“So why don’t churches routinely conduct annual reviews of their ministers? Because ministers don’t want to be told that their preaching is disorganized, hard to follow, irrelevant, and poorly reasoned” (Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Preach, p. 34).
But It Doesn’t Help If a Scribe Without Authority Buys a Pair of Oakleys
“What the contemporaneists and emergents have not yet considered, however, is the possibility that such moribund churches are so not because they are doing the wrong things, but because they are doing them incompetently” (Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Preach, p. 32).
It Gets Long After You Lost ‘Em
“I realized then that sermon length is not measured in minutes; it is measured in minutes-beyond-interest” (Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Preach, p. 31).
Cheerful Hearts and Good Words
INTRODUCTION: We need to begin with the obvious, which is that Scripture teaches that our words affect how we are doing, not to mention t hose around us. But this “obvious” truth can, if unattended, deteriorate into the vagaries of generic uplift. When we speak the good word, it must be a word that is …
Boosters With Stones
The Lord Jesus expresses disbelief that any prophet could die outside Jerusalem (Luke 13:33). In saying this, He speaks from the vantage point of the prophets, and not from the vantage of the Sanhedrin Boosters. It is not Nineveh that stones the prophets, but Jerusalem. It is not Babylon that rejects them, but Jerusalem. It …
A Herald Must Enunciate
“Therefore, there is no religious use . . . in a sermon that merely discloses the minister’s opinion, but does not disclose the opinion of God. And there surely can be no use in a sermon that does not even disclose the minister’s opinion clearly” (T. David Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Preach, p. 19).
Cool and Hot
“It is a worthy gift of God to be able to speak mildly and moderately so that our speech falls like dew upon the grass; but it is the fiery tongue that beats down sin and works sound grace in the heart” (Perkins, The Art of Prophesying, p. 169).
God Uses Strange Things
“This should teach us not to despise the sacraments, although the outward elements of bread, wine and water are weak and common and completely lifeless in themselves. Nor should we despise the ministry of the Word, although it is exercised by a weak man, as mortal and sinful as others. Since God can season the …
To Which An Appropriate Response is Not “Darn”
“If we look into the Scriptures we shall find God never called people into the state of grace or to any notable work or function in his church without first humbling them” (Perkins, The Art of Prophesying, p. 158).
Golden Words and Dead Lives
“If ministers are to see any fruit from their ministry, they must first sanctify themselves and cleanse their hearts by repentance before they presume to stand up to rebuke sin in others. Let them not think that their golden words will do as much good as their dead lives will do harm” (Perkins, The Art …