“People-pleasers and time-fillers never make good preachers. We are . . . appointed to proclaim what God has said, not what people want to hear.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 87
If the Sermon is Water, the Word in the Man is the Well
“True preaching is never a superficial activity; it wells up out of the depths.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 86
And What God Has Conjoined . . .
“Once we allow him his freedom, both in the preparation and delivery of our sermons, the light and the fire, the truth and the passion will be reunited.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 84
And Some Theologies are More Flammable Than Others
“Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire.”
Martin Lloyd-Jones, as quoted in Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 84.
Sermons Fresh From the Forge
“What is needed today is Paul’s combination of reason and emotion, of teaching and pleading. J.W. Alexander begs for ‘theological preaching.’ What interests people, he says, is ‘argument made red-hot.’”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 83
Not Just Passing Time
“To handle issues of eternal life and death as if we were discussing the weather is inexcusable. How can we deliver a solemn message in a casual manner, or refer to the eternal destinies of men and women as if we were discussing where they will spend their summer holidays? Christians who care are earnest.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, pp. 80-81
Preaching While Hot
“Earnestness goes one step beyond sincerity. To be sincere is to mean what we say and to do what we say; to be earnest is also to feel what we say. Earnestness is the deep feeling essential to preaching.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 80
And That Opposition Will Give Reasons Why This Quote Doesn’t Apply to You
“One of the chief proofs of genuineness is the willingness to suffer for what we believe. The faithfulness of the true servant of God is proved when opposition comes.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 79
He Really Does
“We are told that a friend once met the philosopher David Hume (who rejected Christianity) hurrying along a London street and asked him where he was going. Hume replied that he was going to hear George Whitefield preach. ‘But surely,’ his friend asked in astonishment, ‘you don’t believe what Whitefield preaches, do you?’ ‘No, I don’t,’ answered Hume, ‘but he does.’”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 79
Like Speaking Better Than You Live
“Although teaching is a spiritual gift and a great privilege, it brings with it many dangers”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 78