Customer Reviews

Preaching That Changes Lives

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Dr. Fabarez delivers what his title promises. Preaching That Changes Lives is the most challenging and convicting preaching book I've read. At the same time, it remains extremely relevant and practical for every pastor and seminary student. Fabarez's writing style is lucid and potent. The reader will have a most difficult time not reading the entire book in one sitting! The strengths of this book are too many to list. However, the chapter entitled "Pray, Pray, Pray for a Sermon that Will Change Lives" is worth the price of the book. Other chapters that are especially helpful include: "Frame an Outline that Will Your Change Your Audience" and "Provide Tools to Help Your Audience Make Specific Changes." Every preacher should own a copy of this book. I would go so far as to say, if you could only own one book on preaching, make this your sole choice.

This book is phenomenal. For too many years, too many believers have sat through sermons and bible teachings, yet we leave unchanged by what we have heard. Fabarez offers practical wisdom that reminds us that our single purpose in preaching is to be used by God to change lives. I cannot think of anything relative to the topic that he has not considered, yet the book is written on a level virtually anyone can grasp. If you know someone who has been preaching for many years, or someone who has just been called to ministry, encourage him to read this book. He will be forever changed, and his congregants forever blessed by his heeding of the teaching herein.

There has a been a remarkable plethora of preaching books on the market in recent years, perhaps a sign of a revival of preaching. As a busy pastor, sorting thru which ones are valuable is a daunting task. This one ought to be a the top of the list. It is very practical and helpful. Many books on preaching may inspire you in a general sense, but leave you wondering how to implement the principles tangibly. This book not only inspires but also helps the preacher connect the principles with the reality that hits us each Sunday.

There are 2 points about the book that changed the way I think about my own preaching. First, preaching must connect tangibly with people or they will miss the message and tune out. Expository preaching has the danger of being so focused on the text that we forget the listener. Fabarez calls us to always be thinking about the application of the meaning of the text to those that need to hear it. This seems so obvious and yet it is one of the most difficult aspects of preparing sermons. Preaching must be clear and understandable if it is going to be relevant.

Secondly, Fabarez' emphasis upon systematically praying through every aspect of the sermon, from preparation through delivery and for the reception of it is excellent. Without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit any amount of preparation is useless. 1 Cor. 2:1-5 is a great reminder here.

If you are an expository preacher and want to improve the task God has set before you, this is a book you must give serious consideration to.

This book concentrates a lot on the life a pastor should lead and really emphasizes that if you, the pastor, aren't the example how will they follow?

Then he moves into some practical ways to set up your outline, prayer and accountability that will move from a sermon that people don't just listen to, but start to truly change their lives from. He speaks of what you should do as a pastor and what you should have your congregation do and also even goes into teaching how to prepare, as a congregant, for each Sunday.

Mr. Fabarez doesn't believe that it is his words that changes anyone but only God who is sovereign, but gives us tips so that we can be shown as "workman...accurately handling the Word of truth." 2 Tim 2:15

I highly recommend

Pastor Mike Fabarez knows what he is talking about when it comes to preaching!

For the last five years, I have had the privilege of serving under him at Compass Bible Church in Orange County, CA. I have not only been able to read his book, I've experienced it. I have seen him preach in a way that changes lives. I have learned from his example and from our relationship in a way that has profoundly impacted my own preaching. This is the real deal right here! If you want to preach, you should read this book! Even more you should listen to sermons by Pastor Mike through his Focal Point ministry. You should even make a point to meet him and have a conversation.

Pastor Mike is taking sound exegesis and expository preaching to the next level, to the level of your specific audience. Along with rightly dividing the text and outlining your sermon, Pastor Mike will teach you how to think through the application in every point. It is literally like he is unlocking a third step in our preparation to preach: What are people supposed to do with this sermon? (James 1:22) This book is practical: even helps you think through how to pray for a sermon and to encourage people in your congregation to pray for you. And it is personal: How can we expect people's lives to change if we are not being changed ourselves?

I have read all of the best books when it comes to preaching, but nothing is a specific and practically helpful as this! Read it and not only will your preaching change lives, it will change the way you preach!

