"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 … [Read more...]

"The Christian preacher, therefore is not a prophet. No original revelation is given to him; his task is to expound the revelation which has been given once for all. And however truly he preaches in the power of the Holy Spirit, he is not 'inspired' by the Spirit in the sense in … [Read more...]

"The right way to look upon the unction of the Spirit is to think of it as that which comes upon the preparation" (Lloyd-Jones, Preachers and Preaching, p. 304). … [Read more...]

"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). … [Read more...]

"Above all; do not put on a 'parsonic' voice. What a terrible thing that is, and yet how common. Young men develop this bad habit; they hear others and they begin to use the same affected parsonic unnatural voice. It offends people. Still worse is to put on a false appearance of … [Read more...]

"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 … [Read more...]

"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). … [Read more...]

"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, … [Read more...]

"Charles Haddon Spurgeon, that great preacher, did not write out his sermons in full; he just prepared and used a skeleton" (Lloyd-Jones, Preachers and Preaching, p. 214). … [Read more...]

"One of the first things a preacher has to learn is to talk to his texts. They talk to you, and you must talk to them" (Lloyd-Jones, Preachers and Preaching, p. 202). … [Read more...]