Consequences Of Non-Expositional Preaching (8)

It depreciates by example the spiritual duty and priority of personal Bible study.

Is personal Bible study important? Of course. But what example does the preacher set when he neglects the Bible in his own preaching? Why would people think they need to study the Bible if the preacher doesn’t do serious study himself in the preparation of his sermons? There is now a movement among some of the gurus of “seeker-sensitive” ministry to trim, as much as possible, all explicit references to the Bible from the sermon–and above all, don’t ever ask your people to turn to a specific Bible passage–because that kind of thing makes “seekers” uncomfortable. (Some “seeker-sensitive” churches actively discourage their people from bringing Bibles to church lest the sight of so many Bibles intimidate the “seekers.”) As if it were dangerous to give your people the impression that the Bible might be important!