“The minister must grow. His true growth is not necessarily a change of views. It is a change of view”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 66
The Manliest of Professions, Huh?
“That which ought to be the manliest of all professions has a tendency, practically, to make men unmanly. Men make appeals for sympathy that no true man should make. They take to themselves St. Paul’s pathos without St. Paul’s strength . . . Never appeal for sympathy. Let it find you out if it will. Count your manliness the soul of your ministry and resist all attacks upon it however sweetly they may come”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 65
Difficult Relationships
Sermon Video Introduction: For a number of years now, we have been emphasizing community, life together, fellowship, communion, and what the New Testament calls koinonia. The response to this ...
Always a Marvel
“A man’s first wonder when he begins to preach is that people do not come to hear him. After a while, if he is good for anything, he begins to wonder that they do”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 60
Christ the Friend of Sinners
Sermon Video Introduction: If Satan could successfully get us all to believe just one lie, what would that lie be? Is there an aboriginal lie, one that rests at the root of every twisted thought ...
Courage Most Needful
“Courage is good everywhere, but it is necessary here. If you are afraid of men and a slave to their opinion, go and do something else. Go and make shoes to fit them”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 59
No Real Understanding Without Humor
“Humor involves the perception of the true proportions of life. It is one of the most helpful qualities that the preacher can possess . . . But humor is something very different from frivolity”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 58
Look Out, Look Away
“No man ever yet thought whether he was preaching well without weakening his sermon”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 55
Patience in Work That Waits/2 Thessalonians 5
Sermon Video Introduction: Although the church at Thessalonica was a remarkably healthy church, it could not be said that there were no disorders there. At the conclusion of this second letter, ...
The Kind of Man to be Ordained
“We may set him apart from other men with what solemn ceremonies we may please, but he will be just like other men still, unless the power of the work to which he looks forward has entered into him during his careful preparation and made him different”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 50