Hello,
My name is Richard Odom. As you review our website you might be asking how First Baptist Church differs from other Bible teaching churches in the area. As pastor, I would answer that we have much in common with other evangelical churches. We seek to pray, teach scripture, make disciples, worship, minister to the total family, and reach unbelievers with the Gospel message. But one trait that distinguishes us from many churches is our commitment to expository preaching.
My approach to sermon delivery is that of consecutive expository preaching. "Consecutive" means the preacher teaches his way through books of the Bible, verse by verse. "Expository" means the preacher strives to explain the passage according to its original intent (taking note of the original audience, the historical setting, the grammar, the overall theme of the book, and so on), and then apply principles from it to our daily lives today. The content and purpose of the sermon flow from the sub-points of the passage.
Expository preaching has a number of advantages over other types of preaching:
1. Its points of application are more compelling because hearers see that the application legitimately emerges from the Bible text.
2. It demonstrates to Christians how to study and interpret the Bible for themselves.
3. It reflects confidence, not in the persuasiveness of the preacher, but in the power of God's Word to change people (Hebrews 4:12).
I'm often asked, "At your church, do you make the Bible relevant?" I always answer the same, "I don't make the Bible relevant. I don't have to. The Bible is already relevant. All I do is try to explain what it says, then its relevance becomes obvious."
In His service,
Dr. Richard Odom
