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Preaching That Changes Lives
Certainly there are many books about preaching on the market today, but no author directs his attention to the clear message of changing lives more than Michael Fabarez. Everything a pastor does must be done with the perspective of changing lives. When a pastor studies, it should be with the anticipation of changing lives. When he is looking for the right illustration, it must be through the lens of changing lives. When he sets forth the spiritual direction for the church, he must have the scope of changing lives in his focus. All other books dissect the essentials of pastoral ministry, but "Preaching That Changes Lives" takes it one step further!
240 pages, Hardcover
First published October 15, 2002
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74 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 16, 2018
This book had many helpful points. I liked his suggestion about adding applications throughout the preaching exposition rather than saving them for the end. I also appreciated his emphasis on living out our own applications, and involvement in the lives of those you are preaching to. I do think that he could have communicated the same material in about half the space, which would have been a good way to model good communication in a book about preaching. I also feel like the spirit of the book was a little bit guilt-tripping at times. Preaching God's word is a high and exciting honor, and I think it is better to appeal to an attitude of excitement. This is definitely worth a read if you are a preacher. If you have not read an introductory book on preaching, then read one first. As the author recommends in the introduction.
June 2, 2016
A pretty good book where the author explains the why and how of applying a sermon. I did not agree with everything. But there is a ton of practical advice on how to pray for and craft sermons that will impact the lives of the congregation. Perhaps most helpful was the author's insistence that preaching should change lives. For many, either because they are too intellectual or because they are afraid or moralism, they avoid any real application in their sermons. A couple of sections stood out.
Chapter four was excellent, as the author gave questions to ask so the preacher can evaluate what the connection is between the ancient audience and the modern one. The most convicting chapter was the one on prayer where he gave how to pray for all parts of the sermon including preparation and long term effect. At the end of the book there is an appendix on how to pray for your sermons. Finally, I really liked the chapter on preaching with authority. It is well-balanced. At the end of that chapter he does a good job explaining the difference between an application from the text that is certain, probable, possible, and finally improbable, but possibly helpful. Applying sermons is a dangerous business. We can easily tell our congregations the Bible demand such and such while it doesn't. By using the above paradigm, he showed how much authority an application has in the life of the congregation.
Anyone who struggles with application in their sermons could benefit from this book.
Chapter four was excellent, as the author gave questions to ask so the preacher can evaluate what the connection is between the ancient audience and the modern one. The most convicting chapter was the one on prayer where he gave how to pray for all parts of the sermon including preparation and long term effect. At the end of the book there is an appendix on how to pray for your sermons. Finally, I really liked the chapter on preaching with authority. It is well-balanced. At the end of that chapter he does a good job explaining the difference between an application from the text that is certain, probable, possible, and finally improbable, but possibly helpful. Applying sermons is a dangerous business. We can easily tell our congregations the Bible demand such and such while it doesn't. By using the above paradigm, he showed how much authority an application has in the life of the congregation.
Anyone who struggles with application in their sermons could benefit from this book.
October 5, 2025
Below are some insights that I found most helpful!
In Preaching that Changes Lives by Mike Fabarez, incisively identify the problem of over-relying on exegesis in preaching. This is fair and vital for seminary students who are trained heavily to get the meaning of the text right. However, the process of preparing a sermon is a time-intensive process. More time ought to be spent on the significance of the text rather than the meaning. Preachers must be transformed by Scripture to preach effectively and get to the significance of the text for their people. I personally think of Lloyd-Jones and MacArthur as example who were personally changed by the Word and focused on its congregational significance. They were able to bridge the meaning of the word and bring out the significance to their congregations in such a way that honored God and was very compelling.
Fabarez underscores prayer’s critical role in sermon preparation, warning that without it, sermons lack transformative power, and stresses that sermon preparation is the pastor’s primary, labor-intensive work. I really appreciating Fabarez’s practical weekly plan while I also personally feel convicted about my personal time management.
Sermons ought to be delivered with urgency and clarity, keeping the Word’s transformative power central. Authoritative preaching, likewise, is a largely abandoned practice. But it ought to have its rightful place in the pulpit to avoid undermining the message’s impact.
Doctrine leading to practical application is essential. Fabarez urges preachers to guide logical and doctrinally undergirded actionable responses. He also notes the listeners’ responsibility to engage attentively. This means the church must be a culture that desires to grow and be accountable to one another and is lead by a pastor who is personally transformed by the word.
This was a great read as I aspire to preach the word.
