Preacher: Read The Passage!

How the preacher handles the Bible in the pulpit sends a message to the congregation–and it may not be the message the preacher intends!

The longer a pastor is in a church, the greater his congregation mirrors how he handles God’s Word. This truth alone should motivate preachers and teachers of the Word to think carefully about the attention given to something as relatively simple as reading the biblical passage in the pulpit.

Most expository preachers read their texts at the very beginning of their sermon or somewhere during the introduction of the message.

But how is it read?

Unfortunately, some preachers rush through the reading as though trying to “get it out of the way.” It’s as if the preacher were saying, “Just hang in there for a few moments while I get this Bible reading out of the way. Then the ‘good stuff’ will come in my sermon!”

But the “good stuff” is the biblical text.

Lasting life change comes not so much from what the preacher says but what God has said in His Word.

With that in mind, here are three simple actions about reading the passage:

Read It Appropriately

Make sure your voice & tone are appropriate to the genre and feel of the text. Reading about heaven, for example, usually requires a more joyful tone and pace than reading about the consequences of sin or the horrors of hell.

Think about what the author of the text is conveying and ensure that your reading voice, tone, and pace are appropriate to the passage.

Read It Slowly

Don’t rush through this element of preaching. Again, power and authority are in the biblical text, not the preacher’s opinion. So read the passage slowly—not too slow so as to become a distraction, but slow enough that everyone present can actually follow along.

Some church attenders will still be looking up the passage when you begin, so a slower pace gives them a little more time to locate the text. Others will be reading in translations that differ a bit from the one you’re using, so remember that, too, and give them time to process the information.

Read It Thoughtfully

If you’ve prepared the sermon well, you’ve already read the passage several times in your study. But when you stand in the pulpit, many (most?) will hear it for the first time.

Imagine what it would be like to hear this passage as someone who had not previously studied it. Of course, you’ll explain the passage later when you unpack it in the sermon, but you can convey a lot of meaning just by carefully reading it in the pulpit. Read it thoughtfully.

And always remember that God Himself is speaking through your reading of the text!