Preaching Daily - November 24

Today's Word for Pastors...

But those who hope in the LORD
       will renew their strength.
       They will soar on wings like eagles;
       they will run and not grow weary,
       they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40:31

Today's Preaching Insight...

A Preacher's TULIP

In an interview on the website Breakfast With Fred, Steve Brown (speaker for KeyLife, a prof at Reformed Seminary, and a Preaching Magazine senior consulting editor) explained that, "In my classes at the seminary, I teach a TULIP of communication. The TULIP presupposes the authority of Scripture, understanding doctrine, knowing how to exegete a text. The principles are as follows…

T = Therapeutic. "The communicator must, by necessity, speak to problems with solutions. Like a surgeon, the words may heal or hurt to heal… but if there is no healing, then there is no real communication."

U = Unconventional. "The greatest sin for a communicator is the sin of boring the audience. . . . Don't say it the way everybody else has said it. Don't say the unexpected. Don't fit into anybody else's mold."

L = Lucid. "I tell students that a good measurement of their communication skills is this question: If your listeners wanted to take notes, could they? . . . The content my be only one point made by a story . . . but that one point should be clear . . . clear enough so that it would be written down and put into practice.

I = Illustrated. "Stories are very, very important in modern communication. Learn where to find them, how to use them and then use the often. . ."

P = Passionate. "If you don't care, nobody else will. If you aren't excited about what you are going to say, nobody else will be excited. So, if your "hot buttons" are not pushed, don't try to communicate it to anybody else." 

(To read the entire interview, go to http://www.breakfastwithfred.com/core.php?content=qa&gfx=resources&qa_id=5)

Today's Extra...

Opposition

In a letter by John Newton (author of Amazing Grace), he writes, "Opposition will hurt you if it should give you an idea of your own self-importance and lead you to dwell with a secret self-approbation upon your own faithfulness and courage in such circumstances. If you are able to stand your ground uninfluenced by either the favor or the fear of men, you have reason to give glory to God; but remember that you cannot thus stand for an hour unless He upholds you. It shows a wrong turn of mind when we are so ready to speak of our trials and difficulties of this kind, and of our address and resolution in encountering them." (The Christian Pastor's Manual)

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