Expository Preaching Unlocking the Truth

In early July I taught the annual “Expository Preaching” course at our Bible School. Seeing students, co-workers and branch church pastors learning earnestly, encouraged me greatly. I have been teaching this course for 17 years now, being led by the Holy Spirit. It has become my favorite and is, in fact, a part of my life.

I began full-time ministry in 1989, more than 30 years ago. At first, I found preaching hard as my life had not yet been transformed by the Holy Spirit. I didn’t know what to preach and which verses to quote. It took me two to three days to select the right verses. As I am turning 68, preaching is no longer a burden to me. The first thing I do is to seek the Holy Spirit in prayer, to receive God’s leading for us at that moment. Once I have direction, I know which verses to use and to go deeper into them. I focus on the verses and expound them by sentence flow. In that way the sermon gradually takes shape.

When I am willing to make the effort to discover the historical background of the relevant bible verses, and spend time studying them, as well as seeking God, He willingly opens up the Scriptures to me and leads me into the realm of Truth. That’s why I now enjoy preaching and look forward to God speaking to me. Whether I do the preaching myself or help others with it, I feel inspired and hope to keep experiencing God’s work and understanding His will.

When I taught Expository Preaching for the first time, I wrote teaching notes and thought hard to prepare examples. Now teaching has become an overflow of my life. Notes have become redundant. As I rely on the Holy Spirit more, His leading becomes clearer. Under the Tree of Life, in all this time, various examples have become readily available. Today, as our church has developed, we have many original ideas and see the leading of God’s Hand.

In reality, when we believe in God’s Word, we see how God has been leading us. Be it the Jesus-100 evangelistic meeting during SARS, or the timely suspension of physical gatherings during the recent pandemic, we have countless examples of how the Holy Spirit, through God’s Word, has been leading us over the past 21 years. Miracles have happened in our midst. When we humbly lay down our personal, subjective, perceptions and rely on the Holy Spirit to study God’s Word diligently, God will surely reveal His Rhema to us and lead us to follow Him!■【2022.07.24】