Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Quotes on Preaching

No man preaches his sermon well to others if he does not first preach it to his own heart. —John Owen

Some ministers would make good martyrs: they are so dry they burn well. —Charles Spurgeon

A sermon is no sermon in which I can't hear the heartbeat. —Henry Longfellow

If you preach to hurting hearts, you will never want for a congregation; there is one in every pew. —Joseph Parker

Each time you go into the pulpit, go as if it were your first time, and your best time, and your last time. —Vance Havner

The test of a preacher is that his congregation goes away saying, not "What a lovely sermon", but "I will do something!" —Saint Frances de Sales

My grand point in preaching is to break the hard heart and to heal the broken one. —John F. Newton

3 comments:

churchoftoday said...

But the intersting this about this, preaching does nothing without the Holy spirit. you can break the heart, or provoke a thought, but the real success is what the people retained and put into action.

A successful sermon, is not one that provoked new converts, but to see people week after week sharing the message of the good news that they heard, with others.

A successful teaching is you see growth added to the spiritual church and disciples being formed, new people are coming to God and begin the process again.

To be a successful teacher, you want to spark the constant circle, you teach others, they take the information, teach others, those people do it so on and so on. Thats what a true teaching will do

Randall E. Mark said...

I believe it was Michael Horton of The White Horse Inn who quoted William Willimon's advice to his seminary students. Willoman told his students that before they leave the study with their finished sermon they are to ask themselves, "Did Jesus have to die for my sermon to be true?"

Verna said...

I really liked Newton's quote, but Spurgeon's brought a smile to my face. We miss you here in Missouri!
Jack