Christian preaching has lost its prophetic voice.
As a new generation of preachers attempt to correct the problem in new ways, Pastor Chip Thornton takes the preacher back to the old way: protect, preserve, and proclaim the biblical author's single intent in every thought-unit of Holy Scripture-nothing more; nothing less.
Point-to-point preaching is nothing new at all. It is a return to the old way-to the Protestant Reformers' way, the apostles' way, Jesus's way, the Old Testament prophets' way-the only way that has ever works: the fierce and unyielding commitment to the biblical author's single meaning in Scripture texts, despite what the culture says.
Yes, Christian preaching has lost its prophetic voice. In this readable, practical book, Chip Thornton calls Christian preachers to find their prophetic voice again, and it shows them how.
Chipley McQueen Thornton is pastor of First Baptist Church in Springville, Alabama. Chip is a graduate of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he earned his PhD in expository preaching.
What others are saying:
Many preachers are good at communicating right things from wrong passages of Scripture. The need of the hour is for God to raise up faithful expositors who understand how to rightly handle God's Word and who preach every text with the aim that the meaning of the passage is the meaning of their sermon. Chip Thornton's book will be one of those books that has lasting endurance and provides ongoing encouragement to those heralds who labor in preaching and teaching of God's holy Word.
-Dr. Josh Buice, Pastor of Pray's Mill Baptist Church, Founder and President of G3 Ministries,
Assistant Professor of Preaching at Grace Bible Theological Seminary
Being a preacher of God's Word should be a sobering thing. Preachers have the responsibility to stand before God's people to declare to them, "Thus says the Lord," and it would be a dangerous thing to put words into God's mouth that He never said. Therefore, a pastor should be certain that the point of his sermon is the exact point of the biblical text that he is preaching. This is the basic definition of expository preaching, and every pastor needs to learn how to be a faithful expositor.
While I have read many textbooks on expository preaching, I have found none better than this work by Chip. He has done a great service for pastors who want to learn how to do faithful biblical exposition. This book will equip you to discover the point of the biblical text and give you the tools to prepare expositional sermons. Simply put, if you will learn and put into practice the lessons of this book, it will help train you to be a true expositor and to be able to stand with confidence before God's people and say, "Thus says the Lord."
-Dr. Tom Buck
Sr. Pastor of FBC Lindale
Director of G3 Expository Workshops