I can only second all the previous reviews. This book is life changing. It is changing the way I preach and it is changing the way I view preaching. It is absolutely a wonderful book and I very highly recommend it for anyone doing ministry.

Preaching That Changes Lives is an excellent resource. Fabarez focuses on the application of God's Word to the lives of the listener. "Please don't read this book in search of a homiletics text," says Fabarez, "or as a guide to exegesis and sermon construction," (xiv).

If it's a how-to book on sermon preparation you're after, this is not the book you want. However, if you want to read an extremely helpful work that offers practical, useful information to assist you in preaching sermons that seeks to effect change in the lives of the listeners, as opposed to merely presenting sermons that offer only factual information, then this book is highly recommended. Preaching that Changes Lives will prove to be a valuable resource for any preacher to have on his shelf, and is well worth the money.


Preaching That Changes Lives

Why to preach? It is the most relevant question today. Fabarez didn't made a new discovery, but he reclaims good forgotten foundation for pulpit. His book keeps in focus main task for preachers - to preach so that positive changes be made in lives of listeners. It is dangerous goal, but without this is it worth to preach Christ at all?
This book is very inspiring, but who is able to preach that changes lives? Preacher must be changed before.

Just what I've come to expect from Mike Fabarez. Well researched. Well annotated. Very instructional. Both the "why" and the "how". A relatively easy read, Fabarez gets right to the point from the first page, then spends the rest of the book "painting the canvas" to expose the nuance of how the message is to be applied. The book reads exactly like what he's advising others to do within its text, and the appendices are tremendously helpful.

Preaching That Changes Lives is a powerful and instructive book. Although after reading the first chapter my initial impression was negative, not in the sense that the book was wrong, unprofitable or negative but rather in the sense that it was merely preaching to the choir for men already devoted to expository preaching, my impression soon changed and I highly recommend the book to all men who aspire to expositorily preach the word.
The great distinctive of this book s that it's focus is not on preparation or delivery, although it does touch helpfully on those subjects, but rather on results. The author goes so far as to state that preaching that does not result in changed lives is not truly expository preaching (19-20) and that the mark of good preaching is not found in the delivery or the content of the sermon, but rather in the fruit born in the lives of the hearers. And this point sets the tone for the book and illuminates the books greatest strength. Whereas most books on preaching focus on what takes place in the pastor's study and in the pulpit, Preaching That Changes Lives focuses on what happens in the pews and the in the homes of the flock.
Particularly helpful was Fabarez's chapter on outlining the sermon. The author advocates not basing the outline on merely the content of the passage being preached, but around the application that the passage demands, and should include direct second person address. This is something I have never heard before, and requires more thought and reflection on my part. While I am not sure if this is a universal methodology to always be employed, I see clearly the benefits of this approach and will seek to incorporate in my Homeletical thinking in the future.
A great strength of the book is also that the author doesn't merely instruct, but he also models throughout his writing. The book is peppered with descriptive language, useful scriptural cross references and vivid illustrations, almost all of which are immediately followed by a point of application for the reader. The author also models using an illustrative story to secure interest as he introduces each chapter.
Also very helpful was the concluding section on "follow through to change lives". His emphasis on modeling personal accountability and manifesting a changed life in response to the specific truths preached every week coupled with his call to hospitality, transparency and to share your leisure time with your flock in many ways provides a valuable, if brief, update of the call for home visitations contained in Richard Baxter's The Reformed Pastor.
My chief criticism of the book is of the chapter 7, "come to grips with the time it takes to prepare a life changing sermon." Although he is right to point out that preparing a sermon is hard work and takes great time and effort, it almost seems as if he is advocating neglecting other pastoral tasks. He states (although he does qualify the statement) "The supremacy of preparation...must be evident to everybody. Indeed it must be clear that you are called to preparation..." Preparation is not supreme, love is, and there are times when study must take a back seat, at least temporarily, to shepherding, counseling, visitation and other pastoral obligations. The author elsewhere states that Saturday is the day that he crafts his sermon, and I have to wonder if that seeming procrastination isn't part of the reason that he so fiercely guards preparation time. Effective preparation demands time and effort, but should be allocated the time it requires, not require all of the time allocated to it.
Other than this one minor criticism I found the book very helpful and would heartily recommend it to anyone who aspires to preach expositorily.