Colin Adams of the Unashamed Workman blog interviewsDerek Prime, former senior pastor of Charlotte Baptist Chapel in Edinburgh from 1969–1986, on matters relating to expository preaching.
He asks him 10 questions. Here are a few selections from that interview:
Colin Adams asks Conrad Mbewe, pastor of Katwaba Baptist Church, Zambia, 10 questions about expository preaching. Here are a few selections:
Where do you place the importance of preaching in the grand scheme of church life?
As far as I can see from the Word of God, preaching must be central to the life of the church. This can be seen from the way the church started in the New Testament. As soon as the first church was gathered together in Acts 2, the Bible records that “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42). . . .
How long (on average) does it take you to prepare a sermon?
It takes anything between two to three hours, depending on how familiar I am with the subject or the text. Because I usually preach in a consecutive expository fashion in my own pulpit, most of the initial spade work would have been done much earlier. Hence, that is not included in this time. Also, I rarely ever write out my sermons in full. My final sermon outline is hardly ever more than one page long. So, again, you have to cut out the average writing time that most pastors go through. That is why I do not spend as much time in sermon preparation as most of my fellow preachers.
Is it important to you that a sermon contain one major theme or idea? If so, how do you crystallise it?
It is very important. I go before God’s people with “a word from the Lord” and it is important to me that they go home after listening to my preaching with that word—or theme or idea. I ensure that my introduction waters their appetite for that one “word” and that my conclusion nails it in with some immediate application. . . .
What are the greatest perils that a preacher must avoid?
Familiarity and prayerlessness. I have preached for (only) twenty years and I sense the temptation to handle the work of preaching as “just one of those things”. Yet I am aware that these two vices will cost me the presence of God in preaching and I will soon become a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. May I add the temptation to use the Bible to say what you already started out wanting to say? . . .
What books on preaching, or exemplars of it, have you found most influential in your own preaching?
The sermons of Charles Haddon Spurgeon come immediately to mind. In the early years of my Christian life, I used to preach some of them out to an empty church building. Well, it was not completely empty because I had a few of my friends sitting in the pews, but it was not a worship service either. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ Evangelistic Sermons and his Old Testament Evangelistic Sermons (both published by the Banner of Truth Trust) are great examples of evangelistic preaching. One can add to this his expositions in Romans and Ephesians. Those sermons are worth their weight in gold! You will notice, therefore, that I have learnt more from books that contain sermons rather than books that teach how to preach.
Steve Mathewson shares some tips on how to prepare multiple sermons per week.
You must prioritize! Spend most of your time preparing the sermon for your ‘primary’ worship service(s), and spend less time preparing for the ‘secondary’ preaching opportunity. . . .
Feel free to recycle! A good sermon is worth preaching twice, especially when you re-work it and tinker with it the second time around. . . .
Expand themes or material from your primary sermon for your sermon in the secondary setting. . . . Usually, you’ll have more material than you can use when you’re done studying for your primary sermon. So, use it in your secondary sermon!
Use the secondary setting to wrestle with application. In my opinion, North American Christianity does not devote enough time to this! . . .
Use secondary settings to let others in the church exercise and develop their gifts! . . . Reserve these opportunities for other pastoral staff members or for preachers-in-training.
James Merritt of PastorsEdge, a new site that is sure to be controversial, is making his sermons available for $8 each ($5.50 without artwork) or $30 for a series. A pastor can download the sermon manuscript, a corresponding PowerPoint presentation, and a handout for the congregation. The pastor is told not to think of this as plagiarism, since he has the permission of the sermon’s author.
PastorsEdge.com features sermons can be downloaded as a complete package. When you see the phrase “Sermons with Artwork” it means that when you purchase that series you get:
The complete sermon manuscript in Word ® and as a PDF ®.
A complete PowerPoint® presentation that highlights each main point.
A beautifully illustrated listening sheet that can be easily duplicated for your congregation.
The only thing left for the pastor to do is prepare the message. All of the supporting files are ready to go!
Mark Lauterbach at GospelDrivenLife, though on a “blogging sabbath,” relates two telling questions he asks himself when he preaches. The entire post is Gospel-centered and grace-filled—well worth taking time to mull over.
Being “a legalist at heart,” Mark feels “compelled to bring people to action.” As he preaches, however, he seeks to ask himself two questions to keep this desire in check:
Do people leave with a greater awareness of the Savior or of their own sin?
Mark is concerned that the sheep he has been trusted to shepherd be guided in the proper direction by the proper means. He realizes that a functional Gospel, directing people to the cross and their Savior in every area of life, is the only route to Spirit-driven transformation.
In addition, Mark asks,
If they are motivated to obey, are they motivated in faith toward the Savior’s fullness, or in fear and guilt and self-sufficiency?
Mark seeks to avoid the dangers that lie along the path of guilt- and/or ability-driven obedience by again pointing himself and his congregation to the cross.
How do your messages score in these two areas? Where are the hearts of your sheep directed as they listen to you?
