Preaching A Verse or Two from the Psalms

[Blood-Bought Pilgrim]

Hi All,
As a pastoral intern, I'm starting to get some preaching experience under my belt. However this Sunday, I'm doing something that is fairly new to me; I'll be preaching on just two verses in the middle of a psalm. I've preached on short texts before, but doing so in the middle of a psalm is new to me.

During the sermon, I will of course be drawing on context from the surrounding verses, but I will only be focused on expositing those two specific verses. So here's where I need some input: would you read the entire psalm at the start of the sermon, to give the context to the congregation, or would it be better to just read the two verses which will be exposited, for the sake of focusing attention there?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Taylor]

I would read the entire Psalm, noting perhaps before the reading that you’ll be reading the entire Psalm, but only preaching a portion.

 

[smalltown_puritan]

In agreement with what is said already, I would recommend reading some of the surrounding context (especially if you are going to be drawing from it throughout the sermon). If it is a longer Psalm, however (like Psalm 78, for example), perhaps only reading a portion of the Psalm would be prudent. A help on discerning what portion to read may be to you look in whatever Psalter (or Psalter-Hymnal as it might be in your congregation) your congregation uses, find your text in the Psalm setting in that Psalter, and then read the portion of the Psalm that would be sung (and then after the sermon, that Psalm would be sung with greater understanding in the mind and thanksgiving in the heart).

An additional suggestion would be to read through the whole passage, and then, after that initial reading, reiterate the particular verses/phrase which is the text of the sermon. This is often what I do when I preach upon a particular phrase or a single verse.