“All God needs to make a universe is nothing; all He needs to make a preacher is a nobody” (Capon, The Foolishness of Preaching, p. 26).
Which Would Mean the NT Is About Guilt
Our fascination with guilt is a blind alley (especially for preachers) because the New Testament isn’t about guilt at all; its about forgiveness. The Lamb of God has taken away the sins of the world, not laid them on us like a coat of tar” (Capon, The Foolishness of Preaching, p. 22).
Actually, the Crack Cocaine of Acceptance
“I think good preachers should be like bad kids. They ought to be naughty enough to tiptoe up on dozing congregations, steal their bottles of religion pills, spirituality pills, and morality pills, and flush them down the drain . . . But preachers can’t be that naughty or brave unless they’re free of their own …
Build Gradually
“It is usually necessary then to introduce the subject of the sermon like a slowly rising sun rather than as a sudden searchlight” (Murray, How Sermons Work, p. 72)
The Dark Center
“For one thing, our preachers tell us the wrong story entirely, saying not a word about the dark side — no, that’s too weak — about the dark center of the Gospel. They can’t bring themselves to come within a country mile of the horrendous truth that we are saved in our deaths, not by …
One Thing Missing
“The decay of preaching does not arise from any plurality of causes, but from one great cause, the want of the Spirit of God” (Fish, Power in the Pulpit, p. 23).
Drive Toward the Verdict
“Evangelical preaching is preaching for a verdict” (W.E. Sangster, as quoted in Murray, How Sermons Work, p. 67).
Fetched Up and Useful
“Their fellowship was with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, and they were most acceptable and useful preachers. Their sermons were fetched up from the depths of their souls” (Fish, Power in the Pulpit, p. 21).
From the Heart a Man Proclaims
“Other things being equal, a man’s force in this world is always just in the ratio of the force of his heart. A full-hearted man is generally a powerful man” (Fish, Power in the Pulpit, p. 18).
Marble or Molten
“Passion is essential to the greatest effectiveness. Deep feeling is contagious. It melts and wins its wa. Sermons from burning hearts set others on fire. One of the best definitions of eloquence is, ‘to have something to say and to burn to say it.’ It the eloquence of art be not the eloquence of the …