THESIS AND SUMMARY OF THE BOOK

Tony Merida in his book Faithful Preaching provides a powerful, passion-filled, Bible-based defense of Expository Preaching as the wisest option to prepare and deliver sermons that provide, both to preachers and listening audience, the intended clarity over the biblical text in order to grasp the Christ-centered salvation message that God conveyed through His inspired and inerrant Word, and be able to apply divine principles to a life indeed human in its fullness of time and circumstances.

CRITIQUE OF THE BOOK

The book clearly states Tony Meridas belief that if we want to successfully carry out our mission in preaching the entire counsel of God, we need to pursue a righteous and fervent relationship with God, an unshakeable dedication in our drive to place the Bible in the center of our preaching, and Jesus in the very center of our Bibles, and an unwavering commitment in engaging the world we live in, using the very text of the Word of God to interpret and tend the needs of our fellow contemporary men.

The first portion of the book is a wake-up call to all who consider themselves preachers and teachers of the Word. It is clear that Merida wants to see preachers serving God and not serving preaching. Before attempting to talk about God academically, the one who wants to preach must know Him personally and intimately. Before describing God, must fellowship with God and before tell others about Gods love, needs to fall in love with and feel deeply loved by God.

The quest to honor and glorify God through his preaching must guide every step of his preparation and delivery, submitting himself to the very Word in order to proclaim its authority over others. Preaching is an act of worship to honor the Triune God.

It is refreshing to read a clear reminder of our need to relate to the Holy Spirit, who brings the text to life. This relationship allows a correct view of oneself and others in regards to our sinful condition, for it is required the recognition of our sinfulness in order to describe the absolute holiness of God, just as the Bible puts it. The steadfastness of seeking the Holy Spirit in prayer allied to determination to study the Scriptures will supernaturally empower the preacher to expound the Word with divine wisdom as those two disciplines attest to our own confessed ignorance.

In the core of his book, section two, we find a concise but complete collections of nuts and bolts as Merida offers five clear parts for preparing effective expository sermons,:

Study the text Unify the redemptive theme

 Construct an outline Develop the functional elements Add an introduction and conclusion

According to Merida, faithful preaching requires a high view of Scripture, the expositor needs humbleness to explain what is revealed in Scripture but also to keep silence before the things that are yet hidden from his eyes. He is a slave of Scripture, and needs to walk hand in hand with faith and reason, and if he ever has to let go of one of them, he should stay with faith.

Using tools of the inductive method of Bible Study, the expositor, faithful to Scripture, separates the wheat from the tares, truth from myth, revelation from tradition, true vision from false vision, good from evil, light from darkness, sweet from bitter, the will of God from human will.

Expository preaching balances Gods goodness and severity; Gods forgiveness and punishing justice, Gods grace and Gods Law, eternal life and eternal death. Christological meaning of all Scripture will bring that about, always. The emphasis in the

Expository preaching never fails in finding in the wholeness of the text of the Bible the truth that God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten Son for one reason: so no one would be condemned but whosoever wanted, through faith in Jesus Christ, would have everlasting and abundant life. Its the redemptive integration that needs to be pursued throughout Scripture.

Parts three and four are portions in which Merida again addresses the responsibilities of the preacher towards himself in relation to the sound doctrine, including meditation and memorization of Scripture; and passion for the generation around him: "The call to preach is a call to enter God's gym for God's glory. We must train personally, daily, and faithfully."

The pursuit for Godliness will shape the preachers soul in a relationship with himself characterized by sincerity and acceptance of his limitations and his need to depend on God through prayer, in order to be able to explain the deep and mysterious theological truths of the Bible, even when not possessing all the answers that he himself seek. In a very important and frightening way, the message will always be linked to how good is the messenger in the way he lives out what he preaches.

Faithful prayer will lead the preacher to understand his fellow men from the perspective of Gods heart. And then he will commit in faithfulness to the mission of God towards that generation. Merida mentions knowledge of the gospel, empathy and character, reminding us that, for instance, in order to preach about the theological and philosophical bout with suffering, we must learn with God and the Bible how to really cry with those who weep, and on the other side of the matter, indeed rejoice with those who laugh.

Authenticity generates persuasive power as well, and before teaching, writing about or preaching the Gospel, it is necessary that his life backs up his style and his very words. Merida cites Ed Stetzer and the usage of the word missional to describe the expository preacher willingness to dress into the circumstances of his listeners before addressing their situation. Only when the

preacher can show in his life an outer expression of Gods adjectives: loving, kind, gracious, gentle, merciful, etc He will be able to declare Thus sayth the Lord and promote trough his preaching the entrance and establishment of the Kingdom in the midst of his generation.

It is not a perfect book but it is surely one I love reading, motivated by the clarity and courage and transparency with which I perceive Tony Merida wrote it.