THE PREACHER'S TECHNIQUE
to speak its own message. Build your sermons on a solid foundation of accurate exegesis. Be honest with the Word of God!
Such strict attention to basic meanings carries with it rich rewards. In the very process of tracking down the original sense of a text or passage, you will find new suggestions leaping out upon you. To take just one case in point, there is that lovely affirmation of St. Paul to the Philippians: "The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Even as it stands in the Authorised Version, it is moving and expressive. But notice how much more vivid it becomes when the verb is given its full meaning. "The peace of God shall keep guard over, shall stand as sentry to, your hearts and minds." It will hold the fort in the day of siege, and keep the central citadel inviolate. There, surely, is a conception of inner peace far removed from the sentimentalisms which have all too often blemished this noble theme. Christian serenity, as the apostle envisages it, is no passive exemption or easy immunity from the assaults of life: it is the active strength of a God-garrisoned heart.
In your choice of subjects it is wise, as a general rule, to avoid the bizarre and the sensational. It is easy enough to hit upon quaint, outlandish texts; easy enough, by announcing such a text, to intrigue your congregation with the thought—"Now what in all the world will he be able to make of that?" But there is really very little merit in such performances. The
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