Deuel on Preaching Narrative

The question remains, “How does one preach narratives like the Joseph story?” Perhaps the easiest, most effective way, the way truest to the biblical form, is just to retell the story, allowing the story itself to heighten points of application. Is this not the way that Sunday school teachers teach children these stories? Why stop at age eight or nine? Why reduce the story to three points (often just three examples of good behavior), when telling the whole story brings honor to the sovereign hand of God? Homiletically speaking, which has more impact, hearing an abstract proposition about god’s sovereignty (such as, “God is sovereign”) or seeing it borne out in the experience of God’s people? When a preacher states an abstraction, he usually follows it with an illustration to enhance comprehension of the abstraction. Narrative preached as narrative has already incorporated the illustration.

Deuel, David C. Expository Preaching from Old Testament Narrative in Preaching: How to Preach Biblically. John McArthur et al P 234