God’s primary way of communicating truth is through story. Over 50% of the Bible was written in narrative form. Seldom however, in our Biblical and Theological training are we taught how to understand, interpret and preach stories. The results are that often stories are used to illustrate teachings found in other passages or treated as allegories. Much of the theological richness of the text is silent for us since we have not been trained to handle story, as story.
I want to spend time helping us understand how to interpret stories, prepare sermons from longer passages, such as many O.T. narratives are, in the same amount of time it takes to prepare for shorter passages and demonstrate how to preach stories in a way that reflects the essence of story.
We live in a media saturated society where story is king. If we preach stories well we will increase interest and attention. Plus we will discover rich truths that speak to people in ways other Biblical literature does not.