“Preaching is a spiritual triangle whereby God draws the preacher and the hearers closer to himself and to each other”
Beeke, Reformed Preaching, p. 347
Affection, Not Affectation
“Next to the Scriptures, nothing makes a sermon more to pierce, than when it comes out of the inward affection of the heart without any affectation.”
William Ames, as quoted in Kent Hughes, Power in Weakness
So Be a Big Pot on Your Own Time
“Samuel Rutherford reputedly said that just as we cook soup in a big pot but serve it in little bowls, so the preacher should study with human scholarship but preach with utter simplicity.”
Beeke, Reformed Preaching, p. 201
Swing Low
“Preaching is the chariot that carries Christ up and down the world.”
Richard Sibbes, in Beeke, Reformed Preaching, p. 146
Counseling and Preaching
“We would have less need for personal counseling if we provided more application in the pulpit.”
Beeke, Reformed Preaching, p. 92
A Terrible Weapon
“A minister’s life is the life of his ministry . . . In great measure, according to the purity and perfections of the instrument, will be the success. It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.”
Robert Murray M’Cheyne, as quoted in Beeke, Reformed Preaching, p. 82
A Lot More
“Therefore, the glory of God and the needs of our listeners compel us to preach with sincerity and holy energy. This more than raising our voices and waving our arms.”
Beeke, Reformed Preaching, p. 79
Than In All the Dwellings of Jacob
“David Clarkson (1622-1686) says that God is present in public worship ‘more effectually, constantly, intimately’ than in private devotions.”
Beeke, Reformed Preaching, p. 75
Night and Day
“If a man teach uprightly and walk crookedly, more will fall down in the night of his life than be built in the day of his doctrine.”
John Owen, in Beeke, Reformed Preaching, p. 69
So Do That
“What does the Holy Spirit like best in a preacher? The Spirit most delights in the preaching of Christ.”
Beeke, Reformed Preaching, p. 63