My good friends at Fellowship of Wildwood in Missouri are giving away copies of Pleased to Dwell as part of their pre-Christmas outreach this year. Alongside the book, they have a weekly reading and a discussion about an aspect of it. Here is the first reading:
And here is the first discussion:
I will post the others on here, but feel free to subscribe to their channel and see them as soon as they come out. Thanks so much!
Starting today, you would be very welcome to follow along with the Pleased to Dwell advent video playlist. It can work alongside the book, or you can just watch the videos. Here is the playlist, please do subscribe to the YouTube channel and use the playlist to work your way through these short videos as Christmas approaches!
The end of the year brings a strange combination of familiar traditions and genuine challenges. While we may be surrounded by bright lights and cheerful music, with parties and celebratory gatherings, we may also be struggling financially, wondering how we are supposed to get everything done and concerned about how we will handle looming difficulties. It could be navigating an awkward conversation with that difficult family member, or coping with the exuberant happiness when we are grieving a loved one, or facing particular challenges that would be hard enough at any time of the year, let alone during the “festive season.” Life can feel like too much, and Christmas sometimes makes it feel even worse.
As Christmas approaches, whether we are dealing with a particular challenge or not, we will all again be confronted with the challenge of seeing past the consumer festival and the nostalgic traditions to the reality of the incarnation. Finding the relevance of this critical doctrine is not achieved by simply revisiting familiar truths through nostalgic traditions. We also have a fresh need to explore how the old truth resonates with contemporary life – including all its challenges.
We are familiar with reviewing the great step taken by the Son of God from heaven to earth – the infinite taking on infancy, the glorious riches to abject poverty, etc. We are used to noting that He came with a purpose; He took on a human body and life so that He could experience death in that body for us. Indeed, Christmas is an arrow pointing to Easter, and it is right to think of that each year.
More than that, Christmas is an arrow pointing to a God who is revealing Himself in the ultimate way, and an invitation opened to rich and poor, local and global, Jew and Gentile. It is a story to stir our nostalgia and our worship, an inspiring example, and, if told well, a thriller with a villain, a deadly threat, and a perfectly-timed escape.
Actually, Christmas is a many-layered story, with intriguing characters, long-awaited prophecies, and profoundly moving themes woven together.
And yet, we so often end up repeating it as if it were merely a nostalgic children’s story to retell like an old family tale that gets trotted out once a year as we gather around a fire and nibble on seasonal treats.
How will you engage the Christmas story this year? How will it connect with your current experiences and concerns in a unique and fresh way in 2025?
Your life, your struggles, are very real. So was the first Christmas. It was not a pretty scene with snow falling peacefully. It contained real fear, real confusion, real hopelessness, real heartbreak. The bewilderment for Mary would have been so constant, the uncertainty for Joseph so vivid. The emptiness and despair of life for the shepherds would have been genuinely bleak. The intrigue of the wise men and all who came into contact with them must have been genuinely perplexing. The first Christmas was real.
As we come to another Christmas, let’s not just go through the motions of another ritual celebration. Let’s not think of it only in picture book scenes, nor apply its truth in nice generalities. Let’s be sure to bring the most real concerns of our time to the Christmas story and find in it a Saviour who has learned what it is to be human, what it is to enter into a world of political tensions, of the deadly inhumanity of men to one another, of the searing heartache of poverty. May we find a richer appreciation for our Lord because our 2025 Christmas realities meet with His first Christmas realities.
The reality of the incarnation is big enough to maintain its relevance and to shine forth its significance, no matter how difficult our current experience might be. May we honour God by bringing our real mess up close to the very real messiness of the first Christmas. There we will find a true Saviour, who is Christ our Lord, and that really is good news for all of humanity.
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Peter’s book, Pleased to Dwell, is an ideal read in the Christmas season. To buy in the UK or Europe, click here, and to buy in North America, click here. Please do subscribe to the podcast, and let others know about it too:
It has been a busy few months and I haven’t posted links to the podcast on here as much as I had planned. But let’s do a quick catch-up:
After a sequence of weddings, I shared some thoughts on preaching at a wedding. The last months included some great interviews, including:
Andy Paterson – Firstly, on how the Word does the work of ministry, and then, the relationships of a preacher.
Marcus Honeysett – First, on painting with fire, then on the nature of true transformation, and finally, on the heart of the preacher.
Steve Mathewson, we crossed the ocean to hear from Steve on the importance of all scripture in our preaching, and then we reminisced together about lessons learned from our mutual mentor, Haddon Robinson!
Jonathan Lamb – back to the UK to hear from Jonathan on crossing cultures as we think about preaching, and then we thought about how preaching models for listeners!
Rick McKinley – and once more back to the US to hear from an experienced pastor in the Portland metro area on connections required to connect with our listeners, and a great discussion about the role of humility in preaching.
Along the way, we have had some bitesize episodes on specific subjects, like adding to the text, is something missing in your preaching?, preaching the prophets, preaching at Christmas, and highlighting historical accuracy when we preach.
Mike and I have also enjoyed some helpful discussions: thoughts on being a guest preacher – something we’ve both done quite a bit of over the years!, landing a message, bad preaching (another area where we have experience!), a chat about Pleased to Dwell in anticipation of the advent season, and a chat about preaching at Christmastime!
We hope these episodes have been helpful for you, and if you have missed any, please do catch up! As ever, we really appreciate any help in getting the word out about the podcast – sharing links, liking, subscribing, etc., is all really helpful. If you particularly like an episode, please do let others know about it on social media – thank you in advance!
I can remember the first time I saw a Star Wars film in the cinema. This was back in the 1980s. With popcorn in hand, we found our plush velvet seats and tried to get comfortable. Then we were plunged into darkness. A slight pause. And then it began. In just two minutes, I was transported into another world. Everything normal seemed like a distant memory. “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” Then the blast of the brass section of an orchestra as the film title appeared. Three paragraphs of background story to orient us, and we were there. The start of the Star Wars movies was genuinely epic.
The Bible can, and should, have that same effect on us. Lifting us out of the everyday rhythms of life and helping us to see another whole realm of reality. For instance, consider the theme of The Day of the LORD. It is mentioned eighteen times in the Old Testament, plus dozens of other references like “on that day.” It is that future moment when God would step into history, bringing judgment for the wicked and blessing for His people.
Not only is it anticipated in the Old Testament, but it is also still anticipated in the New Testament. Consider, for example, 2 Peter chapter 3. There, Peter describes how scoffers will ridicule the idea of anticipating that day. Their tactic? They will suggest that “nothing really changes.” And how effective that tactic can be. Nothing really changes. So why should we be concerned about anything happening in the world? Nothing really changes. Why should we try to influence what is going on around us? Nothing really changes. Why look for something to break in from outside of our world? Nothing really changes. Today is like yesterday, and tomorrow will be more of the same. As one fiction writer put it, “it is a pity that thoughts always ran the easiest way, like water in old ditches.”
And yet, the Bible wants to lift our eyes and our hearts beyond our psychological preference for predictability. It wants us to know, and live in light of, the reality that one day, God Himself will step into history again.
Consider one of the passages that anticipates “that day” – Malachi chapter 3. For the first few verses, we read of how God is coming, the messenger of the covenant who will come like the purifier’s fire, like fuller’s soap. Two vivid images of cleansing, purging, separating – that fire so hot that metal melts and the impurities are separated; that lye that pulls out the impurities from fabric and bleaches it clean. The Lord is coming to cleanse and purify. Yes, the focus is on restoring proper worship, but the imagery is imposing and intimidating.
We might expect the passage to conclude with a call to run. Run for your lives! Flee this terrible day that is coming! And yet, as in so many of the “Day of the LORD” passages, we find an invitation. This God, who is coming to purge and to cleanse, is a God of grace who invites His people to draw near to Him.
In verses 6 and 7, God speaks of His character. He does not change, which means they are not consumed (because He keeps His promises). But they should change. They should change direction. They have gone away from God, but if they return to Him, then He will return to them. As James later put it, “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8).
They asked how they could return. So God raised the issue of their giving. In verses 8-12, God describes how they should test Him (an unusual concept in the Bible!) by seeing if they could outgive God. They never would be able to do that! As we come to the end of the chapter, we find that some of the people who were challenged to give of their treasure, which really belonged to God anyway, were also moved in heart to fear God and be responsive to Him. So they are described as being God’s treasured possession.
A chapter that begins with such overpowering imagery of judgment is so full of God’s overflowing grace. Yes, the Day of the LORD is terrifying, and many in this world should be shaking with fear at what is coming. And yet, for those of us who know what it means to belong to this God, we can look forward, waiting, anticipating, hoping. We live today in light of that day, knowing that the old ditches of life are not forever. We understand that the “nothing really changes” mindset is doomed to be proven profoundly wrong. We wait, knowing that with a blast of the brass section of heaven’s orchestra, we will be transported into another time.
