How is expository Bible teaching different than non-expository teaching?
David Jackman is the founder and director of the Cornhill Training Course, a UK-based initiative which teaches people how to teach the Bible expositorally.
David has served as a pastor and as president of Proclamation Trust, which exists to equip Bible teachers around the world.
In this episode, David explains the value of expository preaching, both in how it honors God’s Word, and in the ways it benefits those who hear it.
We discuss common pushbacks to expository preaching, such as that Jesus was not an expository preacher, and we get into the mechanics of effective Bible teaching, including how to include application, and more.
What is Expository Preaching and How Do We Do It Well? – with David Jackman –
Theology for the People
How is expository Bible teaching different than non-expository teaching?
David Jackman is the founder and director of the Cornhill Training Course, which teaches people how to teach the Bible expositorally. He has also served as a pastor and as president of Proclamation Trust, which exists to equip Bible teachers around the world.
In this episode, David explains the value of expository preaching, both in how it honors God’s Word, and in the ways it benefits those who hear it.
We discuss common pushbacks to expository preaching, such as that Jesus was not an expository preacher, and we get into the mechanics of effective Bible teaching, including how to include application, and more.
Check out David's recent book, Proclaiming the Word, as well as Expositors Collective.
This video is a clip from a message I presented at an Expositors Collective training event, on the topic of Christ-Centered Hermeneutics. I didn’t realize they had isolated this clip and turned it into a video, but I’m glad they did, and I’d love for you to check it out:
One of my favorite quotes about preaching comes from Richard Baxter, the 17th century English Puritan pastor and writer. He described his mode of preaching like this:
I preached as if never to preach again; as a dying man to dying men.
That quote conveys the sense of weight and urgency that a Christian sermon must have. This sense of weight and urgency can be seen in the preaching of the prophets, of Jesus himself, and in the preaching of the Apostles, recorded in the Book of Acts.
“Knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others“
In 2 Corinthians 5, the Apostle Paul is writing about the incredible hope that we have because of the gospel. It is a hope that enables us to live free from the fear of death, because we know that eternal life awaits us as a result of what Jesus accomplished for us.
And then, in 2 Corinthians 5:11, Paul declares: “Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others.”
To persuade means to convince someone to accept or adopt a certain point of view, belief, opinion, or course of action. It involves presenting arguments, evidence, or appeals that are designed to change someone’s mind or motivate them to take a particular action.
What is it then, that we are called to persuade people to do? In 2 Corinthians 5:20, Paul says that it is as if God is appealing to people through us: “We implore you, on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God!”
“I have written these things so that you may believe”
At the end of the Gospel of John, the Apostle John lays his cards on the table and says,
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John 20:30-31
In other words, John was trying to do something more than just convey true information. He was seeking to convey true information in a way that would compel and persuade people to believe.
Persuasion Versus Manipulation
There’s a difference between persuasion and manipulation.
Paul the Apostle, in 1 Corinthians 1-2, says that when he came to Corinth, he did not seek to manipulate the Corinthians in any way by use of rhetorical techniques. Rather, he preached Christ, and Him crucified, and he did so with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power.
So, while we do seek to persuade, we must never be manipulative. How does that work out practically?
The Power of Expository Preaching
John Scott explains the power of expository preaching in this way:
The skillful expositor allows the text to open itself up before our eyes, like a rose unfolding to the morning sun and displaying its previously hidden beauty.
John Scott, Between Two Worlds
So, the job of a faithful Bible teacher is to help people to see what the Bible is saying in a way that is clear, and in a way that helps them see that it is not only true, but why it matters for them.
It is not our job to make the Bible “seem” compelling, rather it is our job to help people understand why it is compelling, by helping them understand and even feel the importance and urgency of what the text is saying and how it pertains to their lives.
Our goal is to help people understand the badness of sin, the hopelessness of the curse — and the greatness of Jesus, and the goodness of the gospel, in a way that compels them to believe and to act.
Augustine’s Preaching Manual
Augustine of Hippo, the famed church father, wrote a manual, to instruct other preachers how to preach.
In that manual, Augustine said that the duty of a preacher is not only to instruct and teach, but also to “rivet and delight” – and to “stir and move people to action.”
