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The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching
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ZONDERVAN
The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching
Copyright © 2005 by Christianity Today International
All rights reserved under International and Pan -American Copyright Conventions. By payment of
the required fees, you have been granted the non -exclusive, non-transferable right to access and
read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down
loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage
and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known
or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.
AER Edition January 2009 ISBN: 978-0-310-29641-6
Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Robinson, Haddon.
The art and craft of biblical preaching : a comprehensive resource for today’s communicators / Haddon Robinson,
Craig Brian Larson, general editors.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-310-25248-2 (jacketed hardcover)—ISBN 0-310-25249-0 (companion audio CD)
1. Bible—Homiletical use—Encyclopedias. I. Robinson, Haddon W. II. Larson, Craig Brian.
BS534.5.A78 2005
251’.003—dc22 2004015689
CIP
ISBN-13: 978-0-310-25248-1
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version®. NIV®. Copy-
right © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
The website addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a resource to you. These websites are not intended in
any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of Zondervan, nor do we vouch for their content for the life of this book.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or
by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
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Dedications
Haddon Robinson
Sid Buzzell
Scott Gibson
Duane Litfin
Don Sunukjian
Bruce Waltke
Colleagues in ministry whom I am honored to call “Friend”
Craig Brian Larson
To my wife, Nancy, and my sons, Aaron, Ben, Mark, and Brian David,
who have supported this high calling; and to the churches I have
served, who have opened their hearts to receive the Word of Life
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A Prayer of George Herbert
(1593–1633)
Lord, how can man preach thy eternal word?
He is brittle, crazy glass:
Yet in thy temple thou doest him afford
This glorious and transcendent place,
To be a window through thy grace.
But when thou doest anneal in glass thy story,
Making thy life to shine within
The holy preacher’s, then thy light and glory
More reverend grows, and more doeth win,
which else shows waterish, bleak, and thin.
Doctrine and life, colors and light in one,
When they combine and mingle, bring
A strong regard and awe; but speech alone
Doeth vanish like a flaming thing,
and in the ear, not conscience, ring.
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Contents
How to Use This Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 12. My Theory of Homiletics. . . . . . . . . . 58
Haddon Robinson
Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
13. Staying on the Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
David Helm
14. History of Preaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Part 1: The High Call of
Michael Quicke
Preaching
How can I be faithful to what God intends
Part 2: The Spiritual Life of
preaching to be and do?
the Preacher
1. Convictions of Biblical Preaching. . . . 23 How should I attend to my soul so that I am
Haddon Robinson spiritually prepared to preach?
2. A Definition of Biblical Preaching . . . 24
John Stott 15. A Cup Running Over. . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Dallas Willard
3. A Weekly Dose of Compressed
16. The Patented Preacher. . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Dignity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Warren W.Wiersbe
Craig Brian Larson
17. I Prayed for My Preaching. . . . . . . . . 79
4. Overfed, Underchallenged . . . . . . . . . 31
Jay Kesler Joe McKeever
5. Theology of Powerful Preaching . . . . 33 18. How Does Unction Function? . . . . . . 81
Jay E.Adams Lee Eclov
6. Preaching That Raises Our Sights . . . 36 19. Squeaky Clean. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Crawford Loritts Kenton C.Anderson
7. Leading and Feeding . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 20. Required Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Jack Hayford Haddon Robinson
8. John 3:16 in the Key of C . . . . . . . . . 41 21. Rightly Dividing the Preaching
Jeffrey Arthurs Load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
9. Growing in Your Preaching . . . . . . . . 44 Larry W.Osborne
Bill Hybels 22. Preaching through Personal Pain . . . . 95
10. Spiritual Formation through Daniel T.Hans
Preaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 23. A Prophet among You . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Robertson McQuilkin Maxie Dunnam
11. Preaching Life into the Church . . . . . 53 24. Burning Clean Fuel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Jeffrey Arthurs Scott Wenig
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25. Backdraft Preaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 39. Preaching to Change the Heart . . . . 159
Mark Buchanan Alistair Begg
26. Why I Pace Before I Preach . . . . . . . 108 40. Preaching Truth, Justice, and the
Walter Wangerin Jr. American Way. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
27. Preaching to Convulse the Demons. . 109 Rick McKinniss
Craig Barnes 41. Preaching Morality in an Amoral
28. Holy Expectation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Haddon Robinson Timothy Keller
42. Cross-Cultural Preaching. . . . . . . . . 171
Part 3: Considering Rick Richardson
Hearers 43. Connecting with Postmoderns. . . . . 174
Robertson McQuilkin
How should my approach change depending
44. Preaching amid Pluralism. . . . . . . . . 177
on who is listening?
