Preaching the Whole Counsel of God: Design and Deliver Gospel-Centered Sermons Hardcover – November 17, 2015

Very good introductory book on preaching. Julius Kim strikes a much needed balance in this book between the content of the sermon and the delivery of that content. After Bryan Chapell's book on Christ-Centered Preaching, this is one of the better introductory works to preaching that I have read.

I try to read different books on preaching each year. This is a great one! If I taught a class on preaching, this would be on my required reading list.

This book is an excellent resource for the first time preacher as it is for a seasoned preacher. There is a good balance of theory and practical in a language that is easy to digest. It is a must have for your library.

Appreciate Kim's clarity in teaching the importance of Preaching Christ with truth, goodness, and beauty. Chapter 8 was especially beneficial concerning the neuroscience of preaching. Worth the read.

This book will help everyone-students and teachers alike-who desire to grow in their ability both to accurately understand and effectively communicate the gospel of grace.

Explains what a sermon should contain, and now I know how to listen to get the most out of sermons.

Around nine years ago I had the opportunity to take a preaching class from Julius Kim, now I have the opportunity to review his first book on homiletics: "Preaching the Whole Counsel of God" (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2015). This book is a detailed introduction to preaching and also includes some helpful notes on interpreting Scripture. Basically, it’s an in-depth but concise resource for interpreting and preaching God’s Word from a Reformation point of view.The book has four main parts: 1) “Discovering the truth of the text according to the human author,” 2) “Discerning Christ in the text according to the divine author,” 3) “Designing the sermon according to truth, goodness, and beauty,” and 4) “Delivering the sermon for attention, retention, integration, and transformation.” In these chapters, Kim emphasizes prayer, serious textual study, a Christ-centered study and sermon emphasis, sermon structure, application, illustration, and delivery (just to name the main parts). I appreciate this book because it is balanced: Kim does a nice job of touching all the bases, so to speak. There are even two example sermons for the reader to study.Although this book is under 250 pages, there is a lot of information between the covers! I appreciated the section on the design and delivery of the sermon, where Kim gave 12 points on how the brain hears, retains, and listens to speakers. For example, since studies (and experience!) have shown the brain can only retain so much, preachers should avoid preaching “fire-hose” sermons, where info gushes out like crazy. This material on neuroscience and hearing/listening was mostly new to me, so I found it quite interesting and helpfulIf you’ve read other preaching books, some of the parts of this book will be a review. This book, like most preaching books, talks about outline, structure, illustrations, application, and eye contact (for a few examples); though I had read or heard some of this material before, I appreciated reading it as a reminder of good study, sermon writing, and preaching habits.Do you need a Reformed, Christ-centered, and detailed introduction to preaching the Word? I very much recommend this one: "Preaching the Whole Counsel of God."

In this great book on preaching, Dr. Kim focuses the reader on expository preaching and how to develop sermons. This is a biblically based approach to preaching. I appreciated that Dr. Kim is focused on the authority of the Word of God, the glory of God, and being faithful to the text. His approach is not to entertain the people (as most preaching today seems to be focused on) nor is his approach to bore the people with a theological lecture (as in many expository sermons I have heard over the years). The approach is to take the biblical text and bring it to life before the people. The Word of God is alive and active (Hebrews 4:12) but sadly few preach the Word as if it truly is alive.Dr. Kim leads his readers to understand four main points of preaching. The preacher (or herald) must discover the truth of the text according to the human author. This requires diligent reading and studying of the text. This is where exegesis begins its science. Secondly, the preacher must discern Christ in the text according to the Divine Author. Christ is the focus of Scripture (John 20:31). The entire Bible is about Christ. He is the promise of Genesis 3:15 to the coming King in Revelation 21-22. In Luke 24:27, 44-45, the Lord Jesus taught His disciples about Himself in the Scriptures. The Bible points to Christ and the duty of the preacher is to point the text to Christ. Thirdly, the preacher must design a sermon that is true, good, and beautiful. Take your exegesis and the glory of the risen Christ and help the people understand the text. Lastly, the preacher must deliver the sermon for attention, retention, integration, and transformation. Preaching has a focus on helping the saints of God become more like Christ by taking the truths of the Bible and applying them to their lives.Overall this is an excellent book. Preaching is not an easy task. People often think that the faithful expository preacher just reads their Bible and preaches a few lines. They don't see the mountain of prayer, study, and allowing the Holy Spirit to deal with the preacher even before they preach to the people. Preaching requires labor.I highly recommend this book for all faithful Bible teachers. It is a good read.