Ready to Preach
In Ready to Preach, Matthew D. Kim restores the centrality of the Bible to its rightful place in the pulpit. Compact yet comprehensive, it emphasizes theology and a Trinitarian approach to homiletics.
Kim defines preaching as communicating the triumphant Word of God to God’s people for the purpose of life transformation and Christlikeness. This is accomplished through explaining, envisioning, equipping, encouraging, and empowering preachers and listeners to become obedient to Scripture and to live more like Christ Jesus in every part of life.
The theme of preaching as an opportunity that cannot be missed resonates throughout this book. We live in a biblically illiterate society, and preachers have a divine opportunity to help their congregations stay connected to God. The prerogative of the preacher is to answer the question: What does God really say?
Trinitarian Preaching
After reading this book, I have become eager to preach the presence, power, and performance of the Triune God in each passage. Kim defines Trinitarian preaching as highlighting the stated and unstated ways that the Triune God serves as an active agent in every sermon by naming the primary ways each member of the Godhead demonstrates His unique forms of presence, power, and performance to transform the lives of preachers and hearers of God’s Word.
Kim presents a helpful, while admittedly imperfect, analogy: think of each person of the Godhead as a member of the same family, with each being a unique person. Their presence and activity are evident in every part of individual life and in the world. There is only one family name—God—but there are three persons in the family, with the individual family members being Father, Son, and Spirit.
While Kim acknowledges different traditions and denominations, what I appreciate is that he is not afraid to give his honest opinion about faithful preaching. For instance, he argues the benefits of a group approach to preaching and sermon preparation, which allows for the hearing of different perspectives within the congregation
Cultural Preaching
One aspect of the book that I especially appreciated was Kim’s attention to cultural perspective in biblical interpretation. He mentions what it means to have been taught in seminary how to read and interpret Scripture from the original languages by white professors.
Interpretation is never done apart from one’s cultural context, and for Kim, a second-generation Korean American preacher born and raised in the United States, that means understanding the Asian American perspective from within the community.
While we can speak to our culture, Kim tells us to “Preach the Word, not ourselves” – another important takeaway. This reminder brings the focus of preaching back where it belongs: not on the preacher, but on God’s Word and what God is saying to His people.
Transformational Preaching
What challenged me most was the call to find the transformational point within each passage I preach. This is the message my listeners need to hear and take home with them that week. Another way to ask the question is: Which point packs the greatest punch or inspires the greatest life transformation?
Kim does not write boringly. Every anecdote and example is interesting. I appreciate this so much in a textbook. He is characteristically warm and unmistakably wise.
Ready to Preach is a gold standard text that has challenged me to approach preaching with greater intentionality. It has renewed my desire to preach the Word faithfully, to recognize the presence and activity of the Triune God in every passage, and to seek the transformational point that will help listeners become more like Christ.
I received a media copy of Ready to Preach (Amazon) and this is my honest review. Find more of my book reviews and follow Dive In, Dig Deep on Instagram - my account dedicated to Bibles and books to see the beauty of the Bible and the role of reading in the Christian life. To read all of my book reviews and to receive all of the free eBooks I find on the web, subscribe to my free newsletter.