The Preacher’s Real Job
The ultimate purpose of a sermon is to facilitate an encounter with God.
The ultimate purpose of a sermon is to facilitate an encounter with God.
Preaching involves four parts. Get one of them wrong, and the entire chair wobbles, even collapses.
Over the years, preachers can and should expect to improve at the craft of preaching, but we’ll never improve at some of what preaching requires.
An old friend of mine posted to social media a picture of Leonard Cohen and then boasted that their church sang his classic song “Hallelujah” as part of their worship service. Although I was deeply saddened by this (it’s a great song but has no place in the Church’s worship), I also heard the haunting words of the song play in my mind. Specifically, I heard the second verse whose final words hit me hard: “from your lips she drew the hallelujah.” It got me thinking about all the things that try to draw worship from us, and how my...
Martyn Lloyd-Jones pastored Westminster Chapel in London during World War II. London suffered, with tens of thousands killed or injured. One Sunday, a bomb fell a short distance away while Lloyd-Jones prayed during a service. The sound was tremendous. Windows rattled. Plaster fell. Lloyd-Jones paused for a moment, and then continued to pray. The man who gave announcements came up when the prayer was over. After he’d completed his task, he dusted Lloyd-Jones off, and then Lloyd-Jones started preaching. “Why would he do this?” asks Mark Dever. “Because he knew that preaching was the main thing.” Lloyd-Jones had written, “I...