Introduction to the Act of Preaching

The point: Preachers must speak distinctly and with passion, reflecting God's clear and earnest communication, rather than mumbling or lacking emotional engagement.

If mundane activities like eating and drinking should be done to God's glory (1 Cor 10:31), how much more should preaching, arguing from the lesser to the greater.

And I love this text for many reasons, not the least of which it directs us to activities or explicitly directs us to activities in which we are most like the animals, eating and drinking. Very mundane activities. And yet we are told in this text, Whether, therefore, you eat or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all...

6:31 - 7:00 Read in full sermon

The point: Preachers must speak distinctly and with passion, reflecting God's clear and earnest communication, rather than mumbling or lacking emotional engagement.

The question of whether God is more glorified by distinct speech or mumbling illustrates how the axiom impacts practical delivery, reflecting God's clear communication.

through Paul, Silvanus, and Timotheus. And so this is not just a pious phrase that we sort of place over any activity to give it some semblance of spirituality. The Apostle was self-conscious of having this goal as part and parcel of his own ministry. And so the Apostle says, his great passion in the proclamation of the word of God. And so the great end which all the elements of preaching must serve is the glory of God. Now when we descend to the practical, do you see how this perspective, this axiom will impinge on every facet of the act of preaching itself? For instance, will God be more or ...

10:04 - 11:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Preachers should address and correct distracting mannerisms in their delivery, as these can hinder God's glory and the message's reception.

The question of whether God is glorified by allowing distracting mannerisms challenges preachers to address them if the axiom of God's glory is truly embraced.

How has God spoken? Well, then we glorify God as we accurately reflect his image in our preaching. Will God be more or less glorified if I manifest real passion and earnestness in my preaching? How does God speak to men? Is he in blood earnest when he calls men to repent and believe? When God says, why will ye die, O house of Israel? Does he say that in dead earnest? Then you better say it in dead earnest. And the earnestness better be evident in the way in which you say it. Is God glorified in a ministry that, speaks his word accurately as to its content, but does not reflect the emotional ov...

11:17 - 12:33 Read in full sermon

The point: Preachers must guard against lightness, tickling the fancy of men, and any desire to impress, instead focusing on solid edification through truth.

A poem by William Cowper is quoted to powerfully mock preachers who prioritize elegance of style and self-display over the glory of God and the spiritual good of their hungry flock.

present. It ought to be the substructure, the sort of undergirding, out-of-sight beam and what would we call it, structural part of the soul in our preaching. Now, when that's so, then elegance of style and elegance of form with a view to impress will never be a problem to us. There's a fascinating poem in Broadus written by one of the servants of God of a bygone day that underscores this point very, very powerfully. And I'm moved every time I read it. At least I'm moved to myself. I hope you find it moving. Dealing with this whole matter of people who have some other end other than the glory ...

24:06 - 25:26 Read in full sermon

The point: Preachers should not feel false guilt when working to improve practical aspects of their delivery, such as voice modulation or eye contact, as these serve God's glory and the good of men.

A preacher with a naturally strident voice working to modulate it is given as an example of seeking God's glory and the good of men, not theatricality.

by this axiom, brethren, it will have at least these two very practical effects throughout the entire scope of our ministries. On the one hand, it will immunize us against a false guilt when we work at being better preachers in the act of preaching. See, there are few men who think there's anything wrong with trying to become more accurate exegetes, more astute theologians, better homileticians in the study. But for a man to practice at making his voice more pleasant, suddenly he feels there's something profane about this. I have descended from the lofty heights being a man of God to being an ...

27:26 - 28:41 Read in full sermon

The point: Preachers should not feel false guilt when working to improve practical aspects of their delivery, such as voice modulation or eye contact, as these serve God's glory and the good of men.

The need for preachers to cultivate eye contact, especially if naturally shy, is presented as a means to gauge audience understanding and edification, responding to 'glassy stares'.

