Warning & Wooing

The ignition of the Great Awakening began at Enfield, Connecticut. It was July 8, 1741, when a local congregation of well-to-do Americans went to church to hear the guest speaker, Jonathan Edwards. He is known in evangelical circles as the man who best articulated a theology of joy.

Discussion

“Every imperative of Scripture (what we are to do for God) rests on the indicative (who we are in our relationship with God), and the order is not reversible.”

Body

“The human instinct with every non-Christian religion reverses the order, teaching that who we are before God is based on what we do for God. Thus, any preaching that is distinctively Christian must keep listeners from confusing, or inverting, our ‘who and our’“do.’” - Bryan Chapell

Discussion

How (Not) to Preach the Old Testament Prophets

Body

“The first thing not to do when preaching from the Old Testament Prophets is to preach about the prophet. Instead preach the message of the divinely inspired book that bears the prophet’s name.” - 9 Marks

Discussion

How to preach to an empty room

Body

“Make your delivery as personal as you can. The camera never blinks and exaggerates how you communicate nonverbally. You will connect better with your listeners by doing the things that make for effective one-on-one communication.” - BPNews

Discussion

Millennials most likely to fact check sermons, Barna study finds

Body

“While 75 percent of respondents said they ‘listen carefully,’ 17 percent acknowledged that they ‘get distracted’ while 10 percent reported that they ’fact check’ the sermon. Millennials were the generation with the highest percentage of respondents who said they fact-check, with 16 percent admitting that they do this” - CPost

Discussion

Expositional Imposters (Expanded)

Body

“I have heard (and preached!) sermons that intend to be expositional, yet fall somewhat short. Below are a dozen pitfalls: five that don’t make the message of the passage the message of the sermon and thus abuse the text, five that fail to connect the text the congregation, and two that fail to recognise that preaching is ultimately God’s work.” - 9 Marks

Discussion