“For Paul it is the work of the Holy Spirit in the preacher and in the congregation which gives preaching its power. This is not some stuffy arcane wisdom, not some legalistic tradition, but rather a living, enlightening power that imparts life even to the old, the jaded, and the academic” (Hughes Oliphant Old, The …
Plain Speaking
“What Paul means is plainly that Christ sent him to change human hearts through the preaching of the gospel, not to impress them with his literary eloquence” (Hughes Oliphant Old, The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures, p. 191).
Not Sent to Dazzle
“The cultivated rhetoric of Hellenistic society was notorious for grabbing center stage, as it were, and losing sight of the primary concern of the message. That this should not happen in Christian preaching was Paul’s main concern in the opening chapters of the first epistle to the Corinthians. In fact, the greatest of Christian preachers, …
High Service to God
“The preaching and the hearing of the Word of God is in the last analysis worship, worship in its most profound sense . . . the proclaiming of the Word of God, simply in itself, is high service to God. The solemn reading and preaching of Scripture in the midst of the congregation is a …
Gratitude and Its Alternative
INTRODUCTION:This Lord’s Day is the first after our Thanksgiving holiday, and is also the first Sunday in Advent. Because we want to stand against what might be called morbid penitentialism, we want this season to be suffused with a glad anticipation. The only conviction we want to awaken would be a spirit of penitence for …
And Continues With Gathering Force
“The glory of Zion is revealed with the gathering in of all the nations of the earth and the homage of even the Gentile kings. For Paul Christian preaching is nothing less than the proclamation that this age has come. The Scriptures have been fulfilled” (Hughes Oliphant Old, The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures, …
Straight Up the Middle
“Today the principle that faith comes by hearing counters the idea that church growth is just a matter of sociology or demographics or something programmed by church administrators. Evangelism is not a matter of psychology and especially not mass psychology. Neither is it a matter of communication techniques or how to win friends and influence …
The Wine of Astonishment
INTRODUCTION: This psalm begins in a disastrous period in Israel’s history, and ends with disaster for her enemies and foes. It begins with Israel drinking the wine of astonishment at her peril and impending calamity, and ends with Moab and Edom thrown down. It begins with Israel facing potential disaster, and ends with her enemies …
Foundations for Worship
“The incarnation of the Word leads to the proclamation of the Word, and this proclamation is in the end the establishing of communion, both with God and with the worshiping congregation. To put it succinctly, the apostolic proclamation of the Word is the basis of worship” (Hughes Oliphant Old, The Reading and Preaching of the …
Most of the Sermon is Unspoken
“Preaching must intimate more than it defines. The power of suggestion is one of preaching’s greatest strengths” (Hughes Oliphant Old, The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures, Vol. 1, p. 146).