Expository Preaching Blog #8 - "Study Tools"

By

How do you prepare for expository preaching? It is by expository study. The text always comes first. It has to be in its context. When you are studying a specific verse what does everything around it say? These are the verses before and the verses after. The chapter and verse separations are not inspired. They are pretty accurate but they are not inspired.

Do not go to another book first, go to the Bible text first, always! Read it over and over.

There are some great study books. I start with a couple of different translations. My main preference is the New KJV. I personally believe the KJV is the best translation over all but some words have changed in the English language since 1611 AD. That’s why I like the NKJV best. That is what I preach from. I also like the NASB and the NIV translations. I never use paraphrases in study or in the pulpit. I also like the NKJV when I am doing multi-ethnic ministry and I have a translator in the service.

Another book is a concordance. My preference is the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. It lists every use of every word in the Bible. Some words are only used once or twice, some are used a dozen or so times. It will help you see how certain words are used in different places in the Bible. But be careful to always look at that word in its new context!

My next important book is a good lexicon. I never studied Hebrew but I spent several years in Bible College studying Greek. I love the Arndt & Gingrich Greek lexicon. I pair it with a good interlinear Bible so that I make sure I am looking up the right Greek word. The A&G lexicon also gives me the proper translation depending on where and how the word is used. It is so vital to get the correct translation and therefore get the correct interpretation.

Please notice that I have not yet mentioned commentaries. That is because I so rarely use them. I can count on 2 hands the number of times I have used commentaries in sermon preparation. That is because they are simply another man’s opinion. Their opinion holds no weight for me no matter how much I like the author. The only time I use commentaries is when I am really struggling with a passage. I use them as thought provokers but I do not use them as an authority. I have used Richard Lenski for New Testament Greek passages as well as Keil and Delitzsch for Old Testament Hebrew passages. It is interesting that these authors are all German Lutheran scholars. They are a good resource for expository study.

That is it. That is what I use for 99.9% of my sermon preparation. I do not ever use modern preachers, writers, books or magazines. The other thing that I will use once in a while is good history book to understand customs and the culture of the time when that Bible passage what written. Examples are adoption, burial, inns and marriage. Those things are done completely different in Jewish culture than they are in ours! You cannot interpret those things from a modern western point of view. Do the work. Do it right. Do it for God’s glory!

 

Rev. David Johnson

Former Pastor

First Baptist Church of Austin, MN

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Expository Preaching Blog #14 – “Pastor Bill Park”

By
I have never done this before and I probably never will again but today I must. I will give my blog over to speak about a dear friend of mine who entered heaven last night after a short illness. Pastor Bill Park has been a friend of mine, my pastor, colleague, teacher, missions leader for many year years now. I first met him 40 years ago. My first pastorate was 15 miles from his church at the time, High Point Baptist Chapel. After resigning my first pastorate we attended his church in Geigertown, PA for about 15 months before we moved on to our next ministry in NY State. We felt at home at High Point there like no other church I have attended since starting in pastoral ministry. He was a father to me in ministry like I never had with my own father. My own father had died on the mission field 13 years earlier. My father’s death was one of the biggest losses in my life. Pastor Bill left this life as I was writing the first draft of this blog. My heart is breaking and aching for his fam
Read more

Expository Preaching Blog #39 – “Accuracy – Orphans and Adoption”

By
I believe in expository preaching. It is my pet peeve. It is an obsession with me. It makes it very hard for me to attend church many Sundays. This is nothing new. I have been an expository preacher for the last 50 years. The first sermon I ever preached was an expository sermon. My last one was too. Every sermon in between has been an expository sermon. Yep, I am focused. There is a reason for that. When I stand in a pulpit the authority is not in my words but in God’s Word. I want to get it right. I want people to be able to trust, rely on and depend on what I say. Not because I said it but because God said it. If I ever preach just what “I think”, then there is no reason for me to preach ever again. There are millions who do just that. I hunger to preach the Word of God. I long to do it and do it right. Last Sunday I sat in a worship and sang a well-known contemporary Christian song. A lyric caught my ear. It said “I was an orphan.” Some of you might know that song and that phra
Read more

Expository Preaching Blog #48 – “Holding Fast the Faithful Word” (BBC & CSU)

By
On July 1, 2024 it was announced that Clarks Summit University in Clarks Summit, PA was permanently closing. This is was my alma mater. When I attended there from 1976-1981 it was known as Baptist Bible College of Pennsylvania. The school began as Baptist Bible Seminary in Johnson City, NY in 1932. It moved to the Clarks Summit campus in 1968. I loved the school and deeply appreciated the education I received there. My mother, my brother and both of my sisters attended and graduated from the school. I graduated from the local high school in Clarks Summit and then stayed on for my college years. I lived in the area for a total of 11 years until I moved to SE Pennsylvania to take my first church as a pastor. I am very sad to see it close. Faculty and staff have to find new employment elsewhere. Students have to find other colleges or universities to attend. Area businesses and local churches will be effected. It is not known what will become of the 35 acre campus. I met my wife Trici
Read more