Some of you may have little or no experience with what I mean by preaching. I think it will help you listen to my messages if I say a word about it.

Preaching is expository. Expository means that preaching aims to exposit, or explain and apply, the meaning of the Bible. The reason for this is that the Bible is God’s word, inspired, infallible, profitable—all 66 books of it. The preacher’s job is to minimize his own opinions and deliver the truth of God. Every sermon should explain the Bible and then apply it to people's lives.

The preacher should do that in a way that enables you to see that the points he is making actually come from the Bible. If you can’t see that they come from the Bible, your faith will end up resting on a man and not on God's word.

The aim of this exposition is to help you eat and digest biblical truth that will
    * make your spiritual bones more like steel,
    * double the capacity of your spiritual lungs,
    * make the eyes of your heart dazzled with the brightness of the glory of God,
    * and awaken the capacity of your soul for kinds of spiritual enjoyment you didn’t even know existed.

Preaching is also exultation. This means that the preacher does not just explain what’s in the Bible, and the people do not simply try understand what he explains. Rather, the preacher and the people exult over what is in the Bible as it is being explained and applied. Preaching does not come after worship in the order of the service. Preaching is worship. The preacher worships—exults—over the word, trying his best to draw you into a worshipful response by the power of the Holy Spirit.

If you're used to a twenty-minute, immediately practical, relaxed talk, you won't find that from what I've just described.
    * I preach twice that long;
    * I do not aim to be immediately practical but eternally helpful;
    * and I am not relaxed.

I am standing vigilantly on the precipice of eternity speaking to people who this week could go over the edge whether they are ready to or not. I will be called to account for what I said there. That's what I mean by preaching.