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Homiletics from the Heart: Preaching God's Word God's Way
While the preacher works on building a message, God works on building the man. Homiletics from the Heart is a textbook that addresses the importance of both the message and the messenger. This book will equip every preacher who desires to effectively preach God's Word, every leader who diligently prepares for a Bible lesson, and every Christian who seeks to study and memorize the Word of God. An appendix on "How to Memorize Scripture" is included.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 8, 2023
Every Gospel preacher should read this book! Phenomenal.
Below are some takeaways from the book:
God doesn’t call according to your gifts, He gifts according to your call!
Preaching cannot be separated from all that a minister is.
The outer must be preceded by the inner; public life, for God, must be preceded by private life with God; unless God has for spoken to man, it is vain for a man to attempt to speak for God. Before he begins to make God known, he should first himself know God. – Dr. James Stalker
The minister is as much the message as the sermon.
Before we can learn how to preach, we must learn how to live.
No one can effectively distribute the truth of the gospel without first being a partaker himself.
Better to abolish pulpits than fill them with men who have no experimental knowledge of what they teach – Charles Spurgeon
Preaching is “truth” and “personality.” They cannot be separated, but rather the messenger and the message must be in perfect harmony to achieve God’s results.
It is possible for a man to be regenerate, and to be a minister, and yet to remain worldly, shallow, undeveloped and unsanctified. – Dr. James Stalker
God’s may bless our homiletical outline, our illustrations and stories, our delivery, etc., but He does not promise to do so. He only promises to bless His Word, “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10–11)
We must never forget that we are not called to stand in the pulpit, and preach ourselves, our philosophy, our experiences, or even our beliefs. We are commanded to “preach the Word!”
The Bible is the supreme preacher to the preacher. – P.T. Forsyth
God always deals with the preacher first. As stated earlier, the man affects the message. If the man is not affected by the message, the message will have no effect.
Before a man proclaims the message of the Bible to others, he should live with that message himself. God is more interested in developing “messengers” than He is “messages.” A preacher must learn to listen to God before he speaks for Him.
There are three types of preachers: those to whom you “cannot” listen; those to whom you “can” listen; and those to whom you “must” listen. During the introduction the congregation usually decides what kind of speaker is addressing them that day. — Haddon Robinson
Restatement is different than repetition. Repetition is saying the same thing in the same words, while restatement is saying the same thing in different words. The skillful preacher will learn to restate a point several times in different ways.
Your principles and points will appeal to the mind while your illustrations will appeal to the heart.
Preaching is not preaching unless people are brought to a decision. — Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones
Complicated words and sentences will draw attention to “you” rather than God’s message.
The key to powerful, effective preaching, is already in the ignition. We can choose to push the car ourselves, or we can engage his power. It is our choice!
Below are some takeaways from the book:
God doesn’t call according to your gifts, He gifts according to your call!
Preaching cannot be separated from all that a minister is.
The outer must be preceded by the inner; public life, for God, must be preceded by private life with God; unless God has for spoken to man, it is vain for a man to attempt to speak for God. Before he begins to make God known, he should first himself know God. – Dr. James Stalker
The minister is as much the message as the sermon.
Before we can learn how to preach, we must learn how to live.
No one can effectively distribute the truth of the gospel without first being a partaker himself.
Better to abolish pulpits than fill them with men who have no experimental knowledge of what they teach – Charles Spurgeon
Preaching is “truth” and “personality.” They cannot be separated, but rather the messenger and the message must be in perfect harmony to achieve God’s results.
It is possible for a man to be regenerate, and to be a minister, and yet to remain worldly, shallow, undeveloped and unsanctified. – Dr. James Stalker
God’s may bless our homiletical outline, our illustrations and stories, our delivery, etc., but He does not promise to do so. He only promises to bless His Word, “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10–11)
We must never forget that we are not called to stand in the pulpit, and preach ourselves, our philosophy, our experiences, or even our beliefs. We are commanded to “preach the Word!”
The Bible is the supreme preacher to the preacher. – P.T. Forsyth
God always deals with the preacher first. As stated earlier, the man affects the message. If the man is not affected by the message, the message will have no effect.
Before a man proclaims the message of the Bible to others, he should live with that message himself. God is more interested in developing “messengers” than He is “messages.” A preacher must learn to listen to God before he speaks for Him.
There are three types of preachers: those to whom you “cannot” listen; those to whom you “can” listen; and those to whom you “must” listen. During the introduction the congregation usually decides what kind of speaker is addressing them that day. — Haddon Robinson
Restatement is different than repetition. Repetition is saying the same thing in the same words, while restatement is saying the same thing in different words. The skillful preacher will learn to restate a point several times in different ways.
Your principles and points will appeal to the mind while your illustrations will appeal to the heart.
Preaching is not preaching unless people are brought to a decision. — Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones
Complicated words and sentences will draw attention to “you” rather than God’s message.
The key to powerful, effective preaching, is already in the ignition. We can choose to push the car ourselves, or we can engage his power. It is our choice!
December 28, 2024
I am waffling between my three star rating and what it probably deserves, which is four. It is probably just a case of reading at the wrong point in my life. Put another way round, this would be a very good book to give to a young man beginning his preaching career. I'm just not that man.
Goetsch's work has clear strengths. It is biblical, and I only rarely disagreed with his interpreration/application. It is studied, in the sense that it is clear from his wide selection of quotes that he has done his homework. It is experienced, meaning this is not an ivory tower lecturer; it is written by an evangelist with a warm heart. It is organized as well.
However, the book is also limited. First, in that it expands/expounds on no part of the process at any depth. Not homiletics. Not hermeneutics. Not styles of preaching. Second, the book is limited in that it was written by an evangelist rather than a pastor. I'm in no way criticizing the fact or criticizing him, but a pastor approaches preaching in a radically different way than an evangelist does, and to me that was a major weakness of his approach.
Almost certainly a good book, just not a good book for me.
Goetsch's work has clear strengths. It is biblical, and I only rarely disagreed with his interpreration/application. It is studied, in the sense that it is clear from his wide selection of quotes that he has done his homework. It is experienced, meaning this is not an ivory tower lecturer; it is written by an evangelist with a warm heart. It is organized as well.
However, the book is also limited. First, in that it expands/expounds on no part of the process at any depth. Not homiletics. Not hermeneutics. Not styles of preaching. Second, the book is limited in that it was written by an evangelist rather than a pastor. I'm in no way criticizing the fact or criticizing him, but a pastor approaches preaching in a radically different way than an evangelist does, and to me that was a major weakness of his approach.
Almost certainly a good book, just not a good book for me.
March 23, 2024
In depth, to the point. Practical and thoughtful approaches to preaching. I recommend this for the Pastor, the church worker and the college student.
May 16, 2025
amazing book on preaching Gods Word!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews