There is no chance of fire in the pews if there is an iceberg in the pulpit.
HT: @preachingtoday
Tag Archives: Preaching
Sermons Full of Mere Words
A sermon full of mere words, how neatly soever it be composed, while it wants the light of evidence, and the life of zeal, is but an image or a well-dressed carcase.
Bibliography of 1 Thessalonians
I recently finished a series of messages in the book of 1 Thessalonians. Click on the link below for an annotated bibliography of the books I used. Bear in mind that the comments were made based on their usefulness to me personally. You may find the books to have greater or lesser influence if you were to use them.
CLICK HERE FOR ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF 1 THESSALONIANS
The Preacher’s Greatest Need
There is no greater need for the preacher than to know God. The preparation of the heart is more important than the preparation of the sermon.
HT: @preachingtoday
Preacher, Know When To Stop
Pastors, make sure Spurgeon is not talking about you:
“I heard one say the other day that a certain preacher had no more gifts for the ministry than an oyster, and in my own judgment this was a slander on the oyster, for that worthy bivalve shows great discretion in his openings, and knows when to close.”
The Chief End of Preaching
What is the chief end of preaching? I like to think it is this: to give men and women a sense of God and His presence.
D. Martin Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981)
HT: @preachingtoday
What It Takes To Preach Christ
It takes a crucified man to preach a crucified Savior.
The Ultimate Purpose of the Bible
The ultimate purpose of the Word of God is not theological information but heart and life transformation. Biblical literacy and theological expertise are not, therefore, the end of the Word of God but a God-ordained means to an end, and the end is a radically transformed life because the worship at the center of that life has been reclaimed. This means that it is dangerous to teach, discuss, and exegete the Word without this goal in view.
Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 51.
Listening to God before We Speak for Him
Holy men of soberer and quieter times than ours knew well the power of silence. David said, I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me; while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue. There is a tip here for God’s modern prophets. The heart seldom gets hot while the mouth is open. A closed mouth before God and a silent heart are indispensable for the reception of certain kinds of truth. No man is qualified to speak who has not first listened. It might well be a wonderful revelation to some Christians if they were to get completely quiet for a short time, long enough, let us say, to get acquainted with their own souls, and to listen in the silence for the deep voice of the Eternal God. The experience, if repeated often enough, would do more to cure our ulcers than all the pills that ever rolled across a desk.
Putting Sermons into Hearts
The Minister, that does not manifestly put his heart into his sermon, will never put his sermon into the hearts of his people. Pompous elocution, attempts at theatrical display, or affected emotions, are indeed most repugnant to the simple dignity of our office. A painted fire may glare, but will not warm.
Violent agitations, without correspondent tenderness of feeling, will disgust instead of arresting the mind. Preaching is not (as some appear to think it) the work of the lungs, or the mimicry of gesture, or the impulse of uncontrollable feeling; but the spiritual energy of a heart constrained by the love of Christ, and devoted to the care of those immortal souls, for whom Christ died.
Charles Bridges, The Christian Ministry (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1830/2005), 320.
Life Is Worship 