INTRODUCTION:The central method that Jesus employed in His teaching is the method of setting forth parables. That means that if we want to be serious Christians, we should give ourselves to the understanding of His parables. We should want to learn what they mean, but more than this, we should want to learn how they …
Pulpit Freedom
INTRODUCTION:Today, October 7, 2012, is Pulpit Freedom Sunday. In 1954, the Johnson Amendment was passed which asserted the federal government’s right to set limits on what could and could not be preached from the pulpit. On this Lord’s Day, over a thousand American pastors are going to be preaching in defiance of that regulation, in …
Joy and Melancholy
INTRODUCTION:What are we to make of a disruption of joy that does not appear to proceed from unconfessed sin, and which also appears unrelated to external afflictions? What are we to make of that broad category of minor depression, major depression, other forms of mental illness, the blues, or simply other forms of unhappiness? They …
Mood Preaching, Not Moody Preaching
“To fulfill your responsibility as a biblical preacher, make sure that you preserve both the meaning and mood of the original author” (Edwards, Deep Preaching, p. 137).
Joy and Affliction
INTRODUCTION:We have seen that one cause of disrupted joy is the fact of unrepented and unconfessed sin. The second cause, the one we will consider today, is the relationship of joy and affliction. And the third, covered next week, will be the relationship of joy and melancholy, joy when you have a case of the …
Not Optional . . .
“Metaphors are more than just ‘figures of speech’; they are central to how we make sense out of reality. Metaphors are the mental scaffolding that people need in order to reach the next intellectual level. They are a critical component of communication and teaching. You must learn to use metaphors well in order to preach …
Scattered Everywhere
“A significant part of Jesus’ homiletical success was due to His extravagant use of metaphor” (Edwards, Deep Preaching, p. 130).
Joy and Sin
INTRODUCTION:This message is the first of three on the subject of joy. I want to consider, each in turn, three basic challenges to a believer’s joy. The first challenge will be sin—disobedience. The second challenge will be suffering or affliction. The third challenge we will address will be melancholy, the blues, or what our generation …
Homiletics Is Like Making Jam
“You do not understand a passage well enough to preach it unless you can make it a metaphor. If you can’t put the idea of a passage into a metaphor, you don’t really understand it. And you are certainly not ready to preach it” (Edwards, Deep Preaching, p. 126).
Making a Splash
“When we preach abstractions, our words skim off the lives of our listeners like skipping stones across a pond. To make the kind of splash God intends, the truth needs to plunge into the daily lives of our people” (Edwards, Deep Preaching, p. 124).