In Preaching that Changes Lives by Mike Fabarez, incisively identify the problem of over-relying on exegesis in preaching. This is fair and vital for seminary students who are trained heavily to get the meaning of the text right. However, the process of preparing a sermon is a time-intensive process. More time ought to be spent on the significance of the text rather than the meaning. Preachers must be transformed by Scripture to preach effectively and get to the significance of the text for their people. I personally think of Lloyd-Jones and MacArthur as example who were personally changed by the Word and focused on its congregational significance. They were able to bridge the meaning of the word and bring out the significance to their congregations in such a way that honored God and was very compelling.
Fabarez underscores prayer’s critical role in sermon preparation, warning that without it, sermons lack transformative power, and stresses that sermon preparation is the pastor’s primary, labor-intensive work. I really appreciating Fabarez’s practical weekly plan while I also personally feel convicted about my personal time management.
Sermons ought to be delivered with urgency and clarity, keeping the Word’s transformative power central. Authoritative preaching, likewise, is a largely abandoned practice. But it ought to have its rightful place in the pulpit to avoid undermining the message’s impact.
Doctrine leading to practical application is essential. Fabarez urges preachers to guide logical and doctrinally undergirded actionable responses. He also notes the listeners’ responsibility to engage attentively. This means the church must be a culture that desires to grow and be accountable to one another and is lead by a pastor who is personally transformed by the word.
This was a great read as I aspire to preach the word.
May 12, 2018
Here's a novel idea: preaching needs to have application so we are not just listening to someone spout for an hour and then have nothing to gain from it. Surely this should be common knowledge. Unfortunately, as Pastor Mike Fabarez articulates, this isn't always so. The pulpit can be more a platform for young seminarians to pontificate the grand doctrines of God in bewildering language that almost no one understands. Fortunately, there are remedies for such preaching.
This book is about the pastor and his task to realign his sermon preparation and delivery with the idea of application at the forefront. As Dr. Fabarez says, it does the congregation no good if the pastor explains the text for 40 minutes and spends 20 minutes going over how they should respond to it. Sometimes, this should be the opposite.
Reading through this book has opened my eyes. Sitting under Pastor Mike at Compass Bible Church, I've been blessed to grow from his tutelage. I've also noticed this pattern in his preaching: an introduction, an explanation of the text, the application, the conclusion. This is simple, but it is also most powerful. Getting to the core of what the Bible means to the average person instead of showering the congregation with useless knowledge (after all, it is useless unless it is applied) has to be more effective in calling the Christian to step up to his or her own calling.
Fantastic book for the layman and the professional. If you don't like paradigm shifts, don't pick up this book. 5/5.
This book is about the pastor and his task to realign his sermon preparation and delivery with the idea of application at the forefront. As Dr. Fabarez says, it does the congregation no good if the pastor explains the text for 40 minutes and spends 20 minutes going over how they should respond to it. Sometimes, this should be the opposite.
Reading through this book has opened my eyes. Sitting under Pastor Mike at Compass Bible Church, I've been blessed to grow from his tutelage. I've also noticed this pattern in his preaching: an introduction, an explanation of the text, the application, the conclusion. This is simple, but it is also most powerful. Getting to the core of what the Bible means to the average person instead of showering the congregation with useless knowledge (after all, it is useless unless it is applied) has to be more effective in calling the Christian to step up to his or her own calling.
Fantastic book for the layman and the professional. If you don't like paradigm shifts, don't pick up this book. 5/5.
July 22, 2024
This book was pretty okay. There wasn't a whole lot that was extremely special or extremely helpful to what I was learning but it was recommended to me so I did have to read it.
There were some useful tidbits of information that I certainly saved and that was a good reminder of if you're going to preach then you need to exemplify what you preach. It was also a good reminder that I don't pray enough that I need to focus on that but other than that that book felt very much repetitive to similar books that discussed preaching that I have read. There was nothing new or groundbreaking and the book wasn't as engaging.
There were some useful tidbits of information that I certainly saved and that was a good reminder of if you're going to preach then you need to exemplify what you preach. It was also a good reminder that I don't pray enough that I need to focus on that but other than that that book felt very much repetitive to similar books that discussed preaching that I have read. There was nothing new or groundbreaking and the book wasn't as engaging.
March 22, 2018
Exceptional book on preaching that covers all aspects of the most important work a pastor does.
February 23, 2022
Huge in scope, all the way down to living out the passage. Fabarez brings out the importance and depth of the greatest task.
June 13, 2022
Every preacher needs to read this book! If we all preached to change lives, we would in turn change the world.
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July 23, 2011With a title like “Preaching that changes livesâ€, it is clear what the purpose of this book is about. In this work, the author Michael Fabarez gives a treatment concerning the application of sermons. This is a good and necessary balance for all the books in the market on expository preaching, since somewhere in the midst of the sermon preparation expository preachers can forget the importance of application in the exegetical work. It was with great anticipation and eagerness that I read this book, as a young preacher working on improving this aspect of the sermon!
