“This is why poetry does not have to be defended, inculcated, or coerced. It only appears defenseless. Its power resides not in the orthodoxy of the verse, and certainly not in the creativity of the poet, but in the inspired word that has the power to untangle the distorted image of God. The truth of …
Insufficient Words
“The congregation will never ask their pastor to remain loyal to the identity of a minor poet. They need one too much to even know that they need one, as the long list of expectations and relentless efforts at reconstructing pastoral identity reveal. But that is only another reason why they need to be in …
Gathering Up the Threads
“T.S. Eliot has claimed that every culture needs minor as well as major poets. The major poets, who are few and far between, provide enduring expressions of the deep truth of life. Minor poets have the more modest goal of inculcating that truth to particular people in particular places . . . The vast majority …
If We Haven’t Seen It, Then Nobody Can
“For DML-J, a crime occurs when a preacher succumbs to the temptation to water down the promises of Scripture simply because he and his generation have not entered into the full blessings of which they speak” (Sargent, The Sacred Anointing, p.249).
There, He Said It
“To me, there nothing more important in a preacher than that he should have a systematic theology, that he should know it and be well grounded in it. This systematic theology, this body of truth which is derived from the Scripture, should always be present as a background and as a controlling influence in his …
How God Smiles on a Sermon
“The congeniality of the Spirit affects the preacher at the point of proclamation and the hearer at the point of reception. It is not argument, nor logic, nor eloquence that eventually wins the day” (Sargent, The Sacred Anointing, p. 235).
The Spirit Works from Beginning to End
“If the Holy Spirit inspired the Scriptures, it is reasonable to assume that his help will be required in growing into an understanding of them and in applying them to the immediate, contemporary situation” (Sargent, The Sacred Anointing, p. 232).
Clarity From Heaven
“The task of the preacher is to make the message of the Bible plain. It has to be clear to him in order that it can be so for the hearer” (Sargent, The Sacred Anointing, p. 217).
Doctrinal Leaven
Jesus teaches his disciples to guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matt. 16:6), by which He meant their teaching or doctrine. This refers to false teaching, but a similar point is made concerning the leaven of the Word of God (Matt. 13:33). Doctrine is leaven, and it works like leaven. This means …
And Lots of Texts Don’t Say Lots of Things
“Getting rid of what the text does not say is essential preparatory work” (Sargent, The Sacred Anointing, p. 196).