Timothy Keller
29. Preaching to Everyone in 45. Connecting with Non-Christians. . . 179
Particular. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 John Koessler
Haddon Robinson 46. How to Translate Male Sermons to
30. The Power of Simplicity. . . . . . . . . . 121 Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Chuck Smith Alice Mathews
31. View from the Pew. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 47. He Said, She Heard . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
John Koessler Jeffrey Arthurs
32. Preaching to Ordinary People . . . . . 126 48. Connecting with Men . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Lewis Smedes Bill Giovannetti
33. Why Serious Preachers Use 49. Creating a Singles-Friendly
Humor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Sermon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
John Beukema Susan Maycinik Nikaido
34. Connect Hearers through 50. Preaching to Preschoolers . . . . . . . . 193
Dialogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Marilyn Chandler McEntyre
Jeffrey Arthurs 51. Hispanic-American Preaching . . . . . 195
35. Self-Disclosure That Glorifies Noel Castellanos,Jesse Miranda,Alfredo Ramos
Christ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 52. African-American Preaching . . . . . . 197
Joe Stowell Rodney L.Cooper
36. How to Be Heard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 53. Asian-American Preaching. . . . . . . . 200
Fred Smith Matthew D.Kim
37. Opening the Closed American 54. Work Wins?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Lee Eclov
Ed Dobson 55. One Sermon, Two Messages . . . . . . 207
38. Turning an Audience into the Wayne Brouwer
Church. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 56. The Playful Preacher . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Will Willimon Richard P.Hansen
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57. What Authority Do We Have 70. Leading Hearers to the Tree of
Anymore? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Haddon Robinson Ted Haggard
71. Fundamentals of Genre . . . . . . . . . . 264
Part 4: Interpretation and David L.Allen
Application 72. From B.C. to 11 A.M. . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Steven D.Mathewson
How do I grasp the correct meaning of
73. The Big Idea of Narrative
Scripture and show its relevance to my unique
Preaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
hearers?
Paul Borden and Steven N.Mathewson
58. Why the Sermon?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 74. Life in Leviticus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Ben Patterson Rob Bell
59. Getting the Gold from the Text . . . . 221 75. Apply Within. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
John Koessler David Veerman
60. Faithful First . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 76. Application without Moralism. . . . . 289
David Jackman Bryan Chapell
61. God’s Letter of Intent. . . . . . . . . . . . 230 77. Blending Bible Content and Life
Greg R.Scharf Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
62. Five Bird-dogging Questions for Haddon Robinson
Biblical Exposition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 78. Showing Promise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Earl Palmer Craig Brian Larson
63. The Rules of the Game . . . . . . . . . . 237 79. Helping Hearers Practice What We
David L.Allen Preach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
64. Why All the Best Preachers Are Randy Frazee
Theological . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 80. The Heresy of Application. . . . . . . . 306
John Koessler Haddon Robinson
65. Letting the Listeners Make the 81. Preaching for True Holiness. . . . . . . 311
Discoveries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 Randal Pelton
Earl Palmer 82. Less Joe, More Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
66. Conviction and Compassion . . . . . . 250 Joe Stowell
S.Bowen Matthews 83. Preaching That Promotes Self-
67. The Inadequacy of “Yes” Centeredness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Theology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 Craig Brian Larson
Ben Patterson 84. The Danger of Practical Preaching. . 317
68. What Great Coaches—and Preachers— Lee Eclov
Know. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 85. Grace: A License to Wander?. . . . . . 319
Craig Brian Larson Bryan Chapell
69. Preaching That Opens Ears 86. The Rich Sound of Grace and
and Hearts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 Holiness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Haddon Robinson Kenton C.Anderson
