“A preacher should never go out of his way to find controversial matter, not go out of his way to avoid it. He who continually shrinks from conflict should stir himself up to faithfulness; he who is by nature belligerent, should cultivate forbearance and courtesy” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, p. 96).
Gospel, Church, World: Gospel Presence VI
Introduction Our goal in this life, and our goal as a congregation, ought to be three-fold—we should want to get the gospel straight, we should want to get the church right, and we should want to get the world restored. Let’s walk through it in that order. The Text: “But ye are come unto mount …
Imitating the Wrong Thing
“Young ministers often help to make doctrinal subjects unpopular, by the fact that their sermons too closely resemble the treatises they have been studying, or the lectures they have heard” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, p. 91).
Taste and See: Gospel Presence V
Introduction We worship God the Father through Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. But in order for this to work, He cannot be a distant Christ. Remember that in Christ God came near, God became our neighbor. We worship God through a close Christ, a near Christ, an indwelling Christ. The point of …
Focus
“Take it as a general rule, the more you narrow the subject, the more thoughts you will have” (Alexander, as quoted in Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, p. 90).
True Service
“The preacher who can make doctrinal truth interesting as well as intelligible to his congregation, and gradually bring them to a good acquaintance with the doctrines of the Bible, is rendering them an inestimable service” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, p. 89).
The Chief Business
“Doctrine, i.e. teaching, is the preacher’s chief business. Truth is the life-blood of piety, without which we cannot maintain its vitality or support its activity” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, p. 88).
Who Is My Neighbor? Gospel Presence IV
Introduction We live in a relativistic and postmodern age, one that loves to muddy distinctions and blur the lines. This is all done with high-sounding language, which the first thing that happens is that we find we have lost the Creator/creature distinction, which puts us in the idolatrous violation of the greatest commandment. The next …
You Still Need a Point
“Even in text-sermons and expository sermons, as we shall see below, it is important to have unity of subject” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, p. 87).
Making Liturgy Do Hammerheads
In order to fulfill its appointed role, preaching needs to be lively (Acts 7:38), authoritative (Mark 1:22), engaging (Acts 14:1), helpful (2 Tim. 3:16), and bold (Eph. 6:19-20). But it does not do this in a vacuum. This kind of preaching needs to move people from one place to another, and in order to do …