Such a great resource. It’s especially great for stepping someone through the process for writing a talk, particularly if they have never done anything like that before. It really drives home that the whole Bible is about Jesus, which has been a great encouragement.

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John Chapman's Setting hearts on fire: A guide to giving evangelistic talks is the book that I wished I'd had when I started out as a preacher. It's clear on the Bible and it's clear about preaching the Bible. It offers a template for approaching, preparing, and delivering talks in a faithful and captivating manner. You don't have to be an evangelistic preacher to gain from this book. You don't even have to be a preacher at all. If you're involved in teaching the Bible in Sunday School, youth group, Bible study, or school scripture then you'll find so much of value here. In fact, if you want a book that will help you to read the Bible for yourself, know what the Bible is about, and know how to respond to the Bible, grab yourself a copy. It's gold!

The opening chapter shows the importance of preaching. It matters because it involves being God's mouthpiece to others.

That is the wonder of preaching and teaching. A human is speaking but the listeners encounter the living God speaking. (p23)

Chappo's understanding of preaching comes from 2 Timothy 4:1, where Timothy is charged to Preach the Word. This is the task. It's not simply imparting wise words from someone who is well trained and can come up with good ideas. No, it's faithfully passing on the very words of God. God is a speaking God. He communicates by words. These are very powerful words. They bring life. They transform and change people. They bridge the chasm between God and people, such that people are welcomed back into relationship with God. Preaching, therefore, is a weighty responsibility.

Preaching God's Word is an unequal partnership between God and the preacher. God works through the spoken word, by the power of his Spirit, to effect change in people. For this reason, we are called to pray for the work of understanding and proclaiming God's message. We need to work hard at it. Praying and preaching are our side of the partnership. Chappo warns against three things that can get in the way of people responding to the preaching of God's word. He mentions 1) unbiblical teaching; 2) preachers showing off; and 3) the spiritual blindness of listeners. I would add a fourth: 4) confusing the message. If the preacher hasn't worked out what it means, or how to communicate it clearly, then people can be left unclear about what God is saying or how they should respond.

Chapter 2 of Setting hearts on fire is an inspiring chapter. It speaks of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Saviour and King. Chappo shows how this is the entire message of the Bible in a nutshell. He takes us from Genesis to Revelation, with great clarity, summarising the big picture (or metanarrative) of the Bible. He shows how the Old Testament points to Jesus and how Jesus fulfils the Old Testament. If you're not sure how the Bible hangs together then you should probably take 15 minutes to read through this chapter. What's more you shouldn't begin teaching the Bible until you do!

While this is a book on evangelistic preaching, Chappo shows how all biblically faithful preaching will be evangelistic because it will point people to Jesus. Three things distinguish evangelistic preaching in this book:

its content is a summary of the whole Bible message of Jesus as the Saving Messiah
it is aimed specifically at unbelievers
its style is controlled by the target audience (eg. absence of jargon and technical terms, user friendly)
Chappo is not saying that every talk should have John 3:16 tacked on at the end of it, or that ever talk should be the same three point summary of the gospel. Rather, we should work within the context of the passage, the book, and the whole Bible, so as to point people to Jesus. His aim in this book, and for preaching in general is for people to respond to God's word, in the same way that the disciples responded after hearing the resurrected Jesus teach them the Bible:

Were not our hearts burning within us, while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us? (Luke 24:32)

Every sermon, talk and Bible study should be headed in the same direction – pointing people to Jesus. Every sermon, talk and Bible study should be seeking the same positive response to the Word of God – repentance (turning back to God) and faith (trusting in God to save them through the work of Jesus). Chappo shows us how to do this without violating the text or importing external ideas into the passage of the Bible.

This is a liberating book for the preacher, because it makes clear what is God's work and what is the preacher's work. How people respond is up to the listener and God. It's good to be reminded that the Holy Spirit knows our listeners more than we do and loves them mor...