Notes on Zack Eswine’s “Preaching to a Post‐Everything World”
Assembled by Matthew Hundley
Reflection on “Preaching to a Post-Everything World:
Crafting Biblical Sermons That Connect with Our Culture,” Zack Eswine
Assembled by Matthew Hundley
In Preaching to a Post-Everything World, Zack Eswine offers up a kitchen sink full of
formula’s for crafting Christ-centered sermons. Rather than weave through the knowledge bites,
I will present some of the key preparation tools (pulled out of the sink) for the sake of reference:
Four “Cs” for Preaching
1. Content: facts about God, people, place and self
2. Character: preachers must explain relationships presented in scripture
3. Conscience: sound exposition and discerning contextualization are necessary, but
insufficient
4. Culture: expose assumptions; discern biblical mandate from cultural suggestion
Reality
1. Things that actually exist, that are authentic, that align with what is there
2. Some things are real in ways that differ from other things
3. Reality not only differs in kind, but also in capacity
4. Creation mandate and wisdom are God’s call into reality
5. Biblical wisdom teachings people how to navigate reality
Context of Reality (definition)
The mutual life environment that contemporary believers/unbelievers share in common with
those to/about whom the biblical text was written, that teaches us about the nature of reality.
Notes on Zack Eswine’s “Preaching to a Post‐Everything World”
Assembled by Matthew Hundley
When presenting reality, never fall into the trap of using
1. Expository Bans: avoiding aspects of reality; refusing to mention from pulpit
2. Expository Censoring: passing over or dumbing down difficult passages
3. Expository Muting: avoiding risqué or bigoted passages
4. Expository Equivocations – making a far-reaching link in order to make a passage
relevant
5. Expository Evictions – overlooking cultural setting of text
6. Expository Cynicism – unwitting ban of authentic goodness
Pastoral sensitivity
1. Prepare people for painful topics.
2. Spare people the gore.
3. Don’t spare people the glory.
4. Be aware of people.
5. Share multiple opportunities with people.
6. Lear care from scripture.
FCF = Fallen Condition Focus (Bryan Chapell)
The mutual human condition that contemporary believers share with those to or about whom the
text was written that requires the grace of the passage for God’s people to glorify and enjoy him
(or for those who resist God to properly regard him and be reconciled to him).
Notes on Zack Eswine’s “Preaching to a Post‐Everything World”
Assembled by Matthew Hundley
Four Fs
1. Fallen – inner tendency toward temptation (spiritual hardness; warring desires; flesh)
2. Finite – must live within the limits of knowledge and understanding
3. Fragile – feeling effects of sin by circumstance (mental and physical limitations)
4. Faltering – what we profess versus what actually is truth (the gap)
Echoes of Redemption
1. Divine Armor (truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation)
2. Divine Beatitude (promise, provision, grace)
3. Divine Wisdom (fruit: love, joy, patience, kindness, etc)
4. Divine Gifts (of the spirit)
5. Divine Diaconate (mercy)
6. Divine Miracle (sign of context for instruction)
7. Provision of Community (comfort in company)
8. Divine Silence
9. Divine Self
Notes on Zack Eswine’s “Preaching to a Post‐Everything World”
Assembled by Matthew Hundley
Expository Eclipse
1. Eclipse Christ – give priority to Christ as our example versus Christ as provision
2. Eclipse Fallen Biblical Characters – not just to observe fallen behaviors, but ask “now
what?”
3. Eclipse Judgment – don’t whitewash or sugarcoat the judgment and discipline of God
4. Eclipse Wisdom – applying our wisdom versus that of the original author
Sermon Structure
1. Surface Theme – foreshadows the “big idea”
2. Echo of Creation – highlight mutual human nobility
3. FCF – highlight mutual human crippling
4. COR – highlight the mutual life environment
5. Bond to the Text – identify “big idea” (main theme of biblical text; resonance)
6. Big Idea – clearly state main thing that the text says
3 Strategies Surrounding “The Big Idea”
1. Parrot Words - use words, phrases or concepts that alert the listener to passages of
primary importance
2. Divine Comments – statement in the narrative that highlights the governing theme of the
passage; usually the moment where everything changes (after the climax)
3. Plain Statements – clear pronouncement of what we are supposed to gain by the passage
Notes on Zack Eswine’s “Preaching to a Post‐Everything World”
Assembled by Matthew Hundley
Taking Things Scene-by-Scene
1. Identify Scenes
2. Create Headlines
3. Cross Examine (use guiding questions)
4. Tell the Story
a. Highlight key words.
b. Help audience walk in their shoes.
c. Connect stories
d. Highlight surprises
e. Use “imagine” “maybe…” “I don’t know X, but I do know Y”
Deductive Approach
1. Locate Big Idea
2. Interrogate the Idea (who, what, where, when, why, how)
3. Show & Tell
Recognize, Analyze, Organize
1. Show our answers
2. Recognize dissonance
3. Analyze our answers
Notes on Zack Eswine’s “Preaching to a Post‐Everything World”
Assembled by Matthew Hundley
Apply Narrative
1. Intention
2. Human Condition
3. Human Situation
4. Divine Provision
5. Like Conditions, Situations and Provisions
6. Near Application (Apply to Our World)
Sermon Implications (Related to Audience)
1. Don’t assume people are familiar with the Bible.
a. Help them get to the passage.
2. Speak as if non-Christians are present.
3. Do not ridicule, mock weaknesses of people.
4. Present yourself as credible (be transparent).
Redemptive Vulnerability
1. Even great men struggle (With faith, with sin)
2. Great knowledge often comes about in our moments of weakness.
3. Jesus shed tears, expressed joy, was angry, felt sadness/sorrow, felt distress.
4. Paul’s teaching was interspersed with testimony.
Notes on Zack Eswine’s “Preaching to a Post‐Everything World”
Four Kinds of Criticism
1. Style/Handling – “you’re not like my favorite preacher”
2. Competence/Clarity – “you could have done better”
3. Character – “your motives are wrong”
4. Calling – “you shouldn’t preach”
Guide to Testifying
1. God is the Hero
2. Show Redemptive Vulnerability
3. Vary Testimony
4. Speak with Sensitity
5. Anchor Your Story with Scripture
6. Turn The Mirror
Use Visual Aids To…
1. Draw Attention
2. Present Central Thoughts
3. Employ the Eye, as well as the Ear
4. Aid Memory
5. Greater Influence Listener
Assembled by Matthew Hundley
Notes on Zack Eswine’s “Preaching to a Post‐Everything World”
Assembled by Matthew Hundley
God = King of Preachers
1. God enables preachers to encounter cultural realities previously unknown.
2. God calls preachers as instruments by which he speaks to neighborhoods and nations.
3. God is omnilingual and omnipresent.
4. God is able to offer refuge and present help for the trouble of any locality, anywhere,
anytime.
5. Bible can be seen as a collection of God’s sermons.
6. Biblical preaching is about presenting the truth in the way the biblical writers/speakers
would have presented it.
Four Preaching Essentials (According to Paul)
1. Must be Christ-centered: Christ central to content, purpose and power of preaching.
2. Must be prophetic: give warning.
3. Must be catechtical: priestly: teach everyone.
4. Must draw upon wisdom: reality, perception, behavior
Four Story Questions
1. What does the text teach us about God?
2. What does the text teach us about People? (religious/irreligious)
3. What does the text teach us about Place? (creation/cultures)
4. What does text expose about our personal response? (conscience)