The final chapter of The Supremacy of God in Preaching by John Piper contains ten lessons from the preaching and writing of Jonathan Edwards. I’d like to list all, but highlight a handful for us this morning.

So here’s a list of half of the ten. Preachers should Saturate with Scripture their messages, and employ analogies and images, driving the teaching home with use of threat and warning. They should plead for a response and be intense. It is easy to see where Piper received his greatest preaching influence. Now the other half:

Stir up holy affections – Edwards was right in recognizing that the theological tradition he was such a big part of can easily fall into a mind and will centered anthropology. He was not an advocate for unthinking fervor, for the preacher must also enlighten the mind. However, if all the preacher does is educate the brain and pressure the will, he is missing the driving seat of a person, namely the affections. This is a lesson we would all do well to ponder biblically. Hence we should probe the workings of the heart.

Yield to the Holy Spirit in prayer – the preaching event is such a divine working that we are foolish to lean on our own “professionalism” as communicators. Who among us would say that their ministry has enough or too much prayer in it? For our preaching to reflect the Christlikeness that it should, we must be broken and tender-hearted – a fruit, in part, of much prayer.