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There are two kinds of texts that are the hardest to exegete.
The first are those that you have read so often, you think you already know what it is about.
The second are those from obscure portions of scripture where you don’t often read them.
You know the ones, where you barely know who wrote the book and you have very little idea of the historical context of the text.
Both of these texts provide great challenges. The first seduces you into believing you don’t really need to exegete the text. You have already done that. So you want to ignore or greatly reduce the section of the preparation process where you allow the historical context to speak.
The second seduces you into believing you don’t know anything at all about the text so you must immediately go to the commentaries and ignore that part of the process where you sit and wait on the Lord to speak.
Both parts (listening to commentaries for help and listening to God alone) are important in the sermon preparation process.
Ignoring any part can be problematic…
This is why in Wave 1 of my exegesis program, you go to the scripture alone and write down everything that you know about the text.
Yes…Sometimes you will know more than other times.
And Yes…Sometimes you will write down more things that are just plain wrong when you get to the deeper exegesis.
BUT…
What you will do is capture a creative view of the scripture. You will capture your interaction with the scripture as if you were a child.
You will capture it…
Now after capturing it…you have to see which parts of your child-like interaction with the text are valuable and which are not but looking deeper in waves 2, and 3…
But always…always go through the full process. It may not always take the exact same amount of time. But always go through the process.
Check out my four waves exegesis method if you need a full process method at https://gumroad.com/products/okfy
See you tomorrow
Brother Sherman
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