No matter how unskilled the preacher or how he feels about his sermon, the word of the Lord is never uttered in vain. It may sprout forth immediately, it may lay dormant for many years, it may simply serve to harden the soil, but it will not return empty. The Word is always working.
— Kevin DeYoung
A Christian is a walking sermon. They preach far more than a minister does — for they preach all week long!
— J.C. Ryle
The church’s greatest impact on the world comes when it is committed to faithfully preaching, teaching and living out the Word of God in the church and culture.
— Brian Brodersen
Sunday morning, before we go to hear the Word of God preached — let us not rush into God’s presence careless, reckless, and unprepared, as if it mattered not in what way such work was done. Let us carry with us faith, reverence, and prayer. If these three are our companions, we will hear with profit, and return with praise.
— J.C. Ryle
The pulpit is no place for dispassionate theologizing. Passion is a necessity in preaching. Passion in the pulpit produces passion in the pew… Preaching without passion is not preaching at all.
— John Murray
Preaching is the most dangerous profession on earth. It requires a man to stand between heaven and hell, between God and men, with an open Bible and a clear conscience.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer
We preachers must practice in our pulpits what we believe in our theology: Christ is the grand theme, the singular message, the supreme subject of all the Bible.
— Greg Heisler
We might preach till our tongues rotted, till we should exhaust our lungs and die, but never a soul would be converted unless there were mysterious power going with it – the Holy Ghost changing the will of man.
There are some preachers who cannot or do not preach about the blood of Jesus Christ, and I have one thing to say to you concerning them: Never go to hear them! Never listen to them!
— C.H. Spurgeon
I simply taught, preached, wrote God’s Word: otherwise I did nothing. And then when I slept or drank Wittenberg beer with my friend Philip of Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that never a prince or emperor did such damage to it. I did nothing: the Word of God did it all.
— Martin Luther
The same thing should happen here in the Christian Church; none other should be preached or taught except the Son of God alone. Of Him alone it is said, ‘This is My beloved Son; listen to Him’ and no other, be he emperor, pope, or cardinal. Therefore, this is what I say: I grant that emperor, pope, cardinals, princes, and nobles are wise and understanding, but I shall believe in Christ. He is my Lord. He is the one God bids me to listen to. From Him He bids me to learn what real, divine wisdom and understanding are.
— Martin Luther
“Notice that the preacher does not make the gospel. If he makes it, it is not worth your having. Originality in preaching, if it be originality in the statement of doctrine, is falsehood. We are not makers and inventors; we are repeaters, we tell the message we have received.”
—Charles Spurgeon
As a boy, I was not a Christian. I did not have the privilege of growing up in a home where Christ was known & loved. God spoke to me through a street preacher who quoted the words of Jesus, “Come unto me, all ye that labour & are heavy laden & I will give you rest.
Through the infinite goodness of God, I felt what I spoke; he enabled me to treat on divine truth with uncommon clearness: and yet I was so sensible of my defects in preaching, that I could not be proud of my performance, as at some times; and blessed be the Lord for this mercy.
—David Brainerd
If you want to pray strategically, in a way which would please God, pray that God might raise up men who see the beauty of the Lord our God & would begin to preach it & hold it out to people, instead of offering peace of mind, deliverance from cigarettes, a better job & cottage.
Men don’t like to have Christ preached faithfully; but it is just what they don’t like to have that we must give them. I learned that long ago. The very truths that men object to, and that make them angry, are the truths that bring them to the cross of Christ.
—D. L. Moody
You will find all through the Scriptures, when men were filled with the Holy Spirit, they preached Christ and not themselves. They preached Christ and Him crucified.
—D. L. Moody
“[…] I think a teacher is very unwise who does not come to hear the gospel preached and get a meal for his own soul. First be fed, and then feed.”
– Charles Spurgeon
“Preach Christ’s life as much as you will, but never apart from his death.
For it is by his blood that we are redeemed.”
— Charles Spurgeon
Preach the truth as it is in Jesus. Not a righteousness or inward holiness of our own, whereby we may make ourselves meet, but a righteousness of another, even the Lord our righteousness
—George Whitefield
It is sweet to know and preach, the Christ justifies the ungodly, and that all truly good works are not so much as partly the cause, but the *effect* of our justification before God.
—George Whitefield
That is really the very height of preaching, when men make themselves nothing and Christ everything.
—D. L. Moody
“You may preach up the anger of God, and the terrors of the world to come, but these do not melt the heart to loyal obedience.”
– Charles Spurgeon
As a boy, I was not a Christian. I did not have the privilege of growing up in a home where Christ was known and loved. God spoke to me through a street preacher who quoted the words of Jesus, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”
—AW Tozer
Lift up your voice like a trumpet, and preach the truth as it is in JESUS.
—George Whitefield
“Oh, to preach Christ in a Christly way, — to tell of mercy in the spirit of mercy, and to preach grace in a truly gracious way!”
– Charles Spurgeon
“[…]go direct to Christ for truth, and you will preach it strongly, honestly, openly, positively, but you will always preach it with love.”
– Charles Spurgeon
“There is nobody who can preach the gospel like the man who has experienced its power.”
– Charles Spurgeon
The good old Puritans, I believe, never preached better, than when in danger of being taken to prison as soon as they had finished their sermon.
—George Whitefield
I receive Thee ransom of my soul. For love of Thee have I studied and kept vigil toiled preached and taught.
—Thomas Aquinas