Deep preaching : creating sermons that go beyond the superficial / [print]
J. Kent Edwards.
- Nashville, Tennessee : B&H Academic, (c)2009.
- 202 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.
The challenges of preaching today -- The reasons for preaching today -- More reasons for preaching today -- Start with your heart -- Get the "big idea" -- Take God's idea into your closet -- Grasp the grandeur -- The "closet work" begins -- The "closet work" continues -- Preaching deep sermons -- Closet questions -- Improving perfection -- Frozen solid.
"Steer your preaching out of the shallows. There's a well-known story about South African children once seen playing a game of marbles in the dirt with real diamonds. The precious stones were being handled without full regard for their true worth. J. Kent Edwards fears the same thing is happening today when preachers relate Scriptural truth to listeners without being completely overwhelmed themselves by its inherent greatness. Deep Preaching is his call to 'rethink' preaching. Edwards helps pastors learn to share God's Word in ways that will powerfully change the lives of hearers. contending that sermons 'need not settle comfortably on the lives of the listeners like dust on a coffee table.' Throughout, he encourages the 'closet work' of sermon preparation: praying, meditating, fasting, and relying on the Holy Spirit." --