Colin Adams asks Thabiti Anyabwile, pastor of First Baptist Church in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, 10 questions about expository preaching. Here are a few selections:
Where do you place the importance of preaching in the grand scheme of church life?
I would rank preaching Christ and Him crucified as the most important commitment of the ministry. Everything else builds upon the exposition of God’s Word. . . .
How long (on average) does it take you to prepare a sermon?
Currently, I devote two full days to sermon preparation—Thursday and Friday. I’ll generally spend about twenty hours over those two days and a few hours through the week reading the text and making notes.
Is it important to you that a sermon contain one major theme or idea? If so, how do you crystallise it?
I think the sermon should contain the major themes or points of the text being considered. . . . I’d rather the number of themes or ideas from the text to determine the structure of my sermon than my “sermon framework/approach” to drive the number of themes or ideas I focus on in a text.
What is the most important aspect of a preacher’s style and what should he avoid?
I think it’s probably most important that a preacher be himself . . . whatever that means stylistically. Piper is Piper; MacArthur is MacArthur; Stott is Stott; Lloyd-Jones was Lloyd-Jones. I suppose Thabiti is Thabiti, though as a young preacher I’m still trying to figure out what that means. . . .
What notes, if any, do you use?
I take a full manuscript into the pulpit. I’ll probably deliver 85% of it. . . . I do this because I’m concerned about two things: 1) I want to be theologically more precise . . . . 2) Some of the most influential and prominent men in the history of the African American church left almost no record of their preaching ministries. . . .
Colin Adams asks Vaughan Roberts, Rector of St Ebbes Church in Oxford, 10 questions about expository preaching. Here are a few selections:
Where do you place the importance of preaching in the grand scheme of church life?
Preaching is central. Christ gathers his church and rules it through his word. The preaching of his word must therefore be the focal point of our congregational gatherings if Christ is to be at the centre. . . .
How long (on average) does it take you to prepare a sermon?
About 12 hours. Early sermons in a new series on a less familiar book can take a few hours longer.
Is it important to you that a sermon contain one major theme or idea? If so, how do you crystallise it?
It’s certainly important that the sermon should have an aim. It needs to have a clear sense of direction and of what it intends to communicate. That is not a single point that’s chosen arbitrarily from a number of different points that could be made from the passage; it should rather be driven by the thrust of the text itself. . . .
What are the greatest perils that a preacher must avoid?
They will vary from person to person and from time to time. At the moment my biggest danger is taking on too much and drifting into a spiritually dull ‘professionalism’ as a preacher. I need to preserve the freshness of my own walk with Christ if my preaching is to remain fresh.
What books on preaching, or exemplars of it, have you found most influential in your own preaching?
John Stott’s ‘I believe in preaching’ was the first book I read on the subject and I still go back to it. John Stott, Dick Lucas, Roy Clements and Jonathan Fletcher were influential models when I first began preaching.
Colin Adams asks Liam Goligher, pastor of Duke Street Church Richmond upon Thames, 10 questions about expository preaching. Here are a few selections:
Where do you place the importance of preaching in the grand scheme of church life?
I think it would impossible for me to exaggerate the importance of preaching to the life and health of a church. It lies at the heart of corporate worship where the united life of a congregation finds it expression. . . .
How long (on average) does it take you to prepare a sermon?
I take more time now than I ever did. In my first church (when I was 22) I had four sermons a week to prepare plus do all the visiting. So I spent 12 hours each on the Sunday one’s and ‘got by’ on the mid-week ones. . . . [Now] I give about 20 hours to each sermon. . . .
What notes, if any, do you use?
I started with the back of a borrowed cigarette box! I graduated to two sides of A5, then developed in the middle part of my ministry to 8 small hand written pages. I now type 13 pages of printed A5. My manuscript is now fuller than ever, highly colored (though I lost what the codes were meant to mean long ago I’m afraid).
What are the greatest perils that a preacher must avoid?
Perhaps the greatest dangers are professionalism and laziness. By professionalism I mean that we prepare sermons for other people without ever preaching them to ourselves first. . . .
What books on preaching, or exemplars of it, have you found most influential in your own preaching? Murray’s The Forgotten Spurgeon was of enormous help. There Murray describes the passion and power of Spurgeon’s preaching. Spurgeon’s Lectures to my Students was helpful at one stage, as was W. E. Sangster. I was a student at Seminary when Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers was published. Today I think Sam Logan’s The Preacher and Preaching is very helpful.
Bryan Chapell (Wikipedia), president of Covenant Theological Seminary, is a well-respected expert on expository preaching. If you haven’t his Christ-Centered Preaching, you need to.
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Colin Adams of the Unashamed Workman blog 
Colin Adams asks Conrad Mbewe, pastor of 
Steve Mathewson shares some tips on how to prepare multiple sermons per week.
James Merritt
Colin Adams asks 
Colin Adams asks Liam Goligher, pastor of 