The goal of preaching, therefore, is not only to pass on true information about the Bible, but to affect the beliefs, actions, and even emotions of those who are listening.
Ultimately, we want to be used by God to reshape the foundations of our listeners’ hearts; to change what they most fundamentally love, desire, hope in, and trust in — so that by seeing what God’s Word says they are compelled to love, desire, hope and trust in Him, rather than in idols of this world.
Compelling Preaching is Born Out of Two Loves
Compelling preaching is born out of two loves: love for God, and love for people.
Because we want to honor God by rightly dividing His Word, and because we care about the fate and destiny of people, we don’t just want our sermons to be informative lectures, but we desire to bring the “words of life,” the Holy Scriptures, to bear on people’s lives in such a way that they are compelled to respond by trusting in and worshiping Jesus.
Because of the ongoing Coronavirus situation we postponed the Expositors Collective in-person two-day training weekends in Seattle and Honolulu, but we continue to look for ways to continue our mission to equip, encourage, and mentor the next generation of expository Bible teachers and preachers.
Our next webinar will be on September 19, 2020 from 9:00-10:00 AM Pacific Time (10:00-11:00 AM Mountain Time), and the theme is: Preaching to the Heart of Our Hearers.
Ryan has a heart to help teachers and preachers grow in their calling. He has been a guest on the Expositors Collective Podcast and we are excited to have him join us for this webinar which will include a short message followed by an opportunity to ask questions and discuss topics.
Here’s an audio clip from Ryan introducing the webinar:
This is a free event, but is limited to the first 100 who sign up, which you can do by clicking the button below.
Every summer Calvary Chapel puts on a conference for pastors and ministry leaders in Southern California. This year the conference has been moved online because of COVID, but one of the benefits is that this opens up the opportunity for those who can’t easily take a week off and travel to California to be able to join and be encouraged.
This year’s conference will be August 10-13, 2020. The cost is $10, which gives you access to all of the bonus content, including a seminar I was part of with Expositors Collective on the topic of expository and Christ-centered preaching and teaching.
We are using a platform for the conference which allows a lot of interaction as well as multiple “rooms” you can join during the conference for different seminars on topics those in ministry will surely find helpful and interesting for the areas where you lead.
It was the day after Thanksgiving in 2017, and we were in San Diego, where my wife Rosemary is from. The next day, Saturday, we were driving back to Colorado, so I could make it back for church on Sunday, which meant that I had one day to prepare my sermon for that Sunday.
Rosemary and the kids decided to go to the zoo, which gave me 12 hours to prepare. At this point, I usually spent 20-25 hours preparing each sermon, so this was a daunting task.
After they left our AirBnB for the day, I was scrolling Instagram (instead of studying!), and came across a post of someone holding a copy of the book: 8 Hours or Less: Writing Faithful Sermons Faster by Ryan Huguley.
I immediately did the math in my head: If this book could really help me do what the title claimed, then that would give me 3.5 hours to read the book, and 8 hours to write my sermon! I purchased the book on Amazon, read it, wrote my sermon, and made it back to Colorado on time for church that Sunday. That sermon can be found here: 5 Solas: Soli Deo Gloria (Colossians 3:16-24)
Since that time, I have implemented Ryan’s process, and shared about my growth in this area at the Expositors Collective training weekends.
Recently I had the opportunity to chat with Ryan over Zoom about doing ministry in Salt Lake City, his method for sermon preparation, and what advice he has for those who teach and preach.
The world as we know it is always changing. We have all experienced that recently with the COVID-19 crisis. In order for us to preach and teach God’s Word faithfully in an ever-changing world, we need to be led and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
As part of our ongoing mission to help equip the next generation of expository Bible teachers, we are excited to announce our first-ever online event: an interactive webinar on May 9, 2020 from 9-11 AM Pacific Standard Time (10AM-12PM Mountain Time)
Similar to our training weekends, the webinar will include short messages from experienced Bible teachers, and interactive opportunities to ask questions and discuss topics.
Schedule
There will be two talks, interspersed with opportunities to ask questions and discuss topics.
