I don’t preach (although my daughter may disagree with that)
but I do teach at Church and when I read a bit about this book I thought it may
be a good resource. It was worth more
than I expected it to be. Even if you
lead meetings, give lectures or just find yourself in public speaking
situations that you are not comfortable in, this would be a great book to
read. Gary Millar and Phil Campbell put
together lists of pointers and suggestions that make total sense once you read
them and leave you wondering why you aren’t already doing things that way. The book is written with humility and
humor. I love when I find a book that
will teach me and entertain me at the same time, and this one truly does.
In addition to the pointers on creating a sermon that will
not leave people nodding off, I learned to look at some things differently. For example, the Old Testament was written
for the people at the time but is still written for us. We can’t ignore the Old
Testament and concentrate on the New because the Bible is to be taken as a whole. Another point that made me think was about
Jesus during his time here on earth. “...more often than we sometimes notice,
Jesus is aiming his words directly at an Israel at the tail end of their old
covenant with God. It’s pre-cross Israel
and pre-Spirit Israel. Think the words
of Jesus through carefully before you apply them directly to 21st-century
Gentiles like us.” I always tell my
daughter to try to see things through others eyes when she doesn’t understand
someone’s actions. I think I need to
start reading the Bible with that in mind as well. Of course we can apply Jesus’ teachings to ourselves,
but stepping back and thinking about what His words meant to the people he was
speaking to in person may give us a different perspective.
There are two sermons with critiques at the end of the book
that tie all their pointers and tips together and both sermons are well worth
the read on their own. I would
definitely recommend this book. Even if
you have the gift for preaching, you may read this and realize you could use
some of their suggestions.
If you would like to check out their humor, watch the short
video. http://youtu.be/cOMI3Ib-CbI
*I received a free copy of this book from Cross Focused
Reviews in exchange for writing a fair review.*
