Very simply, expositional preaching has the aim of taking the main idea and message of a passage of Scripture and making it the main idea and message of the sermon. In other words, expositional preaching seeks to declare precisely what the text declares by: (a) helping God's people understand God's meaning within the context of God's Word and (b) to help people apply the truths revealed in the Scripture to their lives. Often then, if not exclusively, all major points of the sermon will come directly from the text we're walking through.
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Expositional
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Christ-centered
In John 12:21, we read: "So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” The heart behind this need, this desire, is at the forefront of our preparation at FBCJ. We long to see Jesus high and lifted up, as he draws all people "unto Himself." (John 12:32) Finally, in Colossians 1:18 we find: "And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent." If "in all things," than certainly in His Word preached!
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book by book
Pastor Patrick believes in walking through Biblical books one by one. That doesn't mean that, for a Sunday or two, we won't hop to other passages (for example: Easter, Palm Sunday, or Communion Sundays) Following the contours of book-by-book exposition constrains us from running after the topics or outrage de jour, preferring "not to go beyond what is written." Often we will jump back and forth between OT and NT books, following themes or pulling at theological threads. Currently, we are walking through Acts.
