Preaching is the authoritative declaration of the Word and will of God, with the intention of revealing Christ to the hearers. Christ is seen through a window, and not painted on the wall. The medium of the preacher is to be Windex, not oil base paint. This definition has three components — the manner, the …
Earthy Examples in the Pulpit
“No creature, truly represented, is common or unclean. It is only a sort of Pharisaism of taste which makes it so” (Spurgeon, Eccentric Preachers, p. 38).
And Some Want to be More Correct Than the Multiplication Table
“If you will be as dry as sawdust, as devoid of juice as the sole of an old shoe, and as correct as the multiplication table, you shall earn to yourself a high degree in the great university of Droneingen, but if you wake up your soul and adopt an energetic delivery, and a natural, …
Whether Fine Foppery or Foppish Finery
“The centre is not here. They that wear soft raiment are in king’s houses, but the King of kings cares nothing for the finery and foppery of ecclesiastical parade” (Spurgeon, Eccentric Preachers, p. 25).
Still a Shame
“If gold ruste, what shal iren do?For if a preest be foul, on whom we truste,No wonder is a lewed man to ruste;And shame it is, if a prest take keep,A shiten shepherde and a clene sheep.” (Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, ll. 500-504)
According to His Truth
INTRODUCTION:The background to this psalm is found in 1 Samuel 23, and it is a testimony to David’s faithfulness to God in the midst of much unfaithfulness to him. David had delivered Keilah from the Philistines, but the Lord told David that they would turn him over to Saul. He then went to the wilderness …
That’s One Lucky Verger
“They confuse those whom they ought to confirm, and stagger those whom they should establish. Bishop Blomfield tells us that a certain verger said to him, ‘Do you know I have been verger of this church fifty years, and though I have heard all the great sermons preached in this place I am still a …
But He Usually Doesn’t Mind
“At this time, when God raises up a man of original mind who strikes out a course for himself and follows it with success, it is usual to charge him with being eccentric” (Spurgeon, Eccentric Preachers, p. 14).
Mere Chips in the Porridge
“In all generations useful preachers of the gospel have been objected to by a portion of the community. Mere chips in the porridge may escape censure and mildly win the tolerance of indifference, but decided worth will be surrounded with warm friends and red hot foes. He who hopes to preach so as to please …
And Not for a Head Nod
“Preach for a verdict” (G. Campbell Morgan, Preaching, p. 140).