Text-Driven Blog
Light and Heat: What is Light?
This phrase, “light and heat,” can bring a lot of things to mind. For some, it sounds like the product of a secret military weapon. For others, it is a fitting description of Superman’s laser eyesight, which can melt steel like a popsicle. Yet for others... Read More »
An Introduction to Puritan Preaching
The great puritan pastor-theologian John Owen gave a pastoral charge to a young man entering the ministry, “The first and principal duty of a pastor is to feed the flock by diligent preaching of the word.” This quote by Owen reinforces the idea that for ... Read More »
Making Use of Good Models of Preaching
Preaching is more than just “standing up and talking about the Bible.” While it may look like that to the person sitting in the pew, for the individual standing up behind the pulpit, there is an entire framework driving that particular sermon. In t... Read More »
Arguing for Clarity in Preaching
Twitter and Facebook arguments spew vitriol all over the front of our phone screens and into our psyches. So, the idea of arguing in a worship service sounds about as appetizing as eating rocks. In fact, rocks are easier to swallow than some of the constant ja... Read More »
Matching Delivery to the Text
Last year, I had the opportunity to think through the biblical objectives for preaching in preparation for writing a prior blog for Preaching Source. This was a great exercise in critically thinking through what I must do when I stand to preach. There are some... Read More »
Committing the Sermon to Memory
A little over 40 years ago, when I was a student at Dallas Theological Seminary, Dr. Haddon Robinson encouraged us to think of the sermons “symphonically” rather than as an outline. One effect of symphonic thinking encourages is the development of seamles... Read More »
The Sermon’s Style
“I am a BIBLE PREACHER!” These were the words spoken to me by a colleague. The discussion was on preaching and what our approach should be in today’s culture. There is much debate about how we should share the good news in the sacred moment of preaching.... Read More »
Text-Driven Arrangement: Allowing Textual Structure to Inform Sermon Progression
I want to be a text-driven preacher, and I know you do, too. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be reading this blog post. If we are going to be text-driven preachers, there are certain commitments we are required to make. First, we must be committed to t... Read More »
Biblical Truth: The Sermon’s Invention
Most preachers have faced the frustration of the clock. A text is packed with information that begs to be explained and applied. The preacher, excited by what he has discovered through exegesis, anxiously anticipates showing the congregation the jewels within ... Read More »
The Preacher’s Logos
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones described preaching as “Logic on fire! Eloquent reason!” He continued by basing this reason, not on callous rationalism, but on the truth of Scripture itself when he said, “Reason concerning this Truth ought to be mightily eloquent,... Read More »
The Preacher’s Pathos
Country music legend George Jones is best known for performing the hit song “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” This tune from 1980 recounts the passing of a forlorn lover who, upon his death, has finally ceased to care for his long-lost love. As Jones croons, ... Read More »
The Preacher’s Ethos
Preaching is an oral event; the preacher communicates through the use of words. Although not using the term “preaching” in the formalized definition we give it now, this is Paul’s argument in Romans 10:14, “And how are they to hear without someone prea... Read More »