Preaching and Preachers

This book will help prepare you or polish you as a preacher. It is very insightful with an easily to be entreated writing style. Dr. Lloyd-Jones writes to his audience as if he was having periodic, casual conversations with a friend as you read through the chapter by chapter.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones believed in expository sermons with substance. While the pastor of Westminster Chapel, London, he preached through entire books of the Bible, often delivering more than one sermon per verse. (His sermons from 1 John fill five volumes!) He believed that "the primary task of the Church and of the Christian minister is the preaching of the Word of God." In Preaching and Preachers, the Doctor urges preachers to take their calling seriously. "The most urgent need in the Christian Church today is true preaching." With that in mind, he shares what he learned through his many years of pastoring and preaching. Chapters (there are 16 of them) deal with the character of the preacher, congregations, the preparation of the sermon (and the preacher), the shape and form of sermons, illustrations and humor, and the act of preaching itself. I particularly benefitted from a chapter titled, "What to Avoid." Sometimes I'll enjoy a book enough to read it twice. This is one of the few that I've read three times--I've certainly benefitted from it more than any other book on the subject of preaching. The author's style is straightforward and enjoyable to read. He is dogmatic at times, and in a few places it is evident that these lectures were delivered several decades ago. (He lists the tape-recording of sermons as a "peculiar and special abomination" of the time.) However, the practical advice he gives will never be outdated. This is the book on Biblical, theological, expository preaching. Preachers would benefit from reading it, but their congregations would benefit even more.

The Doctor at his best! This is a warm and encouraging book for preachers. Dr. Lloyd-Jones delivered these lectures at Westminister Seminary in the sixties (I think), but they are still relelvant today for the preacher that is serious about his calling. Lloyd-Jones defends the primacy of preaching, showing that there is not any substitute for it. He delves into the preparation, shape, and form of the sermon and hits on such issues as humor, invitations, and the congregation. Best of all is the last chapter on "Demonstration of the Spirit and of the Power" which deals with the sacred anointing of the Holy Spirit in preaching. I am a preacher and if I could have only one book on preaching, this would probably be the one!

I have been a pastor of a Presbyterian churches for 25 years and weekly preaching is my life's work. Others may tell you more about the 'how' of constructing a sermon from a Bible text. However, no one will tell you more about what the task of preaching really is than Lloyd-Jones, the finest English language preacher of the 20th century, without a doubt. Yes, he is 'old school'; but it is his kind of preaching that brings the power of the gospel to bear on people to truly change them -- not all the dramatic sideshow tricks of today's 'entertainment' churches. When we hear preaching again from hundreds of pulpits like that of Dr. Lloyd-Jones, the church will leap forward by the grace of God, into a new reformation! I tell younger pastors to read this once a year, until it becomes part of them.

Covers the topic of preaching in a systematic and comprehensive manner. The author sets up his arguments on solid biblical reasonings and illustrates them with appropriate real-life examples. Fervent love for God and long experience are stamped on every page. Never fails to convince - the only danger being it might be too convincing. Keep in mind that other viewpoints might be valid as the author also admits at the beginning of the book.

This book is a must read for discouraged preachers of the persuasion that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Lloyd-Jones had the ability to remove you from the valley of shadow of discouragement and lift to the top of Mount Hermon with all its precious dew.I am reading it for the second time and am convinced that a semi-annual reading is essential to keep focus on "the work of preaching (which) is the hightest and the greatest and the most glorious calling to which anyone can ever be called" (p. 9).