Here’s an interview I did with Austin Duncan for The Master’s Seminary (recorded on July 13, 2022 at The MacArthur Center for Expository Preaching):
Here are timestamps for most of the questions:
preaching
Starving for the Grandeur of God
I recently read this updated edition:
John Piper. The Supremacy of God in Preaching. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2015.
One of the most motivating lines:
People are starving for the grandeur of God. And the vast majority do not know it. (p. 147)
Here’s an appetizer:
For more, check out the topics under “God” and “Jesus Christ” in the Desiring God Topic Index.
“Here I Stand”: Elsa (from Frozen’s “Let It Go”) vs. Luther (at the Diet of Worms)
The following two videos each include the bold words “Here I stand.” But do they mean the same thing?
1. Elsa (from Frozen‘s “Let It Go”)
2. Luther (at the Diet of Worms)
Tim Keller explains how they differ:
“Let It Go,” by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, was sung in the Disney movie Frozen and won the 2013 Oscar for Best Original Song. It is both interesting and ironic to compare the sung speech of the character Elsa in Frozen with that of Martin Luther before the Holy Roman Emperor. Both say, “Here I stand.” But Luther meant he was free from fear and from other authorities because he was bound by the Word of God and its norms. Elsa speaks for the contemporary culture by saying she can be free only if there are no boundaries at all.
Expositional Preaching: How We Speak God’s Word Today
“David Helm has written the most helpful, concise, and useful book on expository preaching I have ever read.”
–Matt Chandler
David Helm. Expositional Preaching: How We Speak God’s Word Today. 9Marks. Wheaton: Crossway, 2014. 38-page PDF sample.
7 excerpts: [Read more…] about Expositional Preaching: How We Speak God’s Word Today
Be More Specific Than “Points” or “Things”
Speakers and writers often say something like this: “My sermon has three points” or “I’d like to share four things.”
This book taught me not to do that:
Wayne McDill. 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching. 2nd ed. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2006.
I took my first homiletics courses in college in the 1999–2000 school year, and the first edition of this book was one of my main textbooks.
That book has served me well over the last fifteen years. It taught me to use language precisely. [Read more…] about Be More Specific Than “Points” or “Things”
MacArthur: “It’s very easy to be hard to understand”
From an interview of John MacArthur on “expository leadership” (watch from 11:45 to 12:35):
The money quote:
It’s very easy to be hard to understand. It only requires that you not know what you’re talking about. And if you don’t know what you’re talking about, nobody else will either.
It’s very hard to be crystal-clear because in order to be crystal-clear you have to have mastered the text. [Read more…] about MacArthur: “It’s very easy to be hard to understand”
Study, Practice, Teach: The Pattern of Ezra 7:10
The pattern of Ezra 7:10:
- Study the word.
- Practice the word.
- Teach the word. [Read more…] about Study, Practice, Teach: The Pattern of Ezra 7:10
Top 10 Tips for Being Clearer
Gary Millar and Phil Campbell, Saving Eutychus: How to Preach God’s Word and Keep People Awake 
(Kingsford NSW, Australia: Matthias Media, 2013), 50–61:
- The more you say, the less people will remember. . . . “Biscuits and sermons are improved by shortening”. . . .
- Make the ‘big idea’ shape everything you say. . . . That’s one of the best reasons to preach from a full script—you get to edit before you speak. . . . [From p. 64: “[I]t’s easier for your listeners to catch a baseball than a handful of sand.”] [Read more…] about Top 10 Tips for Being Clearer