“As a comedian once said, ‘It’s hard to explain bad taste to people who actually have it.’ It’s even harder to persuade preachers who’ve tried all their lives to be something that they need only to be nothing — and to trust Jesus to do the rest . . . I hope you get thirsty …
And the Message Just Passes the Needle Around
“Let me say it straight out. I think the reason why there’s so much poor preaching in the church is that preachers, by and large, are as addicted to religion as their congregations are” (Capon, The Foolishness of Preaching, p. 32).
The Basic Ingredient
“All God needs to make a universe is nothing; all He needs to make a preacher is a nobody” (Capon, The Foolishness of Preaching, p. 26).
Which Would Mean the NT Is About Guilt
Our fascination with guilt is a blind alley (especially for preachers) because the New Testament isn’t about guilt at all; its about forgiveness. The Lamb of God has taken away the sins of the world, not laid them on us like a coat of tar” (Capon, The Foolishness of Preaching, p. 22).
Fatherhood and Pleasure
INTRODUCTION:Our world is filled with fathers because it is a world created by God the Father. Fatherhood lies at the center of all things, and because the Father created the world, the world has to reflect that reality. But because it is a world that has—because of the disobedience of our first father—fallen into sin …
Actually, the Crack Cocaine of Acceptance
“I think good preachers should be like bad kids. They ought to be naughty enough to tiptoe up on dozing congregations, steal their bottles of religion pills, spirituality pills, and morality pills, and flush them down the drain . . . But preachers can’t be that naughty or brave unless they’re free of their own …
Build Gradually
“It is usually necessary then to introduce the subject of the sermon like a slowly rising sun rather than as a sudden searchlight” (Murray, How Sermons Work, p. 72)
The Dark Center
“For one thing, our preachers tell us the wrong story entirely, saying not a word about the dark side — no, that’s too weak — about the dark center of the Gospel. They can’t bring themselves to come within a country mile of the horrendous truth that we are saved in our deaths, not by …
One Thing Missing
“The decay of preaching does not arise from any plurality of causes, but from one great cause, the want of the Spirit of God” (Fish, Power in the Pulpit, p. 23).
Drive Toward the Verdict
“Evangelical preaching is preaching for a verdict” (W.E. Sangster, as quoted in Murray, How Sermons Work, p. 67).