Christ-Centered Preaching

The clauses in the main points that do not remain consistent are the “magnet clauses.” The magnet clauses naturally draw the explanatory elements of the main points to themselves because they contain the key word changes that focus the attention of listeners. Thus, subpoints support or develop the magnet clauses because they contain the development

When such redundancy occurs without apparent progression or distinction of thought, listeners feel they have just taken an unnecessary U-turn.

For example, a cursory comment may cover the content of three verses, or ten minutes may be spent on one word. The FCF and the relative clarity of different portions of a passage dictate how a preacher organizes the material. Still, a preacher must in some way deal with the entire text, taking special care not to neglect those features that pose pr

By asking what a text reflects of God’s nature that prompts the work of Christ, an expositor can examine any narrative, genealogy, commandment, proverb, proposition, or parable to see what it reveals of God’s justice, holiness, goodness, lovingkindness, faithfulness, provision, or deliverance.

A sermon also dodges anticlimactic tendencies if the summary of the message is placed before the conclusion’s climax rather than after it.

The alternative to motivating by guilt is its antidote: grace. The alternative to motivating by greed is its antithesis: grace. Believers need to serve God preeminently out of loving thankfulness for the redemption he freely and fully provides.

Knitting statements. The phrase Not only . . . but also . . . is the foundational form of transition. The words reach back into previous comments, point toward upcoming discussion, and pull the two together.

Crisis results from having sufficient, relevant facts to create a problem that listeners have an interest in solving and that forces them to journey through a narrative to discover the resolution found in the climax. If preachers do not bring an audience to the edge of wonder, grief, anger, confusion, fear, or discovery, then their words have no po

Anticlimax. Sustain a climax by avoiding common causes of anticlimax. When a preacher seems to have raised the emotions, hammered home the point of a message, and called hearers to action and then launches anew into more oratory, listeners despair or grow angry. William Jennings Bryan’s own mother once scolded him, “You missed several good opportun