JESUS CHRIST: PRINCE OF PREACHERS

Description

MIKE ABENDROTH

Since preaching is God’s ordained means of disseminating truth, it behooves Bible teachers to preach well and congregations to listen well. This study of Jesus Christ’s preaching will assist both the preacher and the congregation in their quests to honor the Lord with their respective responsibilities in worship.

While there are many definitions and descriptions of preaching today, preaching like Jesus must be the unchanging standard for all who dare teach the Bible. Preaching fads come and go, yet the manner and method of the Lord’s preaching is always relevant, right and worthy to be emulated.

 

About the Author

Mike Abendroth was born in Omaha, Nebraska and graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1982. He was saved by God’s intervening grace in 1989. After his father died, he bought a study Bible and began reading it beginning with Genesis. Since then, Mike has been consumed with knowing what the Lord says in His Word. He graduated from The Master’s Seminary (M. Div., 1996) and became the pastor of Bethlehem Bible Church, West Boylston, Massachusetts (1997). Recently, he received his Doctorate of Ministry in Expository Preaching at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (2006). Mike has been married to Kimberly for eighteen years and has three daughters, Hayley, Maddie and Gracie, and one son, Luke. He has been preaching expository sermons on a weekly basis for fifteen years. One of Mike’s passions is teaching men to teach the Bible expositionally and his Doctoral dissertation title is ‘Training Laymen to Teach the Bible Expositionally’. He is an Adjunct Professor of Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary where he teaches homiletics.

 

Reviews

The greatest preacher of the written Word is, undoubtedly, the living Word Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. If we are commanded to walk as He walked, then surely we must preach as He preached. This is the central thrust of this well-developed book, Jesus: The Prince of Preachers, by Mike Abendroth. This work addresses what is surely the greatest need in the church today. Not merely more preaching is needed, but more preaching of a certain kind, expository preaching, especially the kind as demonstrated by the sovereign Head of the church, Jesus Christ. Abendroth takes great care to lay out the case that all preachers should model themselves after the ministry of the Lord Jesus Himself. If there was more preaching as this book calls for, the church would soon be restored to a state of spiritual health. Here is a book that is biblical, balanced, and bold in its presentation of truth. Read it and replicate it for the equipping of your ministry and the edification of the church.
—Dr. Steven J. Lawson, Senior Pastor, Christ Fellowship Baptist Church, Mobile, Alabama, USA

I cannot imagine a preacher who would not be helped by this book. Mike Abendroth writes from years of local church pulpit ministry combined with a wide reading of books about preaching to produce a volume that is insightful, instructive, encouraging, practical, readable, and biblically sound. He delivers exactly what his subtitle promises: “Learning from the teaching ministry of Jesus.” But Abendroth delivers even more than he promises, for readers will not only learn a great deal about Christ and preaching, but also about pastoral ministry, discipleship, worship, and much more. And he does it all in an imaginative format that is accessible for almost everyone. If you are a preacher, read this book. If you are not a preacher, read it, and then give it to your Preacher.
—Dr Donald Whitney, Associate Professor of Biblical Spirituality and Senior Associate Dean at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky

Bullseye! Right on the mark! What a joy to read a book on preaching that truly needed to be written and needs to be read. In his book, Jesus: The Prince of Preachers, Mike Abendroth provides an arsenal of insight to correct what is wrong, essentially, with preaching today. Each chapter makes a corrective contribution in an eight-fold solution for the near pandemic of perilous preaching emitted from the typical pulpit, which approaches treason against the God of the Word and treachery against the Word of God. This book offers a wealth of information that will provide an insightful rethinking of the role and responsibility that preaching must have in the Church of the Lord, Jesus Christ. The format of the book is exceptional, providing insight to the preacher and those who hear preaching. The content of each chapter is choice material. Jesus Christ: The Prince of Preachers is not only a must-read book but it is one that should be reread annually. If only one book on preaching is to be purchased this year, buy this one! It may very well be the best investment you make this year. Abendroth has produced the most captivating book on preaching I have read in a long time. You will be challenged, equipped, and encouraged as you read this book.
—Ben Awbrey, Th.D., Associate Professor of Preaching, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City, Missouri

