“The size of the text doesn’t matter, so long as it is from the Bible. What matters is what we do with it”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 26
At Least When She Had Cell Coverage
“When he told Mystic Union about it six months ago, she had come alive. Her eyes had sparkled, just like her crystal earrings that kept her in touch with her two grandmothers, now deceased”
Many Ways to Unpack a Suitcase
In reality, ‘expository’ refers to the content of the sermon rather than its style. To ‘expound’ Scripture means to bring out what is in the text, to reveal it. The expositor opens what seems to be closed, makes plain what is confusing, unravels what is knotted, and unfolds what is tightly packed.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 25
Not an Insignificant Problem
“Robert was astute enough to know that a statement for his attorney was not to be a creative writing exercise, and so he had to stick to the facts. But he hardly knew any facts and was thus having trouble sticking to them.”
Difference Between Teaching and Preaching
The question sometimes arises of whether there is a difference between teaching and preaching. If there is, it is very minor. Jesus both taught and preached (Matt. 4:23) and the Apostle Paul described himself as both a preacher and a teacher of the gospel (Tit. 1:3; 2 Tim 1:11) . . . There was probably a good deal of overlap.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, pp. 23-24
That Is, Quickly
“If it was narcissism and self-indulgence you were after, he could write like a bat out of the bad place.”
Bad Preaching Is Effective Also
“A low level of Christian living is due, more than anything else, to a low level of Christian preaching.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 22
Hypochondria Deluxe
“Robert P. Warner II had been the kind of boy in high school who managed his injuries as a mother hen hovers over her chicks. He was a master of communicating physical distress to others, but the nature of the injury and the nature of the distress he would subsequently manifest were not really in accord with the laws of logic first outlined in such a cogent way by Aristotle. One time, when he had been beaned in the forehead by a volleyball in Mr. Walker’s phys ed class, the injury, such as it was, resulted in a mild ringing in the ears. But this had translated, by the end of the period, into a clear limp; by the end of the day, into a striking limp; and by the next Monday morning, into a pair of crutches and a leg brace on the outside of his jeans.”
The Word Our Life
“It is the word of God that keeps the church alive, directs and sanctifies it, reforms it and renews it. Christ rules and feeds his church through the word of God.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 21
Ain’t What She Used to Be
“The sofa was of the old gray mare swayback school of design, and from somewhere within the cushions, de profundis, cam a groan from Robert P.”