"The amazing lack of concern for purpose among homileticians and preachers has spawned a brood of preachers who are dull, lifeless, abstract and impersonal; it has obscured truth, hindered joyous Christian living, destroyed dedication and initiative, and stifled service for Christ." -Jay Adams, from the book Preaching needs to become purposeful, says Jay Adams, because purposeless preaching is deadly. This book was written to help preachers and students...

Well-known around the world for his passionate and powerful preaching, John Piper has distilled over thirty years of preaching experience into one book for the benefit of pastors and other Bible teachers. Building on the foundation laid by his previous two books, A Peculiar Glory and Reading the Bible Supernaturally, Piper makes a compelling claim about the purpose of a sermon: not just an explanation of the text, but awakening worship by being worship....

Teacher of preachers Abraham Kuruvilla develops an integrated biblical and theological vision for preaching that addresses the essentials of this most important activity in the church. Kuruvilla draws on influential voices from church history, teases out scriptural connections, and sifts through biblical theology to reclaim what has been lost through the centuries. Beyond a rearticulation of past wisdom, Kuruvilla offers fresh insights, showing preachers...

A captivating, skillfully chosen illustration communicates more, is remembered longer, and has greater impact than thousands of words that offer abstract truth but tell no story. Jesus knew the value of story. He consistently sprinkled his talks with parables, stories, and illustrations to drive home the point He was making. In the best-selling tradition of Hot Illustrations for Youth Talks and More Hot Illustrations for Youth Talks, comes a third...

Homiletics textbooks often discourage the use of humor in preaching, regarding it as trivializing or distracting. The result is that many preachers have failed to understand humor's positive power, demoting it to the opening joke to get a guaranteed guffaw to warm up the crowd. Humor Us!, the second volume in the "Preaching and..." series, is a collaborative effort by homiletician Alyce M. McKenzie and humor scholar Owen Hanley Lynch that promotes...

This work is an extended exhortation urging white ministers and slaveowners to attend to the spiritual needs of slaves and free blacks. The book is broken into four parts. The first part is an historical sketch of slavery in the Colonies and the United States, with a focus on missionary and religious efforts directed towards the African slaves. This account goes from 1620 to 1842. Jones closes this first part with a summary of each denomination and...

When you stand before your congregation, what do you hope to accomplish when you preach the Word? If people have Bibles and the freedom to read and pray on their own-why do they need you? In short, what do you bring to the table? Author, Pastor, and Professor John Koessler answers those questions and many more. Why does one sermon have a powerful effect on the audience while another falls flat? Why should listeners heed what the preacher says? Is...