Abe’s Resources

Hopefully, this aggregation of resources will be as helpful in your preaching endeavors as they have been in mine. Of course, all the usual stipulations and warnings apply. By listing these resources, I am not necessarily endorsing the theology or doctrinal stance of the owners/managers of, or contributors to, these resources. Caveat lector!

Here’s what I have…

On my Smartphone (running iOS 14)

• Other than the usual assortment of news, games, weather, music, and photo apps, I have Bibles from Olive Tree Software: Hebrew Bible, Greek Bible, and English Bibles (NET and NASB) and from Logos. One can obtain parsing information and even search in Hebrew and Greek … on one’s phone!
• There are some other apps that I have found useful for collecting articles, illustrations, reading pdfs, etc. I think they are beneficial enough that they merit a blog on each (one of these days).

All this smartphone talk is not to say that laptop tools are useless. Au contraire!

With my Laptop  (running both MacOS Catalina and Windows 10 Pro)

• Bibleworks 10 (full version $389; upgrades cost less) is quite a sophisticated program that is extensively employed in my research (now defunct, unfortunately, though the software, which I love, still works).
• Galaxie Software provides a reasonably broad coverage of over thirty conservative journals. An online subscription ($50/year or $5/month) brings you instant access to a regularly updated database of articles.
• Logos (SBTS faculty have access to this vast resource).

And as regards hard copy material…

In my Library (few at home, more in office, several hundreds of thousands at SBTS)

• Outside of the incredible resource that my institution’s library is (not just for books and journals, but also for access to the database of ATLA [American Theological Library Association], the archive of JSTOR [short for “Journal Storage”], and other remarkable storehouses), I think the only tome I use regularly is my well-worn copy of a Ryrie Study Bible (NASB): its cross-references are particularly helpful.
• I do have a variety of commentaries collected over the years—no complete single series, but bits and pieces of several. But honestly, for preaching purposes, I haven’t found any that will carry me further than foundational exegesis. My general take on commentaries of all stripes can be found on this page. But, in the meantime, here’s a shameless plug, especially if you are planning to preach through the Gospel of Mark: Mark: A Theological Commentary for Preachers (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2012),  through Genesis: Genesis: A Theological Commentary for Preachers (Eugene, OR: Resource Publications, 2014), through Ephesians: Ephesians: A Theological Commentary for Preachers (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2015), through Judges: Judges: A Theological Commentary for Preachers (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2017), or through the Pastoral Epistles: 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus: A Theological Commentary for Preachers.
• I did a series of interviews, “How I Preach,” with movers and shakers in homiletics. An illuminating set of opinions.
• Hey, and if you are interested in the new preaching hermeneutic I’m propounding, be sure to pick up a copy of Privilege the Text! A Theological Hermeneutic for Preaching (Chicago: Moody, 2013) for your own library! Also out is  A Vision for Preaching: Understanding the Heart of Pastoral Ministry from Baker (2015). And my latest offering: A Manual for Preaching: The Journey from Text to Sermon (Baker, 2019), a how-to book for preachers.
• And don’t forget a number of articles and book reviews I have written.

On the Web

• You might want to consider joining the Evangelical Homiletics Society. Their Annual Conferences (the 2014 one was at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, CA, in October, and I was the main speaker!) have a mix of academic and ministry-oriented talks and papers.
• The Academy of Homiletics spans a broad range of preaching interests, as also does its online organ (Homiletic), as well as the Academy’s Annual Meeting.
• Preaching Today is a production of Christianity Today and Leadership Magazine, you’ll need to subscribe to be able to utilize it optimally ($9.95/month; $69.95/year). I have let my subscription lapse, but plan to renew soon.
• Preaching.com is a gathering of articles, illustration, preaching tips, leadership essays, book reviews… One of those casually-flip-through sites worth visiting periodically.
• Homiletics is another interesting (eclectic?) collection of preaching-related material. Unfortunately, you can access this only if you have a subscription ($69.95/year; with the print version of Homiletics, $79.95/year; a 30-day risk-free trial is available).
• Sermon Central has an annotated list of links to websites not directly related to preaching; they are, nonetheless, helpful for illustrations, finding images, kindling ideas ….
• Those who desire to keep in touch with the field of rhetoric and to tone their rhetorical muscles will be benefited by browsing through this website from Brigham Young University in Provo, UT.