God. You're not a prophet of God. You're not a prophet of God. You're not a prophet of God. You're not a prophet of God. You're not a prophet of God. You're not a prophet of God. You're not a prophet of man is the great end to which I must labor in my preaching. If I become aware that by nature and by a combination of other factors, my voice is too strident and it makes people want to push me away because it simply comes across as being too harsh, then is it not seeking the glory of God to try to learn to so modulate the voice that it's not a prophet of God? It no longer drives people back fro...

28:41 - 29:54 Read in full sermon

The point: Preachers should not feel false guilt when working to improve practical aspects of their delivery, such as voice modulation or eye contact, as these serve God's glory and the good of men.

Martin humorously recounts his temptation to make a funny face at a preacher who consistently preached to the top of his forehead, illustrating the poor habit of not making eye contact.

Because the poor people are obviously in a mess and a muddle. And we ain't getting nowhere. And so you right then and there in the midst of preaching, realizing God cannot be glorified if the people are not being edified, you learn from their glassy stare that you've got to do something right on your feet and you fish for an illustration. You're willing to do anything short of being a buffoon or sin to get the point across. What is elegance? What is your outline? What is the homiletical finesse of your life? What is the finesse of your life? What is the finesse of your sermon if all you're get...

30:37 - 31:27 Read in full sermon

The point: Preachers should not feel false guilt when working to improve practical aspects of their delivery, such as voice modulation or eye contact, as these serve God's glory and the good of men.

Martin shares a recent personal anecdote where a deacon was signaling him about a wrong Bible reference (1 Peter 5:8 instead of 1 Peter 4:8), but Martin misinterpreted it as a signal about spit on his lips, highlighting the challenges of communication during preaching.

to the top of people's hairlines. You're just missing by three inches. And I've had preachers that I knew they were preaching to the top of my forehead. And I'm so convinced of it that I've been tempted. I'm naughty enough to be tempted to do certain things, though I hope I have enough grace that I don't. But when their eyes came by and they were trying to fool me that they were looking at me, and they really weren't. They were just here. I wanted to just go and make a funny face and see if I got the reaction. And if they just went right on, you know, then I'd know, aha. And then I'd go to the...

31:27 - 32:22 Read in full sermon

The point: Preachers should not be content to expound passages without reflecting the emotion of God's heart, even if it means overcoming personal or temperamental difficulties in expressing emotion.

The difficulty some men have in showing emotion is discussed, arguing that if God expresses emotion (e.g., grieved at heart), preachers should reflect that in their delivery.

It will slay a sinful complacency and a paralyzing fatalism. It will slay a sinful complacency and a paralyzing fatalism. Now, all of us, because of the effects of sin and the various ways that sin operates through our peculiar personalities, we have kinks in every department of our humanity. Some of you have unusual questions, kinks in your emotional makeup. You find it very, very hard to let your emotions show on your face, to let your emotions affect how your vocal cords work, temperamentally, background, influences, all of the rest. You simply are one of these people who it's very difficul...

34:45 - 36:08 Read in full sermon

The point: Preachers must slay sinful complacency and paralyzing fatalism regarding their preaching weaknesses, actively laboring to correct them for the good of their hearers.

A musician playing technically perfectly but without emotion is used to illustrate preaching that lacks soul and fails to bring the message alive.

And if you're preaching that passage and something of grief and pathos doesn't come through you, you are not rightly representing the Word of God. I remember listening to a musician give a senior recital at a local college, and as best as my ear could discern, technically, technically, she played every note as the composer had originally written it. But there was one thing wrong, one fundamental thing. There was not an ounce of emotion in her playing. She played it as though she were a robot. There was no soul in the thing. And the thing never came alive. And you don't have to be a musician to...

37:15 - 38:13 Read in full sermon

The point: Preachers with physical impediments to clear speech (e.g., tight jaw) should engage in practical exercises in addition to prayer to improve their articulation.

