Biblical Preaching

Biblical
Preaching
listener. During two decades in the classroom I have evaluated
nearly six thousand student sermons. My friends marvel
that after listening to hundreds of fledgling preachers stumble
through their first sermons, I am not an atheist. Yet while
listening I have learned what goes into an effective sermon,
and I think I have discovered what to do and what to avoid.
As a teacher of preachers, I'm a bit like Leo Durocher. While
playing baseball his batting average was not much bigger
than his shirt size, but as a manager he coached a number of
successful teams.
Many of my students have gone on to be effective communicators
of the Word of God, and they assure me that in
some small way I have had an influence on their ministries.
They and I both know that rules of homiletics do not in themselves
produce effective preachers. The student must carry
to the task some gift and even more, an unquenchable desire
to bring a passage of Scripture into contact with life. Richard
Baxter once commented that he never knew a man worth
anything in his ministry who lacked a desire bordering on
unhappiness to see the fruit of his labor. Principles and passion
must be united before much of significance occurs in
the pulpit. In this book, therefore, I pass on a method to those
learning to preach or to experienced people who want to
brush up on the basics. Hopefully I have expressed myself
clearly enough that laymen—men and women —who teach
the Scriptures will benefit. Yet to this material a reader brings
himself—his life, insights, maturity, imagination, and dedication.
Like hydrogen and oxygen producing water, desire
and instruction together make effective communicators of
God's truth.
When I started teaching, I did not intend to write. All I
wanted to do was find enough usable advice to provide my
students a way to proceed as they prepared to preach. In
desperation for something sensible to say, I read widely. Of
my debt to others I can hardly say enough. For example,
H. Grady Davis made a special contribution. As I was attempting
to find my way, his book found me. While he might