While strong, gospel-centered preaching abounds, many Christian pastors and lay preachers find it difficult to preach meaningfully from the Old Testament. This practical handbook offers help. Graeme Goldsworthy teaches the basics of preaching the whole Bible in a consistently Christ-centered way. Goldsworthy first examines the Bible, biblical theology, and preaching and shows how they relate in the preparation of Christ-centered sermons. He then applies the biblical-theological method to the various types of literature found in the Bible, drawing out their contributions to expository preaching focused on the person and work of Christ. Clear, complete, and immediately applicable, this volume will become a fundamental text for teachers, pastors, and students preparing for ministry.

While strong, gospel-centered preaching abounds, many Christian pastors and lay preachers find it difficult to preach meaningfully from the Old Testament. This practical handbook offers help. Graeme Goldsworthy teaches the basics of preaching the whole Bible in a consistently Christ-centered way. Goldsworthy first examines the Bible, biblical theology, and preaching and shows how they relate in the preparation of Christ-centered sermons. He then applies the biblical-theological method to the various types of literature found in the Bible, drawing out their contributions to expository preaching focused on the person and work of Christ. Clear, complete, and immediately applicable, this volume will become a fundamental text for teachers, pastors, and students preparing for ministry.

Voicing one theme for the entire Bible and structuring all sermons around that idea may seem to be an impossible challenge. For veteran pastor and preaching professor Edmund Clowney it will not do to preach a text from either the Old or New Testaments without fully preaching its ultimate and primary focus-the person and work of Jesus Christ. He writes, "To see the text in relation to Christ is to see it in its larger context, the context of God's purpose in revelation." Clowney's rationale for emphasizing Christ's presence in the Old Testament rests on the purpose of the Hebrew Scripture. The Old Testament follows God's one great plan for human history and redemption, and the plan is not only from him but centers on him: his presence in his incarnate Son. The witness of the Scriptures to Christ is the reason they were written, so it is appropriate to emphasize this element in the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament. By offering numerous full-length examples of his own sermons that emphasize Christ as the principle theme of Scripture, Clowney illustrates for those who will never have the privilege of being his students how they can craft sermons which present Christ as the primary consideration of the text. He also offers specific instructions on preparing such a sermon. He discusses the personal habits of prayer and Bible study that prepare pastors to seek out Christ's presence. Clowney emphasizes the importance of including a specific application in every sermon so that Christ is presented both in what he says and does to reveal himself in the biblical text and in what he says and does to direct Christians' lives today. Students preparing for the pastorate, pastors desiring to increase their emphasis on Christ in their sermons, and those seeking Christ's presence in all of Scripture will find a help in Clowney's writings.

Expository preaching has been on the rise over the last five decades, with more and more pastors preaching through entire books of the Bible systematically. But few, if any, preachers have a long-term plan to teach through every book of the Bible over a lifetime of ministry. Since the whole Bible is God’s Word to his people, all of Scripture is important in order to grow as Christians. Written to make a case for the necessity of a long-term plan for preaching through the entire Bible instead of just through individual books, this is not just a book on how to preach, but also how to plan and prepare long-range preaching programs through the whole counsel of God.

Arguing for the need both to preach Christ in every sermon and to preach regularly from the Old Testament, Sidney Greidanus develops a christocentric method that will help preachers do both simultaneously. Greidanus challenges Old Testament scholars to broaden their focus and to understand the Old Testament not only in its own historical context but also in the context of the New Testament. Suggesting specific steps and providing concrete examples, this volume provides a practical guide for preaching Christ from the Old Testament.

2012 Preaching Survey of the Year's Best Books for Preachers The appeal of biblical theology is that it provides a "big picture" that makes sense of the diversity of biblical literature. Through the lens of biblical theology the Bible ceases to be a mass of unconnected texts, but takes shape as a unified metanarrative connecting the story of Israel with that of Jesus. It presents the whole scene of God's revelation as one mighty plan of salvation. For fifty years Graeme Goldsworthy has been refining his understanding of biblical theology through his experiences as a student, pastor and teacher. In this valuable complement to his Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics, Goldsworthy defends and refines the rationale for his approach, drawing especially on the work of Australian biblical scholar Donald Robinson.

According to the Reformers, preaching is the word of God. As the word of God, preaching is a foundation for the church. It is also vital for the personal growth of a Christian. But Christians are poorly equipped to understand how preaching is the word of God. Some Christians look for preaching that closely reproduces the text in the Bible. Other Christians look for preaching that creates maximal emotional and existential impact. And there is a lot of name-calling with Christians accusing preachers of "not preaching the word." But what type of preaching is the word of God? The purpose of this book is to equip Christians to understand how preaching can be God speaking. It accomplishes this with a survey of the problem in the history of the church, a detailed overview of key biblical texts, and finally the application of the contemporary philosophical tool of speech act theory.

This memorial volume both displays and evaluates the canonical approach of Brevard S. Childs, whose attention to history through time animated his interest in the Bible’s use in the church through the ages up to and including the present. Just as Childs wrote on a wide range of topics canonical and theological—both Testaments, Isaiah and Exodus, the Pauline letters, the history of biblical interpretation, biblical theology, and historical, theological, and methodological questions—the contributors to this volume, seasoned colleagues as well as younger scholars who studied with Childs, offer an international collection of historical, theological, and New Testament essays as well as contributions focused on the Old Testament. The contributors are Stephen B. Chapman, Brevard S. Childs, Don Collett, Daniel R. Driver, Mark W. Elliott, Leonard G. Finn, Mark Gignilliat, Bernd Janowski, Jörg Jeremias, Leander E. Keck, Neil B. MacDonald, David L. Petersen, Murray A. Rae, C. Kavin Rowe, and Christopher R. Seitz.