A tight lower jaw preventing clear articulation is used to illustrate that some physical impediments to good preaching require practical exercises, not just prayer, to overcome.

If we are committed to maximum edification, then we will labor at correcting these things for the good of our hearers. And we will not simply say, well, I'll pray and trust God. If you've got a tight lower jaw, I don't mean to be irreverent, all the praying in the world isn't going to loosen it up until you do some exercises to loosen it up. The upper jaw doesn't move, except when you move your head. If you don't believe me, put your finger right there. Now, when you speak, it's the lower jaw that moves. You see, this is the finger that's going. Now, if I move my head, this one goes. But the u...

38:57 - 39:58 Read in full sermon

The point: Preachers should view their vocal apparatus as a 'trumpet' for God's message, striving to make its sound as glorious and attractive as possible through prayer and pains.

The preacher's vocal apparatus (teeth, tongue, lips) is likened to a trumpet for sounding God's jubilee, emphasizing the need for it to be well-maintained and effective.

spoke, you put your head down and not use all your apparatus. And now you're just programmed to talk that way. All right, so what are you going to do about that? If you're to be understood, you've got to use all of the faculties. You talk, not only with the larynx and with the diaphragm. And the lungs as they bring out the air over the larynx. But you speak with your teeth, with your tongue, with your lips, all of it. That's your trumpet, to sound the message of God's jubilee, his day of deliverance. That's your trumpet. You don't want a beat-up old trumpet, and the bell is all bent over so th...

40:45 - 41:45 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin outlines the formative perspectives that shape his approach to preaching, emphasizing that they must be biblical, realistic, and proven by Scripture, church history, and…

A teenager who can't see dirty socks in his room but can spot a girl three blocks away illustrates how the eye sees what it desires and is trained to see, applying this to a preacher's homiletical perspective.

There's that teenage fellow that when his mother says, Son, why in the world don't you pick up your dirty socks and your dirty underwear and your dirty jeans? They're all over the room. He says, My, I don't even see them. But lets a nice-looking girl walk down the street three blocks away, and the curtains are only open three inches, and, man, he sees real well.

43:03 - 43:24 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin outlines the formative perspectives that shape his approach to preaching, emphasizing that they must be biblical, realistic, and proven by Scripture, church history, and…

Martin recounts his first experience preaching on a street corner 30 years prior, describing the vivid memory of his walk and the urgency he felt to communicate God's word to his lost friends.

And then I hope they will be proven principles, not novelties that I or someone else have concocted sitting off in an ivory tower somewhere, but things that have been tested, in the long history of preaching as recorded for us in the Scriptures and in church history and Christian biography, and I hope to some degree proven in what will be, as of this month, 30 years of working at this matter of trying to preach. It was 30 years ago this month that I first preached as a Christian. I gave a lot of talks for four or five years in young people's groups before I was saved. But it was about 30 years...

45:53 - 47:01 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But in a very real sense, brethren, a sermon is either born or stillborn in the act of preaching. A sermon is either born or stillborn in the act of preaching.

The process of sermon preparation is likened to conception and gestation in the study, with the act of preaching being the 'birth' of a living or stillborn sermon.

Now, if I may take the analogy of birth, sermons are generally conceived in the study. That's where the seed is sown and conception takes place. Sometimes it's when you're out running. Sometimes it's when you're in the midst of a counseling session, driving along the road.

49:39 - 50:00 Read in full sermon

The point: Preachers should use available natural means (like ensuring fresh air) to aid the reception of the message, not presuming the Holy Spirit will overrule negligence.

Spurgeon's statement that 'the next best thing for grace in the act of preaching is plenty of fresh air' is quoted to illustrate the delicate interplay between the divine (grace) and the natural (physical conditions).

They are very vital matters in preaching, this interplay and interpenetration of the divine and the human. And they are most prominent in preaching. And Spurgeon is very helpful in his instructions because he understood this. It's Spurgeon who said, the next best thing for grace in the act of preaching is plenty of fresh air.

