“Truth and timeliness together make the full preacher . . . First, seek always truth first and timeliness second, never timeliness first and truth second.”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 161
What is a Cult? What is a Sect? What is a Church?
Sermon Video Introduction: Whenever we are confronted with a new problem, our first instinct as Christians ought to be that of turning to the Scriptures. What does the Bible say about this? And ...
A Deadly Snare
“There is truth in the belief that much of the best thinking and preaching of the land is done in obscure parishes and by unfamous preachers . . . To set one’s heart on being popular is fatal to the preacher’s best growth. To escape from that desire one needs to know that the men who are in no sense popular favorites do much of the very best work of the ministry.”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, pp. 156-157
Which Can Be Disconcerting
“Often the horse knows the rider better than the rider knows the horse.”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 155
If You Want Them to Trust You
“Trust the people to whom you preach more than most ministers do.”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 154
The Word is for All
“However difficult it may be to do it, it is clearly recognized that men ought to preach so that the wisest and the simplest alike can understand and get the blessing.”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 153
The Prophecy of Micah [10]
Sermon Video Introduction: We are now at the beginning of the last cycle of Micah’s prophecy. Remember that the pattern is one of warning, judgment, and consolation. We see in this section the ...
Two Effects
“There are two effects of every sermon, one special, in the enforcement of a single thought, or the inculcation of a single duty; the other general, in the diffusion of a sense of the beauty of holiness and the value of truth.”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 148
Not in the Job Description
“It is not [the preacher’s] business to despair of anybody.”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 148
Like Garlic in the Stew
“A parish of critics would be killing, but a critic here and there is a tonic.”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 147