Thematic Unity

"Well-crafted speeches are like good jazz music--variations on a rich theme. They relate all content and delivery to one major thesis. . . . Listeners deserve to know the main point of any presentation. Therefore, we speakers ought to ask ourselves, What's the principle point of my speech? That point is the speech's main idea or thesis" (Quentin Schultze, An Essential Guide to Public Speaking, 56-57).

Preaching

"Expository preaching is text-centered and audience-focused" (eds. Keith Willhite and Scott M. Gibson, The Big Idea of Biblical Preaching: Connecting the Bible to People, 14).

Preaching

"When Paul said he preached Christ, he meant it" (Separated Unto the Gospel: The Mission and Work of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America, 22).

Teacher's Task

""[T]he teacher's task is to draw attention to what is taught, not to himself" (Carl R. Trueman, The Creedal Imperative, 173).

Words of Preaching

"Words are not simply adequate for the divine purpose in preaching; they are the divinely sanctioned means of achieving that purpose" (Carl R. Trueman, The Creedal Imperative, 59).

Preaching's Power

"Preaching is powerful because of the message it communicates (1 Cor. 1:21)" (Carl R. Trueman, The Creedal Imperative, 59).

Preaching vs. Antiverbal Culture

"We see the impact of suspicion of words even within the Christian church. At the Reformation, preaching came to supplant the Mass as the central act of corporate Christian worship; underlying this shift was a move toward an understanding of the gospel and of salvation as being by faith in that promise. Thus, proclamation of that promise in words moved to center stage. In recent decades, however, many churches have shifted preaching from this central place. In some contexts, preaching has not been abandoned; rather, it has been relativized and now stands alongside dramatic performances, candles, incense, and small group discussion. In other contexts, preaching has been pushed completely aside for conversational discourse, where the authoritative voice of the preacher has been replaced by a more democratic dialogue. Underlying all these shifts, in practice if not always in terms of self-conscious planning, is a suspicion that proclaimed words are no longer a reliable authority, or, perhaps better, a plausible authority, given the wider antiverbal cultural dispositions" (Carl R. Trueman, The Creedal Imperative, 34).

Scripture: Understand and Teach

"There are two things on which all interpretation of Scripture depends: the mode of ascertaining the proper meaning, and the mode of making known the meaning when it is ascertained."
          -- Saint Augustine, On Christian Teaching

Commentaries: Book of Acts

Ligonier recently ran a post with Dr. Keith Mathison's "top 5" commentaries for each book of the Bible. I've been preaching through Acts so I thought I would compare his recommendations against what I've been utilizing for sermon prep. Mathison's top 5 for Acts are:

• Darrell L. Bock — Acts (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, 2007).
• F.F. Bruce — The Book of the Acts (New International Commentary on the New Testament, 1988).
• C.K. Barrett. — Acts 1-14, Acts 15-28 (International Critical Commentary, 2004).
• Ben Witherington — The Acts of the Apostles (1997).
• I. Howard Marshall — Acts (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, 1980).

Mathison also gives some major kudos to Craig Keener's currently unfinished multi-volume commentary (he says when it is complete he will probably put it in his top 5), and also lists these other works as runners up: David Peterson, James Montgomery Boice, Dennis Johnson, J.A. Alexander, R. Kent Hughes, Ajith Fernando, Gordon Keddie, Richard N. Longenecker, William Larkin, John Polhill, and David Williams.

For sermon prep I have predominantly been leaning upon:

• Darrell L. Bock — Acts (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, 2007).
• F.F. Bruce — The Book of the Acts (New International Commentary on the New Testament, 1954).
• F.F. Bruce — The Book of Acts (The Greek Text with Introduction and Commentary, 1973).
• Richard N. Longenecker — Acts (The Expositor's Bible Commentary, 1995).

Originally I was also using I. Howard Marshall's Acts, but eventually dropped it because in general he wasn't uncovering anything already addressed by Bock, Bruce, and Longenecker. And I did not find Fernando or Polhill to be helpful enough for frequent reference. In addition, I have referencing commentaries by Jaroslav Pelikan, John Calvin, Matthew Henry, William Willimon. In general, a good deal of overlap between my list and Dr. Mathison's recommendations. That is encouraging. 

Preaching

I preached as never sure to preach again. And as a dying man to dying men.
                                                                                 --Richard Baxter

The Acts of God

"Redemptive-historical preaching aims at discerning God's nature in terms of God's action. God reveals who he is not chiefly by propositions but by reported action" (Michael Horton, A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of God-Centered Worship, 88).

We worship and serve the living God. The God of action has chosen to self-disclose himself through divine revelation.