58:47 - 59:10 Read in full sermon

The point: Preachers should use available natural means (like ensuring fresh air) to aid the reception of the message, not presuming the Holy Spirit will overrule negligence.

Martin shares how his elders corrected him for giving the impression of being angry when preaching to young people, leading him to consciously work on modulating his voice and emotions.

The Spirit or my conscious selfhood? Which is it? It's the fruit of the Spirit, and yet it is self-controlled. So when your elders take you aside, as they did me some time ago, and said, Pastor, when you're working yourself up into a lather, preaching to the young people, we know you well enough to know your heart is concerned because of certain circumstances in your own experience, but you're giving the impression that you're mad at the young people.

60:58 - 61:35 Read in full sermon

The point: Some preachers need to learn to peel off 'crusty layers of old leather' from their emotional structure to allow for holy abandonment in preaching, even seeking external aids like certain movies to facilitate emotional re…

Martin suggests watching movies like 'Fiddler on the Roof' or 'Chariots of Fire' to help men who are emotionally crusty learn to respond emotionally and shed tears in private.

And you will never have an element of abandonment in your preaching until that element is dealt with. And I may advise you to see certain movies. There aren't many I'd advise you to see, but I may advise you to go to the movies and go see Fiddler on the Roof. I may advise you to go see Chariots of Fire.

63:55 - 64:15 Read in full sermon

The point: Preachers must be honest with the biblical emphasis on the fullness of the Spirit in the act of speaking the word of God, without falling into Pentecostal excesses.

Spurgeon's words from his lectures are quoted, emphasizing that being clothed with the Spirit of God gives power over hearers, making them listen and believe, unlike a mere musician.

And here Spurgeon, without any of the excesses of Pentecostalism, has perhaps some of the most helpful material I have ever read on the subject in his chapter on the Holy Spirit in conjunction with the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the book I recommend particularly page 139 in his lectures. Maybe I can just give you a sentence or two that will whet your appetites. Be yourselves clothed with the Spirit of God and then no question about attention or non-attention will arise. Come fresh from the closet and from communion with God to speak to men for God with all your heart and soul and you must ...

67:32 - 68:47 Read in full sermon

The point: Preachers should strive to be heard, working to get and keep people's ears, and knowing when to stop preaching if they are losing the audience.

Martin recounts his past adherence to a 'deeper life' teaching that led him to suppress his emotions and conscious will in preaching, believing the Lord should preach 'through' him, and the subsequent liberation when he recognized its fallacy.

am I a messenger of God or am I an ecclesiastical parent am I speaking things of eternal weight in a manner commensurate with their substance or am I playing word games am I convinced that I must be heard or am I content simply to fill up the time I love to sit and listen to a preacher who's obviously determined he's going to have a hearing and to see him go to work at getting people's ears and once he's got them of keeping them and then having gotten the ears and is keeping the ears to keep them to the end that means he knows when to shut up when he senses he's beginning to lose the people an...

70:17 - 71:46 Read in full sermon

The point: Preachers' inner spiritual state, particularly their yearning and travailing for their people, will profoundly condition the flavor of their public ministry, leading to loving tenderness, faithfulness, and compassion.

An extended quotation from Warfield's sermon on 2 Corinthians 4:13 is used to argue that the problem with not preaching certain truths is a lack of belief, and that true belief compels urgent proclamation of even unpalatable truths.

spiritual state as a Christian man your basic spiritual state as a Christian man will very powerfully influence the quality of your actual preaching now again there is some influence in your preparation yes but the greatest influence of what you are as a Christian man is your practice in your actual preaching out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speak Paul could say I believed therefore I spoke and I recently read at the suggestion I forgot who it was oh yes it was Pastor Hofstetter recommended that sermon of Warfields in faith I have not read this particular sermon on 2 Corinthians 4 1...

73:15 - 74:44 Read in full sermon