“The art of preaching is presentation . . . We would never put the ingredients of the cake on the table for our guests, but I have heard sermons like that” (Motyer, Preaching?, p. 89).
Application, Not Aiming At
“It is never judicious to make an application to any particular individual, and very rarely to a small and well-defined class. What is popularly called ‘hitting at’ some person or few persons will almost always do more harm than good” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, p. 231).
On Not Preaching Switchbacks and Hairpins
[On “rightly dividing” in 2 Tim. 2:15] “Orthotomeo is a compound of ‘straightness’ and ‘cutting’. It only occurs elsewhere in the Bible in the Greek translation of Proverbs 3:6 and 11:5, in both places associated with the word hodos/”road”: to cut a straight road, like the Romans did, and like our motorways attempt! But however …
Pressing It Home
“The application in a sermon is not merely an appendage to the discussion, or a subordinate part of it, but is the main thing to be done. Spurgeon says, ‘Where the application begins, there the sermon begins.’ We are not to speak before the people, but to them, and most earnestly strive to make them …
Reciprocating Study
“And indeed, this is a wonderful aspect of our Bibles: the more we read the whole, the easier we find it to understand the part; and the deeper we delve into the part, the more we are enabled to understand the whole” (Motyer, Preaching?, p. 44).
Like Something or Other Does
“A preacher should be constantly accumulating the materials of illustration” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, p. 229).
Communion and the Love Feast
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) The Basket Case Chronicles #139 “Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order …
But . . .
“When I asked John Stott, long years ago, if he used commentaries much in preparation, he said, ‘Not really. I find they only confuse me.’ Well, yes, there are people like that, and also there are commentaries like that” (Motyer, Preaching?, p. 39).
Wish This Went Without Saying
“Preachers should continue through life the rapid but attentive reading of the whole Bible, that its facts and sayings may be kept fresh in their minds, and readily present themselves for use” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, p. 228).
Working on a Building II
Introduction A basic truism of modern design is that form follows function. This is self-evidently true, but the reason modern men have found themselves living, working, and worshiping in overgrown shoeboxes is that we have allowed ourselves to drift into a truncated and reductionist view of what our actual function as human beings truly is. …