A Legacy of Preaching, Volume Two: Enlightenment to the Present Day
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
A Legacy of Preaching, Volume Two—Enlightenment to the Present Day explores the history and development of preaching through a biographical and theological examination of its most important preachers. Instead of teaching the history of preaching from the perspective of movements and eras, each contributor tells the story of a particular preacher in history, allowing these preachers from the past to come alive and instruct us through their lives, theologies, and methods of preaching.
Top Highlights
“‘My endeavour is to bring out of Scripture what is there, and not to thrust in what I think might be there. I have a great jealousy on this head; never to speak more or less than I believe to the mind of the Spirit in the passage I am expounding.’37 This conviction is a simple but profound principle for modern preachers to consider and apply in their own pulpits.” (Page 43)
“Jerry Falwell was an expert at contextualizing his sermons by identifying his audience.” (Page 534)
“First, preachers must have a constant focus on the inviolable truth of Scripture as the sole source of sermonic content. Second, there must be a conscious and transparent dependence on the Holy Spirit, both for a call to preach and for the successful execution of that call. Third, in both the study and the pulpit there must be a commitment to a corporate worship experience that includes careful verse-by-verse exploration of an extended text and a thematic or doctrinal expansion of a more succinct selected text. And finally, Spurgeon taught that a person’s conscience cannot afford to choose friends at the expense of one’s faith. One cannot pursue popularity at the expense of principle.” (Page 121)
“A faithful preacher must also be committed to the exposition of Scripture. ‘Homilies should flow out of texts, should consist of a clear explanation, and an earnest enforcement of the truths which the texts teach.’ Spurgeon looked on expository preaching as ‘the great need of the day, its best protection against rising errors, and its surest means of spiritual edification.” (Page 112)