Christ-Centered Preaching

My wife once said of a pastor, “Everything he said was true; he just didn’t seem to have a clue how to pull it all together.” Such a characterization will not apply to preachers who remember that they must use transitions to review where they have gone, preview where they are going, secure an immediate matter to a larger theme, and/or remove questi

Our experience of his blessings, pleasure, and nearness still relies on our obedience, but the reality of our relationship is not and never was based on our goodness.

This is necessary because there is no more powerful motivation for holiness than loving God in response to the revelation of his redeeming character and eternal promises.

Each feature relates to the one thing the sermon is about.

Many volumes could be written on the meaning of faith, but in many messages, Phillips Brooks’s acronym Forsaking All I Take Him will suffice. Excellence in preaching is more often displayed by this kind of sermon-specific clarity than by academic complexity.

The most powerful sermons bring truth to life by demonstrating and applying textual truths. Traditional expository messages fulfill these obligations when they include illustration and application along with explanation in every main point.

Billboards and branches help preachers meet the first and last obligations of the following traditional rhetorical instruction: 1. Say what you will say. 2. Say it. 3. Say what you said.

David Larsen recommends that his students spend two-thirds of their time on the last one-third of a message.

Explanation answers the question, What does this text say? Illustration responds to, Show me what the text says. Application answers, What does the text mean to me?