Quotes About Preaching

God created the institution of human marriage to reflect, or mirror forth, this eternal union. In other words, human marriage exists to point men and angels to the eternal marriage of Christ and his church. The gospel made this divine marriage possible. Here is our point: human marriage exists to preach the gospel. It exists to illustrate the fruit that should follow the preaching of the gospel in the church. To

The Bible had become a compendium of 'proof-texts', picked out at will and used to support almost anything a preacher wanted

By experience, we know what it is to plant our faces in the floor and plead for God to accomplish the work that our best efforts in preaching cannot.

Blind adherence to contextualization alters our preaching in at least three ways, and none of them is for the better. First, it impairs our perspective in the study—in his preparation of his sermon, the preacher becomes preoccupied with the world rather than God's Word. This leads to impressionistic preaching.

Second, it changes our use of the pulpit—the Word now supports our intoxicating plans and purposes, rather than those of God. This is inebriated preaching. Finally, it shifts our understanding of authority—the preacher's "fresh" and "spirit led" devotional reading becomes the determinative point of truth. I call this "inspired" preaching.

Too many of us unconsciously believe that a well-studied understanding of our cultural context, rather than the Bible, is the key to preaching with power.

Expository preaching is empowered preaching that rightfully submits the shape and emphasis of the sermon to the shape and emphasis of a biblical text. In that way, it brings out of the text what the Holy Spirit put there…and does not put into the text what the preacher thinks might be there.

One of the problems with contextualized preaching today, however, is that it often has a misplaced emphasis. By elevating contextualization to a studied discipline overly focused on practical gains, some preachers treat the biblical text in a haphazard and halfhearted way. This is the blind adherence problem. Out of a healthy desire to move the mission of his church forward, the preacher focuses his preparation exclusively on creative and artistic ways he can make his sermon relevant.

Contextualization in preaching is communicating the gospel message in ways that are understandable or appropriate to the listener's cultural context.

The fixedness of the human mind is the 'wall of Jericho' to Gospel preaching. God must shake, or there will be no shaking.

With a little hoard of maxims preaching down a daughter's heart.

Unfortunately, preachers who distort God's Word are all too common today. Sometimes this springs from a sincere desire to soften hard hearts, but hearts aren't changed by compromise.

Another meaning of 'Word' in Lutheran theology says it is only through the Word that Christians are kept and sustained in their faith. That is why Christians must not neglect the Word of God. They need to read it regularly in devotions at home, hear it preached in church, and study it with fellow Christians in Bible classes or similar settings.

I am a follower of Jesus Christ. The Bible is my primary way of knowing Him and what it means to follow Him. And I am a pastor, and I teach and preach the Bible to my congregation every week. But the Bible is not a manufacturer's handbook. Neither is it a science textbook nor a guidebook for public policy.

If I do not return to the pulpit this weekend, millions of people will go to hell.

Creative life should be more than preaching to the converted, more than going for a core audience of 100,000 people. It should be taking risks, challenging the readership and having enough faith in one's own talent and craft to take readers on that ride.

My father was a minister, and I suppose I take after him. He talked a lot professionally, too.

A great many preachers die of style, that is, of trying to soar; when, if they would only consent to go afoot as their ideas do, they might succeed and live.

have pity upon those hungering ones immediately around you who must find life through your sermon or they will never find it at all. If some of your hearers sleep on they will of necessity wake up in eternal perdition, for they hear no other helpful voice.

Never by any possibility must the minister's speech become a rival to his subject; that were to dishonor Christ, and not to glorify him.

For the man, therefore, who has the duty of saying wisely even what he cannot say eloquently, it is supremely necessary that he should have the words of the Scriptures at his fingertips. For the poorer he perceives himself to be in his own words, the richer it behooves him to be in those of Scripture.

It was strictly forbidden to preach to other prisoners. It was understood that whoever was caught doing this received a severe beating. A number of us decided to pay the price for the privilege of preaching, so we accepted their [the communists' ] terms. It was a deal; we preached and they beat us. We were happy preaching. They were happy beating us, so everyone was happy.

Take your preaching elsewhere , boy . (hardcover) p294

Instead of speculating about the end times and writing terrible novels about people being left behind and preaching ridiculous sermons connecting Iran to the book of Daniel, it's better if people agree that we aren't going to worry about what we can't control and we are going to become far more intentional about what we can control—loving our neighbor, becoming people of character and integrity, taking better care of the earth.