Honestly, I am not concerned with whether we agree on the details of what is to come in the future. I am worried that we are discouraged by the scoffers who claim that nothing really changes. Let’s read God’s Word and let it lift our eyes and our hearts. We have a God who has stepped into time and history and who will again. His coming will shake up everything. And we who live in anticipation of that day should live differently today.
In light of Malachi 3, let’s be sure to turn to God now and be ready for that day. Let’s consider our “tithing” – that is, our giving and investing in eternity today. And let’s rejoice at the privilege of being His treasured possession. May the Lord use us now as we live for Him, and wouldn’t it be great if He came back soon!
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With Christmas coming soon, it is time to start making plans … especially if you are involved in preaching or teaching! Check out the latest episode of the podcast, and please do subscribe so you don’t miss any of the forthcoming episodes!
On Wednesday 29th October, I will be doing a free webinar on enjoying the Bible. You are very welcome to join if you are free. Click here for more information and to register.
Our brother Charlie Kirk was assassinated because his love for Christ, for his country, and for others drove him to speak. He spoke openly and gave the microphone to whoever wanted to disagree with him. He was imperfect, of course, but he was gracious, kind, informed and increasingly influential.
I’ve watched him for years, and have watched his testimony become clearer during that time. Last Wednesday morning, I watched a couple of clips as I often do. In one of them, Charlie spoke so clearly of his love for Jesus. I thanked God that my brother was reaching so many with such a clear testimony. On Wednesday evening, Jesus welcomed him home.
Here are my thoughts about some of the things people are saying, in no particular order:
“It hurts“. I’ve seen many people expressing on social media, or to me personally, how much this hurts. People are saying they have never felt grief over the death of a public figure like they have this past week. Me too. God doesn’t expect us to respond to something like this with stoic resolve. If I saw a family member shot and brutally killed, it would stir all sorts of emotions. I did see that last week. I can’t unsee it. And it hurts. Let’s not hide our emotions; I’m sure that is not going to help. Obviously, we need to be wise with the swirling anger and rage that can be mixed in with the sorrow and grief, but pretending it doesn’t affect us would be a weird response under any circumstance. Let yourself grieve.
“Did I agree with everything he said?” Can I politely ask, what if I did? Why do we have to caveat anything and everything we say that might seem remotely political? Why do we often hesitate to speak up when others hold different opinions and might be upset? Self-censorship is becoming a crippling feature of society. I loved how joyfully confident Charlie was in the truth and, therefore, how little he needed to be defensive if someone disagreed with him or criticised him. I want to be more like that.
(Just for clarity, I do not agree with things taken out of context and attributed to him to smear him. Also, I have not checked his view on every issue, so I do not know if I agree with him on everything or not. My point is, what if I did? Are we allowed to have opinions? Or is it only permitted if we share those opinions deemed acceptable by the media?)
“The killer was just one mentally unstable person.” Thankfully, the murder of public figures is not an everyday occurrence in our society. It is in some places. It could become more common in the West. However, the problem may not be restricted to one lone gunman. This killer seems to have been radicalised by the same education system and cultural media that have obviously influenced countless thousands, judging by the disgusting reactions to Charlie’s death from so many. Why are we shocked when so many celebrate such a heinous act, or call for more of the same? Are our memories so short? It wasn’t long ago that significant numbers of people on social media, on mainstream media, and for some, in person, were wishing death on those people who chose not to take a certain medical intervention. Condoning or celebrating death based on opinions is a disgusting development of our time, but it didn’t start in the last week.
“Words are violence.” Actually, no, violence is violence. The prevailing ideology which says that words are violence directly feeds into this kind of atrocity. If words are violence, then physical violence can be justified as an act of self-defence. Feed that “words are violence” mindset with a constant stream of terrible slurs and lies, and there will be someone ready to perpetrate an evil act of violence. After all, the public are being repeatedly told of the danger to democracy posed by people like Charlie because they are __________ (you can guess the labels.) I think Charlie said something like, “The most important thing is to tell people about Jesus, and the second most important thing is to fight for the freedom to do the first most important thing.” We live in a society that is hurtling towards the loss of free speech, and I am perplexed that so many people seem so unconcerned about that, or think it is just a political matter that can be left for others to defend.
