I think you’re spot on. Expositional preaching is key to true Biblical preaching. I guess my point is that too many members of churches are okay with not exploring sound doctrine for themselves and letting their pastor be their only source of doctrine.

I think people in churches like Joel Osteen’s, Rob Bell’s, etc. may not be exploring sound doctrine themselves and just accepting what’s being shelled out to them as truth. Church members should take it upon themselves to be accountable for what they’re being taught.

Does that clear it up a bit?

I hate to sound like Mr. Critical but I think the answer to your questions lies in the preachers philosophy of preaching. Each pastor has a reasoning behing why the choose to preach on the things that they do. And the majority of pastors that I have known personally preach about percieved needs or felt needs rather than preaching the bible. Sermons tend to be topical in nature with very little mention of the passage’s true context and meaning. As a youth pastor I know the reasoning behind doing this. It is very tempting for me to do that. I believe that is part of the reason why most youth bible studies are so focused on sexual temptation and self-esteem helps. They will use scripture but only to defend a position, not to teach the scriptures themselves. Have you ever tried to find a youth bible study on the books of the bible? They are hard to find but should be commonplace.

Don’t misunderstand me, I do think that there is a time to address certain needs or clarify confusion but the pulpit on sunday mornings should not be the primary place for that. I will cut to the chase since this is getting long.

When a preacher is focused on you, you don’t care what he believes about theology. If he seems to be on your side, that’s all really matters for many. I heard a guy once say, “As a preacher, you have to decide whether you believe the bible to be a book primarily about you or a book primarily about God. That will determine the way you preach.” It’s easy to preach topical sermons and never tackle the tough issues in scripture. I think that expositional preaching has to be the norm in the pulpit. Sorry so long:)