Introduction Many of you were kind enough to fill out the survey on Bible reading that we sent out to the congregation. The results were of a nature to delight a pastor’s heart—which they certainly did. About ninety percent of you read the Bible either daily or multiple times weekly. That’s a good business, and …
Let Out the Clutch
“Whatever truth a sermon may present to the mind, it should not end without aiming to bring about some practical result, some corresponding determination of the will, state of the affections, or course of action” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, p. 280).
With Food
“The imagination of every man and woman has an appetite and must be fed” (Wiersbe, Preaching and Teaching With Imagination, p. 31).
On Not Petering Out
“The conclusion ought to have moved like a river, growing in volume and power, but instead of that, the discourse loses itself in some great marsh, or ends like the emptying of a pitcher, with a few poor drops and dregs” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, p. 278).
Like Eggs in the Batter
“The approach is purely cosmetic. It sees imagination as skill in decorating the cake with no thought given to improving the recipe. Imagination in preaching is not a new technique to be learned but a radical new attitude and outlook to be cultivated” (Wiersbe, Preaching and Teaching With Imagination, p. 27).
Takeoffs and Landings Both
“Preachers seldom neglect to prepare some introduction to a sermon, but very often neglect the conclusion; and yet the latter is even more important than the former” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, p 277).
And There’s a Reason for That
“‘The purpose of preaching,’ wrote Halford Luccock, ‘is not to make people see reasons, but visions'” (Wiersbe, Preaching and Teaching With Imagination, p. 25)
Pervasive Intelligence
“Like sap in the plant or blood in the body, the vital current of thought must flow through the whole discourse, giving it animation, flexibility, strength” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, p. 275).
One Body, Many Members
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) The Basket Case Chronicles #144 “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, …
Imitating the Message
“Biblical preaching means declaring God’s truth the way He declared it, and that means with imagination” (Wiersbe, Preaching and Teaching With Imagination, p. 9)