“This is all just about politics.” True, Charlie was an outspoken supporter of values that meant broad alignment with one side of the political divide, and he actively worked to campaign for one presidential candidate. Sadly, I don’t think people in Britain understand the American political scene, and many only see the twisted impression promoted by the British media. Nevertheless, we cannot keep acting as if politics and faith are totally distinct. Politics is not just made up of parties. It is also made up of issues: issues that impact the lives of people, issues that relate to morality, issues that matter to us as Jesus followers. I am not suggesting politics is the answer. No, Jesus is the answer. But many of the issues really matter, and we cannot, we must not, keep abdicating our responsibility to speak out about those issues appropriately.
Too many Christians act as if they are “above politics”, and they simply want to focus on the gospel. But for some, the driving motivation seems to be fear of ruffling the feathers of those who may disagree. I see that fear impulse in myself, too. Yes, let’s preach the gospel; it is the only hope for our world. But self-censoring out of fear is not the faith-filled approach to the life that we are called to as followers of Jesus. You don’t have to become a party-affiliated influencer, but let’s have the courage to speak about what is true, what is right, and what is good. Politics matters because people matter. We, of all people, should be ready to speak, precisely because we believe that people matter.
So we have a choice. Either we continue to shy away from anything that could be considered political, or we face the fact that there is an existential battle raging in our society that is much bigger than traditional left vs right policy squabbles. It is a spiritually charged battle of ideologies. It is about unaccountable control versus freedom. It is about death versus life. It is a clash of worldviews. We need to speak about issues that matter, even if we get labelled with a political slur (either way). No party will ever represent key biblical values perfectly, but can we stop hiding our heads in the sand and acting like we are somehow “above all that stuff?” We cannot be “above” freedom of speech, or morality and the redefinition of crime, or sexual ethics, or the protection of children, or assisted suicide, or abortion, or war, or terrorism, or compassion, or any number of other issues. Values drive agendas, which in turn drive policies, legislation, and ultimately, change, affecting people’s lives for better or worse. Some political issues are directly related to our Christian values, and so we must speak up.
“Charlie shouldn’t have been so outspoken.” Why? First, a lot of people are taking the British media slurs of “hateful”, “racist”, etc. as if they are accurate. Watch Charlie for yourself, don’t trust the BBC, Sky News, ITV, etc. Second, realise that if you or I were significant enough for the media to go after us, they would probably use some of the same derogatory labels for you and me. Unfair? That’s precisely my point. Third, many people, especially young people, admired Charlie for his courage in speaking out. Was it the silence of many church leaders on “controversial” issues that made so many young people flock to Charlie as a mentor from a distance? We would do well to consider that possibility and examine ourselves. I am doing that myself. Let’s not fall into the trap of fear. Speaking truth and the gospel may cost any of us our lives, but we should speak it anyway. With grace, of course. With kindness, absolutely. Christlike? Without a doubt. But silence, fear, and trying to be acceptable to a fallen world is not the Jesus way.
“If you live by the sword…” Can we be clear, please? Charlie lived “with two microphones” – he let people disagree, he listened to people, he encouraged dialogue, and he believed in open debate. He put people who disagreed with him at the front of the line. He spoke as a Christian, and he was killed for it. He didn’t live by the sword.
“There is hate speech and violence on both sides.” Can we find bad examples of individuals on all sides of political divides? Of course. Are there good-willed people on all sides of political issues? Absolutely. But this “both sides” line is a misleading and disingenuous summary. Compare and contrast the response to Charlie’s murder and other high-profile deaths. Where is the looting, the rioting, the destruction, etc.? Do we see Christians or political conservatives celebrating the deaths of others, or even worse, calling for the killing of more people they disagree with? No, we don’t. The way of Jesus is profoundly different. We are called to love our enemies and not to return evil for evil. Ideologies differ, and it shows. Let’s stop pretending every ideology is the same.
“He has been silenced.” No, he hasn’t. He has been amplified and multiplied. Charlie’s death is only going to raise up thousands of others like him who are ready to be courageous and speak for Christ and for the truth. God is going to build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
“What will the impact be?” We cannot know yet. I’ve seen people posting videos saying that they’ve been fearful in the past, but now they want to start speaking the truth, sharing their faith, and so on. I’ve seen people writing about buying their first Bible and beginning to read it. I’ve seen people asking where to go to church. When the five missionaries were martyred in Ecuador in 1956, nobody could have known the multiplication in missionary sending that would follow that atrocity. Perhaps Charlie Kirk’s death will turn out to be a turning point in history, too. Actually, not perhaps, but definitely. God knows what He is doing, even when evil seems to get the upper hand. He is building his church, and we know the end of the story. Somehow, in the midst of grief, indifference, and even evil celebration, God is working out His purposes, and we will eventually see that God does all things well.
