Top Quotes and Takeaways From Encountering God Through Expository Preaching
As part of A Year of Books on Preaching, I’m posting a review a month of a preaching book, and then a list of quotes and takeaways.
I posted a review of Encountering God Through Expository Preaching earlier this week. Here are some of the top quotes and takeaways from this book.
Top Ten Quotes
Preaching occurs when a holy man of God opens the Word of God and says to the people of God, “Come and experience God with me in this text.” (Kindle Locations 231-232)
Like a chef knows knives, and a professor knows books, godly preachers know the ins and outs of what it looks like to fight sin and to apply Christ’s saving grace. (Kindle Locations 281-282)
Making the truth plain is what an expository preacher does. When the main point of the text is the main point of the sermon, the preacher has the assurance that the Lord himself is coming to speak and act. (Kindle Locations 770-771)
Churches can influence the culture for godliness only by distancing themselves from the culture. They influence the culture, not by offering what can already be had from the world, but by offering an alternative that only God can provide. (Kindle Locations 694-696)
When a pastor allows contemporary crises and urgent felt needs constantly to determine what he preaches, he is like a physician whose whole approach to medicine is pain management. (Kindle Locations 1413-1414)
It is my general conviction that topical preaching will be done best by those who do it occasionally. (Kindle Locations 1643-1644)
God uses the preaching of his Word to call sinners to himself, and he uses preaching more than all other means combined. (Kindle Locations 2129-2130)
A preacher who persistently preaches longer than his congregation can listen is being selfish. (Kindle Location 2990)
Without the Holy Spirit, you are a man pretending to preach. (Kindle Location 3480)
My fear is not so much that you will end your ministry by plunging headlong into a sea of scandalous sin. You may. But it is far more likely that you will waste your life slowly dissolving in puddles of mediocrity when you might have been great in God’s kingdom. (Kindle Locations 3713-3715)
Takeaways
- God blesses preachers who cleanse themselves from sin and pursue holiness.
- God sometimes sends difficult people to sit under our ministries so that we grow in holiness.
- Continue to grow in your walk with God, as well as in your theological knowledge and preaching skills. Ask for feedback on your preaching.
- God has invested himself in the words of Scripture. Commit to making those words clear in your preaching.
- Generally speaking, preach sequentially through books of the Bible. Occasionally preach topical sermons.
- Learn to rely on the Holy Spirit in your preaching. Ask for more of the Spirit. Preach Jesus, because the Spirit loves to talk about Jesus.
- Teach people to invite their friends to hear the preaching of God’s Word.
- Emphasize the public reading of Scripture, and become better at it.
- Weigh the advantages of preaching with an outline or no notes.
- Trust the Word to do its work.
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