What you win them with is what you win them to. Preaching is God’s way of proclaiming the foolishness of the gospel to the weak and despised, all to His own glory. The world will always despise preaching, but when the church likewise questions God’s wisdom and starts using alternatives, a major problem exists. Abendroth calls his readers back to the pre-eminence of preaching through the example of the Lord Himself. Encouraging and challenging.
—James White, author of Scripture Alone, Pulpit Crimes, the God Who Justifies, and The King James Only Controversy

I have many books on preaching. Not one of them is like this one. Packed with truth which every preacher needs to know, full of brilliant insights into the preaching ministry of Jesus Christ and enough to revitalize preaching from the perfect example of Jesus Christ, I will recommend and promote this book whenever and wherever I can. It is bound to make its mark on the lives of preachers who read it and then through them in entire congregations when they listen to preaching the kind of which is taught by Mike Abendroth.
—Martin Holdt, Minister of Constantia Park Baptist Church, Pretoria, and Rector of the Afrikaans Baptist Seminary, Kempton Park, South Africa

Biblical, theological and practical—these words capture the content of this book. Mike Abendroth provides a wealth of wisdom as he examines the greatest preacher ever to preach: the Lord Jesus Christ. I was challenged, instructed and encouraged by this work. Read it yourself, and I believe you will be blessed as well.
—Danny Akin, President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, North Carolina

Every Biblical preacher intuitively holds the Lord Jesus as his model for preaching but few of us have ever studied Jesus as the Preacher. Mike Abendroth has done us all a big favor by presenting to us a thorough portrait of Jesus as the model expositor of Scripture. In Jesus: the Prince of Preachers we have a scholarly insightful, motivational, and practical tool in helping us preach the way the Preacher of preachers preached. Each chapter contains three sections of great usefulness. First, there is a study of a certain facet of our Lord’s preaching; then, there is a section for the preacher on making use of the material covered; finally, there is a section for the congregation or layman to respond to the model presented. It is also evident that Mike Abendroth is a preacher, loves to preach, and loves the church of Christ. His style is warm, energetic, pointed, and convincing. His passion for the Word of God and the need for sound preaching today is evident from the first sentence. He wants us to move on from ‘What would Jesus do’ (WWJD) to ‘What would Jesus preach’ (WWJP). Here is a dimension of the preacher’s preparation that is rarely seen in books on preaching or taught in homiletical classrooms. You will be greatly rewarded for reading it.
I highly recommend Jesus: the Prince of Preachers as a tool to help us become more like our Lord Jesus, the Preacher.
—Alex D. Montoya, Professor of Pastoral Ministries, The Master’s Seminary

The most compelling advice to any preacher is this, “Preach like Jesus preached.” But what does that really mean? Mike Abendroth has answered this question with a fresh and fascinating analysis of Jesus preaching in Jesus Christ: The Prince of preachers. These pages are an irresistible invitation to imitate the style and substance of the greatest teacher ever.
—Rick Holland, Senior Associate Pastor, Grace Community Church, Director of D.Min. Studies, The Master’s Seminary

Abendroth’s insightful work is so helpful, calling Christians today to consider the model of the Master Teacher Himself. Thoroughly biblical and intensely practical, this Christ-centered treatment on preaching deserves a place on every pastor’s bookshelf. In a day when so many pulpits are less than weak, it is a timely and necessary challenge to those who are called to “preach the Word” (2 Tim. 4:2). But this book is not only for those in church leadership. It also articulates what each congregation should expect from their teaching pastor, as they lovingly hold him to the standard set by our Lord.
—John MacArthur, Pastor-Teacher, Grace Community Church, Sun Valley, California