Basic Pinciples of Expository Communication

Before you prepare a message, you need to ask yourself one main question, "why am I bringing this message?" Not only should a minister ask himself this, he should also ask God why He wants him to preach this message. There are four reasons why anyone would bring a message; these are as follows: to entertain or inspire, to inform or teach, to convince or win an argument, or to move to action. Many times the goal of the Christian Minister is to move his audience to action, for he desires them to do what God has told them to. His purpose controls every aspect of his message, thus determining what he puts into his sermon and what he leaves out.

The best method for Bible study and for the presentation of a message is that which the puritans used, the division of a message into doctrine and duty. Principle and application is a modern view of this puritan formula. In carrying out this formula, a minister's message must first contain clearly stated propositions. Secondly, his clearly stated propositions must be arranged in the most effective method so that the people may accept them, and that the final purpose for his message may be fully accomplished. Thirdly, he needs to expand his proposition in simple, yet varying ways that best suit his personality, as well as the desires of his audience.

Expansion can be described as "putting flesh on the skeleton". There are several procedures that can be used to expand the skeleton or outline of a message. These procedures are as follows: restatement, definition, description, explanation, illustration, example, narration, support, discussion, advocacy, and appeal. Before these procedures are used, the type of sermon the expositor intends to give needs to be determined. There are three types of sermons. These are the textual sermon, dealing with one or two verses with special emphasis on word-study; the topical sermon, dealing with Scriptures all over the Bible with special emphasis on an overview of a subject; and the expository sermon, dealing with a single lengthy passage of Scripture with special emphasis on only one truth. Each of these types of sermons has their advantages and disadvantages. Some have more advantages than others, though, each one has its own place in exposition.

In the process of sermon preparation, there are several helps that can be used to improve an expositor's presentation. These are as follows: audio cassettes, which are used to critique how an expositor's audience hears his presentation; video tapes, which are used to critique how his audience sees his presentation; and qualified criticism, which is external criticism done by an educated individual who gives a qualified critique. In order to properly execute these critiques internally and externally, an expositor needs to map out a criteria that defines expositional excellence. Two ways to determine these criteria are through the examination of other expositor's sermons and the reading of text books dealing with the subject.

The main question when dealing with presentation is, "How is the audience's reception?" Due to the natural fact that the audience sees and hears the individual preaching, an importance rests on if they're being distracted or not. In reaction to the audience's sight, a preacher needs to be concerned with how he's dressed, how he stands, what his mannerisms are, and what his gestures are. Secondly, in reaction to the audience's hearing, a preacher needs to be aware of his tone, pitch, inflection, timing, and volume. He needs to ask himself whether any of these particulars are distracting his audience from understanding his overall purpose.