Fabarez devotes a chapter (chapter four) on studying the passage and the audience of the message. This was a helpful reminder, since a sermon is always delivered to a specific audience, which means our sermon preparation should not be done in a vacuum. The chapter gave some useful principles for studying, such as camping on and revisiting the imperative verbs in the selected passage (41-42). Of course, camping out on imperatives has its theological risks concerning what can transfer over for contemporary application, but Fabarez introduces a great controlling principle here, where one ask if the immediate text limit the target of the application, or other parts of the Bible limit the target of the application (44). Concerning legitimate transfer of application, Fabarez states principles that assures an imperative’s direct transfer of application if it is rooted in God’s character (46), addressing man’s depravity (46-47) and God’s created order (47). Other valuable questions that Fabarez suggest as guides during the study of the passages include “How is my audience currently neglecting or abusing the application?†and “What should my audience feel about the application?†Concerning the structure of the outline of the sermon itself, the book argues that it is important to use second person pronouns in the main points and to make these main points imperatives (62-63).
Perhaps the most edifying aspect about this book is the sections that dealt with the personal life of the preacher. For instance, in chapter three the author discusses about the need of the preacher’s life to be changing. One can’t expect preaching to change lives if the preacher himself is not changing! Then in chapter six, Fabarez discuss the importance of prayers for the sermon if it is going to really change lives. It was convicting, as it was a wake up call of my lack of faith in God when I do not pray for the sermon, or seek others to pray for my preaching. If lives are going to change because of God and I but just His agent and messenger, then I need to really seek God in prayer for lives to be changed, and souls to be saved when I preach. He lists on pages 73-76 what to pray for, beginning from the sermon prep to the actual delivery and it was sobering to think about how many steps a preacher can walk thinking they are depending on their own might! Fabarez also recommended enlisting a prayer team for the sermon, truly a simple yet revolutionary idea and he even offered in the appendix a practical example of his prayer team schedule.
Fabarez devotes a chapter (chapter four) on studying the passage and the audience of the message. This was a helpful reminder, since a sermon is always delivered to a specific audience, which means our sermon preparation should not be done in a vacuum. The chapter gave some useful principles for studying, such as camping on and revisiting the imperative verbs in the selected passage (41-42). Of course, camping out on imperatives has its theological risks concerning what can transfer over for contemporary application, but Fabarez introduces a great controlling principle here, where one ask if the immediate text limit the target of the application, or other parts of the Bible limit the target of the application (44). Concerning legitimate transfer of application, Fabarez states principles that assures an imperative’s direct transfer of application if it is rooted in God’s character (46), addressing man’s depravity (46-47) and God’s created order (47). Other valuable questions that Fabarez suggest as guides during the study of the passages include “How is my audience currently neglecting or abusing the application?†and “What should my audience feel about the application?†Concerning the structure of the outline of the sermon itself, the book argues that it is important to use second person pronouns in the main points and to make these main points imperatives (62-63).
Perhaps the most edifying aspect about this book is the sections that dealt with the personal life of the preacher. For instance, in chapter three the author discusses about the need of the preacher’s life to be changing. One can’t expect preaching to change lives if the preacher himself is not changing! Then in chapter six, Fabarez discuss the importance of prayers for the sermon if it is going to really change lives. It was convicting, as it was a wake up call of my lack of faith in God when I do not pray for the sermon, or seek others to pray for my preaching. If lives are going to change because of God and I but just His agent and messenger, then I need to really seek God in prayer for lives to be changed, and souls to be saved when I preach. He lists on pages 73-76 what to pray for, beginning from the sermon prep to the actual delivery and it was sobering to think about how many steps a preacher can walk thinking they are depending on their own might! Fabarez also recommended enlisting a prayer team for the sermon, truly a simple yet revolutionary idea and he even offered in the appendix a practical example of his prayer team schedule.
March 8, 2012
Books on preaching tend to focus on how to exegete the passage or construct a sermon but not many focus on how to reevaluate and consider one’s current practice of preaching through the matrix of application. Preaching that Changes Lives, by Dr. Mike Fabarez, helps the preacher or teacher to give attention to three areas of ministry: “preparation, preaching, and follow through, which will help the preacher to develop a new pattern of preparing to change lives, preaching to change lives, and following through to changes lives” (Fabarez, xv).
In one hundred and ninety-five pages the author makes the case that “Real biblical preaching brings about changes that conform a person to the image of Christ” (Fabarez, xiv). To assist the preacher in this task the author points out that “all greater preachers have caused people to gaze face to face in the mirror of James 1:23 and commit themselves to change in the areas which God’s Word is addressing to them each week” (Fabarez, xiii). The goal of this is that our preaching would not only “affirm what is honorable, but also expose the imperfections of our audience. We must boldly point out what needs to be changed, and then help them to change” (Fabarez, 9).
