It's All in How You Tell It: Preaching First-Person Expository Messages

We used this book for a narrative/expository preaching class at the university I attend. It provides a step-by-step walk though of how to construct a narrative sermon. Also, at the end of the book there are seven full length manuscripts which help one grasp what the end result might look like. Very helpful!

This book is cutting edge homily. It was clear, concise. I bought one for my brother, and friend!

Dr. Robinson's "Biblical Preaching" has been a standard for more than 20 years and has been extensively used in seminaries and Bible colleges. I read it too for my homiletics class (and still have it). It explains the preparation and preaching of the traditional "three point sermon with introduction and conclusion." I was pretty good at it but eventually it got boring. Thus I started checking into other methods and found this one, written by Dr. Robinson with his son Torrey. These authors still advocate expository preaching, but in a creative way: Biblical characters telling the stories from their point of view. The book is great for a number of reasons. It is very practical, explaining everything from preparation to delivery. It encourages you to study the text and the cultural setting so that you can "milk" these for vivid, explanatory details that will greatly inrich your story. It includes a couple of sample sermons, so that I was able to envision what these sermons look like. Once I tried it at church, people loved it so much, they applaud any time I do it (don't ask me why). Some people remember sermons I did more than two years ago. Others tell me this form makes the Biblical characters come to life or that they are transported into Biblical times. I don't think that it might have been their intention, but I have actually abandoned the "three point sermon" advocated by Dr. Robinson in his "Biblical Preaching" and moved more into Fred Craddock's narrative preaching style. Credit (or blame) this book that has introduced me to preaching as story telling rather than the declaration of propositional truth.

For preachers committed to biblical exposition yet still eager to provide a creative element to their preaching, the Robinsons offer helpful insights and some effective models. This is a worthwhile investment for the preacher seeking to add new energy to expository sermons.Michael DuduitEditor, Preaching Magazine(www.preaching.com)