Luca's reprise

Here are some reasons i like expository preaching.

Respect for the Word.
No one should be reading the Bible randomly, just picking it up and reading whatever page falls open. So no one should be encouraged to do that. Going through the Bible book by book, chapter by chapter and verse by verse from the front in church encourages me to read the Bible like that.

Respect for God.
God gave us the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. He gave it to us as a book which talks about His redemption plan in time and space. If it was better for us to have the Bible in topics thats what He would have done. He'd have given us a book about sex, a book about giving, a book about evangelism, a book about the Holy Spirit and whatever else. But He didn't. Going through books one step at a time and you'll get to those things, but in God's place and at God's pace. Doing it this way also forces us to look at things we'd never choose to.

It feeds God's people.
God's word doesn't return to Him void. Our words probably mostly will. So we need to let God do the speaking, and just explain what He says. People are starving for God's words to speak to them, to feed and nourish them. The best way for it to do that is to be taught in context and in the story. I don'tneed life skills training, i need my heart to be blown away by the might and the glory of God in Jesus Christ!

It's just plain easier.
If you're going through a book a chapter at a time he knows where he's going, and so do we. The week isn't spent wondering what next sundy will look like. Next sunday will look like Romans 12 or Ezra 1 or whatever it is. The preacher knows where he's going and so do we. It's got to be easier to prepare a sermon from one bit of the Bible than to be jumping from verse to verse trying to draw out a point. There's meaning in the text, in every part of the Bible, so tell people what it is! It also means that people listening know where we're going next.