The first strength of Preaching that Changes Lives is that it is firmly rooted in the Word of God. The second strength of this book is that it clearly calls its readers to the ground for all change—the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Finally, as a result of being rooted and grounded in the Word of God, the author calls preachers to know the Lord Jesus and then serve Him out of their knowing of Him. The only very minor weakness this book has that would strengthen it is if Dr. Fabrez provided questions and homework at the each of each chapter to work through the ideas presented in each chapter.
Preaching that Changes Lives is an excellent book by a seasoned and well-educated Pastor that will help its readers to learn not only how to prepare, preach, and follow through, but to develop a new pattern of preparing to preach in order to change lives and follow through to change lives for the Gospel.
While reading this book, I felt I was being shepherded to have more confidence in the Gospel, because there is a direct correlation between being confident in the Gospel and effectiveness in ministry. Preaching that Changes Lives is a very helpful book that accomplishes its goal to help preachers think through how to apply the Word, not only to their hearers but particularly to their own lives like they never have before.
Title: Preaching That Changes Lives
Author: Michael Fabarez
Publisher: Wipf and Stock (2005)
In one hundred and ninety-five pages the author makes the case that “Real biblical preaching brings about changes that conform a person to the image of Christ” (Fabarez, xiv). To assist the preacher in this task the author points out that “all greater preachers have caused people to gaze face to face in the mirror of James 1:23 and commit themselves to change in the areas which God’s Word is addressing to them each week” (Fabarez, xiii). The goal of this is that our preaching would not only “affirm what is honorable, but also expose the imperfections of our audience. We must boldly point out what needs to be changed, and then help them to change” (Fabarez, 9).
The first strength of Preaching that Changes Lives is that it is firmly rooted in the Word of God. The second strength of this book is that it clearly calls its readers to the ground for all change—the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Finally, as a result of being rooted and grounded in the Word of God, the author calls preachers to know the Lord Jesus and then serve Him out of their knowing of Him. The only very minor weakness this book has that would strengthen it is if Dr. Fabrez provided questions and homework at the each of each chapter to work through the ideas presented in each chapter.
Preaching that Changes Lives is an excellent book by a seasoned and well-educated Pastor that will help its readers to learn not only how to prepare, preach, and follow through, but to develop a new pattern of preparing to preach in order to change lives and follow through to change lives for the Gospel.
While reading this book, I felt I was being shepherded to have more confidence in the Gospel, because there is a direct correlation between being confident in the Gospel and effectiveness in ministry. Preaching that Changes Lives is a very helpful book that accomplishes its goal to help preachers think through how to apply the Word, not only to their hearers but particularly to their own lives like they never have before.
Title: Preaching That Changes Lives
Author: Michael Fabarez
Publisher: Wipf and Stock (2005)
September 24, 2009
One of the most helpful books that I have read in my 2.5 years of seminary was Preaching That Changes Lives. Having read several preaching books which instruct the reader how to create outlines, make transitions, illustrations and applications to the text, this book was surprisingly different. The main thrust of it was to show the preacher how to take ordinary outlines and adjust them so that they are motivational in their approach. Fabarez shows the important of turning a declarative outline—where truths are merely stated—into an imperative outline, where not only truths are stated, but they are directional, instructing the person listening to go and act upon what he or she has just heard. This type of outline modification has benefited me greatly already. I took a sermon outline that I had preached before and applied the book’s basic principles, and it not only transformed the whole sermon, but it helped me to understand the purpose and power of a good homiletical outline.
The book is helpful in other ways as well. It is very pastoral in its tone, encouraging the potential preacher to keep his congregation in mind while preaching. Things such as preparing sermons with individuals in mind, as well as how to pray for your weekly preaching event, made this book not only another theoretical treatment of the art of preaching, but a practical guide for someone who already has the basics of sermon preparation down. His samples of prayer calendars and outlines that go in the bulletin were helpful to see, knowing that Fabarez has been doing this already for years, and to him it has proved helpful. I was greatly encouraged by this book and I will refer to it again in the future.
The book is helpful in other ways as well. It is very pastoral in its tone, encouraging the potential preacher to keep his congregation in mind while preaching. Things such as preparing sermons with individuals in mind, as well as how to pray for your weekly preaching event, made this book not only another theoretical treatment of the art of preaching, but a practical guide for someone who already has the basics of sermon preparation down. His samples of prayer calendars and outlines that go in the bulletin were helpful to see, knowing that Fabarez has been doing this already for years, and to him it has proved helpful. I was greatly encouraged by this book and I will refer to it again in the future.
October 3, 2015
Really good. I recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews