Preaching a Story
I love stories. You love stories. Your congregation loves stories. The unbelieving world loves stories. Such stories God has given, through his inspired scribes, to shape us! They inspire us to action. Inspire us to evangelize the lost through the only One who came to seek and to save the lost. Below are seven suggestions for preaching a sermon on a biblical narrative.
1. Pick the Proper Pericope
Pick the proper pericope.1 This suggestion is obvious and usually easy to do, as most English Bible translations correctly divide the various narratives for you. For example, in the ESV the story of Samson is divided as such:
Judges 13; The Birth of Samson
Judges 14; Samson’s Marriage
Judges 15; Samson Defeats the Philistines
Judges 16:1–22; Samson and Delilah
Judges 16:23–31; The Death of Samson
Of course, with any long narrative within Scripture, it is possible to do one sermon and cover the plot. However, it is impossible to do justice to…
