"Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction.  For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.  Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear."  (2 Timothy 4:2-3)

 For several years, I believed what I had been told by mentors, Bible college and seminary professors - "You must preach to people's felt needs.  Preaching through books of the Bible verse-by-verse will kill your church."  I preached what I would call topical/expository sermons.  I would preach out of one passage in the Bible, let's say Luke, one week and the next week I would preach out of Galatians.  I realized, though, that I ended up preaching the same issues over and over and over - just using different passages every time.  I was not forcing myself to grow in God's Word, nor was I forcing my congregation to grow in God's Word.  We stuck with what we knew.

God convicted me about my need to preach through books of the Bible verse-by-verse.  That means I no longer approach a passage looking for 3 keys to whatever topic I have picked for that week; it means the point of my message is the point of the passage.  The points I make are the ones the passage makes.  Do I do it perfectly?  Far from it!  Am I better than everyone else who preaches topically?  No.  I believe in true expository preaching because I firmly believe that there are no preachers who have anything to offer anyone - only the Word of God has the power to change lives.  So, let's preach the Word and not our opinions.

The Church in America needs to get back to the Bible!  We do not need more Joel Osteens (I just made a lot of people mad!).  Someone reviewed 5 years worth of Joel Osteen's messages and found that he only used no more than 50 verses in those 5 years.  Not 50 main verses - 50 verses in total!  Is he preaching the Word or his own pop psychology?  Is he giving that church the "whole counsel of God" or what their itching ears want to hear?

You might be saying, "But people need sermons on how to have a good marriage!"  Fine.  We will get there.  If God allows me to stay at my current church long enough, my goal is to preach through every verse of the Bible.  We will address marriage plenty of times by the time we are done!  But isn't the best key to a stronger marriage, being a better parent, being a better employee or employer really all about knowing God's Word?  Psalm 1 says that if we ground ourselves in the Word of God, our tree will not wither but it will bring forth fruit and everything we do will prosper.  If we consume ourselves in the Bible, we will be better spouses, parents, co-workers, etc.

"But Jesus didn't preach expository sermons!"  Yeah, but He is the Word of God!  Everything He said was directly from the Father's heart!  I am not Jesus.  Everything I say sin't necessarily from the Father's heart.  So, how can I be like Jesus and preach the Father's heart?  By faithfully preaching the Word of God and keeping my own opinions in check when I stand before my congregation every Sunday.