Preaching with Purpose: The Urgent Task of Homiletics (Jay Adams Library)

by Jay E. Adams

1. When seeking to bring about change, never attempt to do so in the abstract; people change only in concrete ways.11 2. Always give hope. People will not persevere during the often difficult process of change without hope. 3. Never minimize the severity of problems; instead always maximize Christ and His power to solve problems. 4. If a person has a life-dominating problem, aim at total restructuring. 5. Always approach seemingly hopeless situations with emphatic disagreement. Empathy alone removes all possibility of help. Disagree when the counselee says “It’s hopeless.” Say, “It is difficult, but not too difficult for God.” 6. Don’t become oriented toward people’s problems, but toward God’s solutions. 7. Gauge how much change is now feasible; too little is boring, too much is discouraging. 8. Don’t let people settle for less than the scriptural solution. 9. Use biblical, or biblically derived, language when analyzing and labeling problems, and when planning solutions to them. 10. Be commandment-oriented rather than feeling-oriented.