Benchmarking Spiritual Church Growth Via Community Impact

"Another mark of spiritual church growth is community impact. Some remarkable results followed the ministry of the early church. In Acts 4, Peter and John are in the hands of the authorities as a result of their preaching and healing ministry. After the trial the writer declares that these authorities "took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus." There stood the man who had been healed. The miracle was evident. . . . If we imagine that a spiritual impact on a community will always involve social acceptance, we are mistaken. But whatever the response, we must not be satisfied until the neighborhood around us becomes aware of our presence, and as a result, recognizes our relationship to the living Jesus Christ" (Harold L. Longenecker, Building Town and Country Churches, 83).

Longenecker provides a couple benchmarks for ascertaining spiritual growth in a local church:

1. Find out if "the neighborhood around [the local church] becomes aware of [their] presence,"
2. Find out if the neighborhood "recognizes [the local church's] relationship to the living Jesus Christ."

In order to know these, a local church must:

1. Proclaim Jesus to the neighborhood, and--
2. Then listen to the neighborhood.

Human Speech: "Response-Ability"

"Human communication was meant to be based on humans' "response-ability" to God's commandments. In fact, the Hebrew word for "listen" derives from "obedience." Good speakers must first be obedient listeners so they know what they are talking about" (Quentin Schultze, An Essential Guide to Public Speaking: Serving Your Audience with Faith, Skill, and Virtue, 27).

Active Listening + Prayer

"As you listen to the Word of God, ask yourself, how does God want me to be different on account of this sermon? Ask what God wants you to know what you did not know before. Ask what truths you are learning that he wants you to believe. And ask how He wants you to put those truths into practice. In every sermon you hear--even those on the most basic gospel-themes--God offers you truths to believe and put into practice. Pray for grace to work at listening" (Joel R. Beeke, The Family at Church: Listening to Sermons and Attending Prayer Meetings, 20-21).

Teaching Children About Sermons

"Teach your children that every sermon counts for eternity. Salvation comes through faith, and faith comes through hearing God's Word (Rom. 10:13-16). So every sermon is a matter of life and death (Deut. 32:47; 2 Cor. 2:15-16). The preached gospel will either lift us up to heaven or cast us down to hell. It will advance our salvation or aggravate our condemnation" (Joel R. Beeke, The Family at Church: Listening to Sermons and Attending Prayer Meetings, 11-12).

Systematics and Preaching

"But systematics [Systematic Theology] helps ministers to preach the whole counsel of God, and thus to make God central in their work" (Cornelius Van Til, An Introduction to Systematic Theology (ed. William Edgar), 22).

Effectual Callings

"The first part of effectual calling is a right hearing of the Word by those who were dead in sin; their minds are illuminated by the Spirit with irresistible truth. The preaching of the Word accomplishes two things [following quotation from William Perkins' Golden Chaine]: 'the Law shewing a man his sin and the punishment thereof, which is eternal death' and 'the Gospel, shewing salvation by Christ Jesus, to such as believe.' Both become so real that 'the eyes of the mind are enlightened, the heart and ears opened, that he [the elect sinner] may see, hear, and understand the preaching of the word of God'" (Joel R. Beeke & Mark Jones, A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life, 126).

Preaching Law and Gospel

"Through the preaching of the law, the Holy Spirit slays us, leaving us utterly destitute and helpless to save ourselves, and through the preaching of the gospel, he raises us up and seats us with Christ in heavenly places" (Michael Horton, A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of God-Centered Worship, 66).

Efficacious Preaching

On the efficacy of preaching, Michael Horton insists "It is effective because God has promised to dispense his saving grace then and there by the Spirit, and it grows organically out of the logic of the message itself because it is an announcement of something that has been accomplished by God, rather than an incentive to get sinners to save themselves by sheer force of will or effort. It is good news, not good advice, good production value, or good ideas."

Horton elaborates on this good news: ". . . we can always count on God being where he has promised to meet us . . . . The power of the Spirit is linked to a promise; namely, a promise that faith comes by hearing the gospel preached (Rom. 10:8, 17)" (A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of God-Centered Worship, 64-65).

Fishing for Men

Charles Spurgeon on fishing for men: "I sometimes hear of persons getting very angry after a gospel sermon, and I say to myself, "I am not sorry for it." Sometimes when we are fishing the fish gets the hook into its mouth. He pulls hard at the line; if he were dead, he would not; but he is a live fish, worth the getting; and though he runs away for a while, with the hook in his jaws, he cannot escape. His very wriggling and his anger show that he has got the hook, and the hook has got him. Have the landing-net ready; we shall land him by and by. Give him more line; let him spend his strength, and then we will land him, and he shall belong to Christ forever" (Spurgeon's Sermon Illustrations, 56).

Reminds me that we all go to Christ kicking and screaming, wriggling and flopping. There is no other way, for we are, after all, saved by grace. At first, we are angry, we don't like the gospel and we don't like gospel sermons. But then God regenerates us, he gives us a new heart and new desires. Thus, the gospel becomes sweet to us, gospel sermons become sweet to us. Our anger is changed to joy unspeakable.