“Ministers must use great wisdom and discretion in managing their public discourses . . . They must preach necessary and seasonable truths” (Foxcroft, The Gospel Ministry, p. 27).
Surveying the Text: Ecclesiastes
Introduction: Most cheerfulness in the world is superficial and shallow. Much deep thinking is melancholy. This great Hebrew philosopher calls us to joy—but joy which thinks deeply. Our word profound comes from the Latin profundus, which means deep, and so we are invited to profound joy, not joy that skims along the surface of things. …
You Have to Think About This One for a Minute
“Any preacher who does not fail, and fail dramatically and often, to communicate the good news is not communicating the good news that is Jesus Christ” (Willimon, Proclamation and Theology, p. 53).
Working in a Thick Medium
“To be a biblical preacher is to relish the delight of working so thick, demanding, and resourceful a medium as Holy Scripture” (Willimon, Proclamation and Theology, p. 49).
Despite the Threats
“As ministers then would deliver their own souls, and at last appear before the judgment seat of Christ pure from the blood of all men, they must warn every man, and teach every man without fear of undue censures or threatening dangers” (Foxcroft, The Gospel Ministry, p. 20).
Logic and Liberation
“Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye …
Which Causes Trouble More Often Than You Might Think
“The biblical preacher attempts to talk like the Bible, in order that the congregation might inculcate a scriptural way of construing the world” (Willimon, Proclamation and Theology, p. 47).
Diagnosis First
“Until men are convinced of sin, they will not be instructed in righteousness” (Foxcroft, The Gospel Ministry, p. 11).
Surveying the Text: Proverbs
Introduction: The book of Proverbs contains more teaching about women than any other book of Scripture. The structure of the book means that it is all about women, and many of the individual proverbs which seem unrelated are actually not at all unrelated. Woman is the glory of man, the capstone of man. She is …
The Devil’s Substitute for Love
“Too often, in too many congregations, unity is purchased by the world’s means — suppression of information, deceitful flattery, niceness, and subterfuge — rather than through the Christ-appointed means of speaking the truth in love” (Willimon, Proclamation and Theology, p. 30).