“Things feel different.” My brother was assassinated, and I know many are feeling it deeply. However we’ve been impacted, may it make us all different. Perhaps more courageous, gracious, informed, and deeply committed to Jesus, to truth, to communication and to conversation. If speaking costs you your life on earth, is it worth it? I’m sure Charlie would say absolutely, Jesus is worth it.
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We sang these words on Sunday, words I am sure Charlie would have sung wholeheartedly:
If you curse me, then I will bless you
If you hurt me, I will forgive
And if you hate me, then I will love you
I choose the Jesus way
If you’re helpless, I will defend you
If you’re burdened, I’ll share the weight
And if you’re hopeless, then let me show you
There’s hope in the Jesus way
[Chorus]
I follow Jesus, I follow Jesus
He wore my sin, I’ll gladly wear His name
He is the treasure, He is the answer
Oh, I choose the Jesus way
If you strike me, I will embrace you
And if you chain me, I’ll sing His praise
And if you kill me, my home is Heaven
For I choose the Jesus way
[Chorus]
I follow Jesus, I follow Jesus
He wore my sin, I’ll gladly wear His name
He is the treasure, He is the answer
Oh, I choose the Jesus way
[Bridge]
And I choose surrender, I choose to love
Oh God, my Savior, You’ll always be enough
I choose forgiveness, I choose grace
I choose to worship, no matter what I face
I choose the Jesus way, I choose the Jesus way
I choose the Jesus way, I choose the Jesus way
[Chorus]
I follow Jesus, I follow Jesus
He wore my sin, I’ll gladly wear His name
He is the treasure, He is the answer
Oh, I choose the Jesus way
During a storm in life, people often look back to the calm moments before everything turned chaotic. It is strange to look back on a moment of tranquility when you had no idea what was about to take place. Psalm 27 reflects that experience. In the first half of the Psalm, David appears to be filled with faith and peace. Then, in the second half, there is more than a hint of fear in his words. Where other psalms begin with fear and end with faith, this psalm seems to reverse that pattern.
However, it may be helpful to see the psalm differently, not as part 1 followed by part 2, but as an outer layer and an inner layer. In the outer layer, David seems gripped by the reality of God’s greatness. He knows that God is greater than any enemy. He has seen it in the past, and he has confidence for the future. “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” (v 1)
He begins the psalm stating that God is the refuge of his heart (translated “life”), and his heart will not fear, even in the face of enemies, armies, and wars! (Psalm 27:1-3) Then at the conclusion of the psalm, he declares confidence in his future experience of the goodness of God and calls on others to strengthen their hearts by waiting for the LORD. (Psalm 27:13-14)
We live in tumultuous times. Whether we are in an active war zone or not, it seems that most of us are living in countries where tensions are running high. How can we have confidence in the Lord, strengthening our hearts as we wait for Him? Perhaps it is not enough to know that our God is bigger than our enemies, although that is undoubtedly true. Perhaps we should examine what happens in the inner layer of this psalm.
In verse 4, David describes his devotional determination to dwell in the house of the LORD and gaze upon the beauty of the LORD. It is in the security of God’s presence that he can get to know God for who He is. To be close to God is to be hidden in God’s shelter, concealed in His tent, lifted on a rock. The word translated as “shelter” carries the sense of a lion’s lair. Is there anywhere safer, presuming the Lion is good and is for you?
The secret to confidence in God is to meet God in the secret place. To gaze upon Him. To know Him. Jonathan Edwards wrote of Christ that He “has infinite loveliness to win and draw our love.” He went on to say that the angels in heaven, who can look on His face all the time, have never run out of reason to praise Him, even to this day. How lovely He must be! And so it is that we too can draw near to God in the person of Christ, and day after day, gaze upon the face of our God.
In fact, in troubled and tumultuous times, our people need us to do just that. If we are going to lead our families, our ministries, our churches, then we need to be spending time hiding in God’s presence, gazing on and getting to know the “light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6)
Not only does David declare that he will seek God’s face, but God invites him to do so. It is a bit like playing hide and seek with a small child. Hide and seek is a classic children’s game. One person counts to 100, while the other players hide. Then the seeker goes hunting for the hidden. It can be frustrating if the players are too creative. But when you play the game with a toddler, it can be so much fun. They want to be found! All you need to do is say out loud what you are thinking, “I am thinking she might be behind the armchair?” And a little voice will giggle behind the curtain. “Is she behind the television?” And a little voice will say, “No!” It is all about the moment of discovery, the unbridled joy when two faces meet.
