“Indeed, I am persuaded that the more the preacher has ‘trembled’ at God’s Word himself (e.g. Ezra 9:4,10:3; Is. 66:2,5), and felt its authority upon his conscience and in his life, the more he will be able to preach it with authority to others . . . True preaching is never stale or dull or …
Cut the Road Straight
“This is surely what Paul meant when he told Timothy to be ‘a workman who has not need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth’ (2 Tim. 2:15). The verb, orthotomounta, means literally ‘cutting straight’. It was employed of road making and is, for instance, used in the LXX of Proverbs 3:6: ‘He …
Authority to Apportion
“The steward has no say in determining what goes into the larder; it is stocked for him by the householder. But it is his responsibility to decide what comes out of it, and when, and in what measure. This is another aspect of the steward’s faithfulness, this time not to the householder or the goods, …
No Problem Texts
“One way to escape extremes of neglect and overemphasis is to work steadily through books of the Bible or at least whole chapters, expounding everything, shirking nothing” (John Stott, A Preacher’s Portrait, p. 26).
From God’s Supply
“The stewardship metaphor indicated the content of the preacher’s message. Indeed, if the metaphor teaches anything, it teaches that the preacher does not supply his own message; he is supplied with it. If the steward is not expected to feed the household out of his own pocket, the preacher is not to provide his own …
Stewardship As Motivation
“The first truth concerns the source of the preacher’s incentive. Preaching is hard work. The preacher is often tempted to become dispirited. He needs powerful incentives to strengthen his flagging soul, and there is no doubt that he can find one here. St. Paul certainly did. He was a steward of God’s mysteries, ‘a trustee …
Distinguishable, Not Separable
“My contention is that there should be no such disjunction between the ‘appeal’ and the preaching, any more than there should be between the sacraments and preaching” (Lloyd-Jones, Preachers and Preaching, p. 274).
Get a Bit and Bridle on Your Gifts
“Watch your natural gifts and tendencies and idiosyncrasies. Watch them. What I mean is that they will tend to run away with you. It can all be summed up in a phrase — watch your strength. Not so much your weaknesses: it is your strength you have to watch, the things at which you excel, …
God Loves a Cheerful Worshipper
“I have always opposed the idea of trying to force people to attend church services; w hat I am saying is that our preaching ought to fill them with a desire to do this. You should not have to whip them up to do it” (Lloyd-Jones, Preachers and Preaching, p. 252).
Turns Out He Was Holding Back
“We turn now to another point in this list of the various things one has to consider in a sermon whether written or extemporary, namely the place of humour in preaching . . . What makes all these things difficult is that they are natural gifts, or the place of the natural gifts, in this …