Preachers often struggle with preaching Old Testament poetry. They are uncertain how to preach the highly emotive poems in Psalms, the one-liners in Proverbs, the tedious conversations in Job, the esoteric observations about life in Ecclesiastes, and the confusing love poems in the Song of Songs.Here leading pastor theologian Steven Mathewson instructs and inspires preachers to preach some of the most challenging--and some of the richest--material in the Old Testament. This compani...

Southwestern Journal of Theology 2021 Book Award (Honorable Mention, Preaching/Ministry/Leadership)A veteran pastor with thirty years of experience guides readers through a ten-step process to preaching Old Testament narratives from text selection to delivery. The first edition received a Christianity Today award of merit and a Preaching magazine Book of the Year award. This edition, now updated and revised throughout for...

What would happen if believers truly grasped how the resurrection of Jesus changes not just their own standing with God, but that it changes everything? In the spirit of John Piper's Fifty Reasons Why Christ Came to Die, Steven D. Mathewson unpacks the New Testament Scriptures that speak of the reasons Jesus was raised from the dead.In fifty brief chapters, he offers readers faith-filled meditations on the primary passages on the resurrection, taking these ancient truths a...

The gospels hold the key to why pastors get up every Sunday to preach. They are the "good news"--the pinnacle--of the Christian faith. But in order to preach from them with truth, clarity, and confidence, you'll need the right tools.Preaching the Four Gospels with Confidence is a book written for pastors who love Jesus and want to preach the Gospel well. With a compelling voice, Steven D. Mathewson offers sound scriptural advice, provides bibliographic tips for further stu...

Though the United States has been a relatively diverse nation, Americans have historically lived close to those who are ethnically and culturally like them. The unfortunate effects of slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, housing discrimination, prejudice, and bigotry have been key reasons for demographic divisions. While divisions remain, communities that were once monoethnic are experiencing changes that are enriching. The challenge for these communities is to work to break down barriers that ...

The longer we preach, the more we start to realize how radical and shocking the words of Jesus are-even to Christians. Veteran pastor Steven D. Mathewson provides proven wisdom from decades of preaching to makes sense of the red letters that perplex many in your congregations and to equip you with the tools you need to preach them confidently and persuasively.Preaching the Hard Words of Jesus is loaded with Scripture, bibliographic references, and scholarly resources, this...