“Seek my face,” God says. And as leaders of God’s people, may the cry of our hearts be, “Your face, O LORD, do I seek.” We need to gaze on the beauty of His character to have confidence in His strength. The greatest one is for us, so let’s not hold back. Draw near, gaze, and grow in confidence. Fearful times will come, but faith-filled leaders will emerge from God’s presence confident and ready.
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When we preach a Bible passage, we need to preach the text. That may sound obvious, but many don’t do it. Some preachers use the text as a launching point – they read the text and then preach an associated thought from their own thinking or theology. Others bounce briefly off the text and then preach other passages with some perceived connection.
God is the best communicator, so as preachers, we want to reflect his communication as best we can. When you are preaching a passage, really try to preach it. That includes helping your listeners to see what is there, to understand what is there, and to feel the force of what is there. To really preach a passage is not simply to educate listeners in the meaning, although that is a good start. It is to get them into the text and get the text into them, and it is to introduce the God who is revealing himself through the text so that they experience the transformative power of a personal encounter. The preacher is not merely teaching, but introducing, match-making, and fanning the flames of the relationship between listeners and God.
If we commit to truly preaching a passage, then we will come up against the challenge of saying more than the text says. That is, if we are really committed to a high view of the biblical text, are we straying if we add any detail not overtly stated in the passage? If we have a biblical narrative, are we restricted in telling the story so that we cannot fully tell it, but instead end up preaching theological points connected to it? Are we trying to cram a 100-word reading into a 4000-word speech without really saying anything beyond the 100 words of the passage?
Here are five thoughts that may help when it comes to the subject of “adding to the text.”
1. Think about the “informing texts” – As well as the passage you are preaching, there will be other passages that inform the content of your preaching passage. Any passage quoted, or alluded to, or that provides the relevant history (think Acts for some of the epistles) should be considered as fair game for helpful content as you preach your passage.
2. Consider “related texts” – This is more subjective, but some passages are more related to your preaching text than others. The same author or the same time period will tend to be more related than a distant author and era (unless the era is earlier and may have informed your writer, but then we are back to number 1: informing texts). Related texts can be helpful, but don’t lean on them so much that your preaching passage is lost in the process.
3. Make plain “assumed knowledge” – When the Bible writers wrote, they were not thinking of readers in a different culture, language, location, and historical era. So there is a lot of background information that is assumed. The author might assume the reader knows who the Pharisees were, named individuals, cultural events, or societal norms. Geographic descriptions weren’t needed for the original readers, but they might be highly helpful for modern listeners to make sense of the setting of a passage. It is not going beyond the text to state overtly what is implicitly assumed within the text. Study the background, the culture, the geography, etc., and help people to understand, visualize, and feel the impact of the passage as you preach.
4. “Imagined” thoughts and feelings in a passage can be shared honestly – We don’t know what was going through a character’s mind, or even what was happening in their life around the events of a story. Where we use our imagination to help bring a passage to life, be sure to help listeners know that you are not asserting divine revelation. I was listening to a Haddon Robinson sermon recently, and he said something like, “I’m not sure he said this, but I know we do…” It was a helpful way to connect the real-life aspects of the story to the real-life experiences of Haddon’s listeners. “I can imagine how Peter may have felt…” is a perfectly legitimate statement because your listeners know you are using your imagination.
5. Only “assert what the text asserts” – While sanctified, humble, and informed imagination can be helpful, it should never be the substance of your preaching points. Let the thrust of your message, both at the level of the main idea and the main points, come from the passage. Do not make assertions based on assumptions, imagination, or guesswork. An example comes from Psalms where the historical setting is not stated but only guessed, and then the preacher makes a point that depends on a guessed historical setting. Let the text drive the points you are making. Use your imagination to help proclaim the passage.
Seasoned preachers know that the bigger challenge will always be what to leave out, rather than what to add to a message. But in some settings, people have an overly restricted view of what should be said in a sermon. They fear saying anything more than the passage itself states overtly. That can restrict effective preaching.
Let’s make it our goal to plumb the depths of our passage, to proclaim it as fully and engagingly as possible, and to make sure that it does its work in bringing listeners into an encounter with the God who reveals himself through the Word.
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Here is last week’s podcast episode on this subject:
Evangelical Focus just published an interview with me. Lots about preaching in here, so I hope you find it helpful!
“The solution is not less preaching, but better preaching”, Evangelical Focus
Biblical Preaching 