Brian Brodersen: “The Holy Spirit & Preaching”
David Guzik: “Consistent Message, Changing Styles”
I have been leading from 1:00-2:00 PM Mountain Time each day, and it has been encouraging to see God use it.
It would be great to have you join me for these times of prayer; it has certainly been good for me to spend an hour in prayer each day for all that’s going on. I’m sure God would use it in your life as well.
This past week I was honored to be interviewed by David Snead on his podcast. David is a missionary in Lviv, Ukraine – and he is one of the most organized people I know.
We had a great discussion about my background in ministry, ministering in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond, Calvary Chapel, and expository preaching. Check it out:
As it so happens, this is the 100th episode of the podcast. As Mike shares in the intro to the episode, he had planned some fanfare and celebration for this milestone, but with the current COVID-19 crisis, it seems that an episode on preaching funerals is more apropos.
Whether you find yourself in the position of preaching or leading a funeral, or if you simply want to listen in to my process and insights, I encourage you to check out this episode.
When I left on March 5 to Hungary and Ukraine, there was no recommendation not to travel to those areas – and even now there are very few cases of COVID-19. I am deeply concerned by the threat that this virus poses to the vulnerable and immune-compromised around the world, and am committed to doing my part to prevent the spreading of the virus.
That being said, here is an update on what Mike and I were up to in Hungary and Ukraine:
Expositors Collective Budapest
The Expositors Collective is a growing network of pastors and leaders who are committed to raising up the next generation of Christ-centered Bible teachers and preachers through interactive training seminars and a weekly podcast.
Just last week, the Expositors Collective celebrated two years since our first training weekend in Thousand Oaks, CA!
Since that first event, we have hosted 8 training seminars, the latest being the one in Budapest, which was a bit of a hybrid: as opposed to our usual 2-day format, we condensed it into a 1-day event, which required leaving out some aspects of our usual training.
March 7 Expositors Collective training in Budapest
Budapest was also our first time working in a bilingual setting, as we had people in attendance not only from Hungary, but from surrounding countries, including Slovakia, Serbia, and Romania, as well as students from Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe.
The training went very well, and there is interest for Expositors Collective events in other European countries, as well as for the full 2-day version in Budapest at some point in the future.
Visiting Missionaries & Speaking at Churches
White Fields supports several missionaries around the world, mostly in Eastern Europe. (See: White Fields Missions) On this trip, I was able to visit all of our European missionaries except one, beginning with the Németh family in South Budapest. I had the opportunity to preach at their church, Golgota Dél-Pest. I loved getting to preach in Hungarian again. The video of that sermon is embedded below.
On Monday, March 9, Mike and I flew to Kyiv, Ukraine – where we were met by missionaries and friends: George Markey (senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Kyiv), and Nate Medlong, who serves in Kharkiv, Ukraine with Calvary Chapel Kharkiv and Fostering Hope ministry to children in foster care. Mike then took a train to Ternopil, in western Ukraine to visit missionaries there, and I went to Kharkiv with Nate to spend a few days with him, his family, and people from their church.
I taught the Thursday night service at the church in Kharkiv, after a quick trip up to Kyiv Thursday morning to speak at Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary, where I taught two 80-minute classes on Spiritual Formation.
Teaching at UETS, a view of Kyiv from the train, teaching at the church in Kharkiv
This past Sunday I taught at Calvary Chapel Kyiv, their last service before the national quarantine began. Video of that message is embedded below as well.
Calvary Chapel Ukraine Leadership Conference
On Friday-Saturday we had 65 Calvary Chapel leaders from all over Ukraine gather in Irpin for the annual leadership conference. This was a time of teaching, training, and discussing leadership principles from God’s Word in order to help us lead our churches well. Click here for photos of the conference.
With the spread of COVID-19, these gatherings are no longer possible or wise, but in God’s providence we were able to hold them while it was still safe and wise to do so.
It was a fruitful time of ministry, and great times of fellowship with people who are doing important work in a place where it is very needed. Please keep the work of these leaders and churches in your prayers that God would bless and use their ministries for His glory and for the good of many people!
![8 Hours or Less: Writing faithful sermons faster by [Huguley, Ryan]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41ZF8RwZ5WL.jpg)
Theology for the People 