The Formative Perspectives
Introduction
a. The necessity for addressing this issue: Sight is in the eye of the beholder.
b. The characteristics of these perspectives
1) Biblical
Is. 8:20
2) Realistic
3) Proven/confirmed
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1. The necessity for examining this subject of the act of preaching as a distinct and vital subject.
A sermon is either born or stillborn in the act of preaching. A sermon is conceived and gestates in the closet and study; but it is actually birthed in the pulpit.
Mat. 7:28-29
Acts 4:13; Acts 14:1
1 Cor. 2:4
1 Pet. 1:12
Eph. 6:19
John A. Broadus, On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, (Birmingham, AL: Solid Ground Christian Books, 2005), pp. 480-481.
John C. Ryle, Christian Leaders of the 18th Century, (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2002), pp. 287-288.
Henry J. Ripley, Sacred Rhetoric, (Boston: Gould and Lincoln, 1869), pp. 161-162.
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2. The necessity for recognizing the major principles involved in this department of our study.
a. The delicate interplay and inter–penetration of the divine and human are most prominent in the act of preaching.
Phil. 2:12-13; Phil. 4:13
Col 1:27–29
Gal. 5:23
Charles H. Spurgeon, “On the Voice” in Lectures to My Students, (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2008), pp. 144-145.
b. The presence or absence (restraint) of the Spirit’s assistance is most evident in the act of preaching.
Isa. 55:10, 11
Acts 1:8; Acts 2:4; Acts 4:31
Acts 10:44
Charles H. Spurgeon, “Attention” in Lectures to My Students, (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2008), p. 161.
See Pastor Martin’s essay on “Preaching in the Spirit.”
c. A man’s most fundamental convictions regarding the nature of preaching will be most clearly revealed in the act of preaching.
d. The preacher’s state as a Christian man will greatly and constantly influence the quality of his act of preaching.
1 Thess. 1:4-5
Robert L. Dabney, Sacred Rhetoric, (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1979), pp. 267-268.