Preaching from the OT

What is neat is that all of what we believe to be true from the NT stems from events that happened in the OT. My OT professor definitely helped open my eyes.

 

true...but the rub is that most preachers/pastor-teachers don't use either. That is sad reality, but reality. Hebrew is harder than Greek imho but there is something else.

Preaching from the NT is easy. Preaching from the OT, not so much for some.

Yes. And too many sermons by Adrian Rogers and Charles Spurgeon are from the NT...lol...

The only close one would be "we are people of the new covenant" but that is fallacious imho.

Again we agree. While I was required to preach from one OT passage and one NT passage in my principles of preaching class most seminaries just aren't set up to provide excellent OT exposition examples.

Completely agree. Like I said the NT is much easier. More logical and deductive while the OT is a different kind of literature. Also the themes of the OT are harder to deal with by many.

The interesting thing for me is I've spoken almost exclusively from the OT (with several exceptions) this past year.

This is the key to the whole thing. We are taught the "deductive methodology" in seminary (you know three points and a poem) but never taught inductive preaching. Inductive preaching is, imho, the best way to reach the generations in the 21st Century. Stories lend themselves to better communication but this is something that is difficult to do.

When I prepare an OT talk I always start with the languages and then move to a general translation and diagramming of the passage. I look for where the emphases exist and the flow is pointing towards. Then I begin looking at the points the author(s) might be making and beginning. I structure my points (if its more than one) inductively, using them to climb up to the big takeaway. Most preachers don't know how to do that because the predominate theme in seminaries in the 1900s was deductive...you start with the major theme and show the points.

Walking our people into the major point (I call takeaway) is more effective in this century imho.

GREAT post btw.