the very next verse in the book of Isaiah” (page 33). Hence, the advantage of series preaching through books of the Bible.

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EIGHT SIMPLE Steps To Preparing and Preaching a Sermon

Start early! This is the welcomed advice of Bruce Mawhinney in Preaching with Freshness, Eugene: Harvest House Publishers, 1991, p. 41). “Early exegesis helps to prevent late eisegesis.” Bruce Mawhinney is senior pastor of New Covenant Fellowship in Mechanicsburg and writes one of the most refreshing books on preaching I have ever read. Preaching with Freshness is a first-person narrative on reviving stale preaching. Howard Hendricks said, "If more books on preaching were as interesting as this, then perhaps we would have more interesting preachers."

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