After reading about some of the most notable Christian preachers used by
God over the last two centuries It became apparent that they used many
of the same skills that McDill points out in his book. The four preachers
and I really noticed this in were the 19th"& 20th"Century European preachers
Charles Spurgeon and Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones as well as the 19th"&
20th"Century North American preachers D.L. Moody and Billy Graham. I see
step five used most profoundly by these men. They had a unique ability to
bridge the textto sermon. There sermons had what McDill calls direct
biblical authority because their sermon would often reflect the subject and
purpose of the text they were preaching from. These preachers were able
to capture the relevance of God to Israel and learn from their mistakes
and apply them to today’s culture and how we are to live before God.
These men preached a theology that was acceptable or understandable to
the common people. Charles Spurgeon, although he was a moderate
Calvinist, was known as the peoples preacher. The people could relate to
him. He also took a stance against false theology or doctrine in his day.
He once took out Ads in the newspaper warning people of John Nelson
Darby and his secret pre-trib rapture doctrine amongst other issues too. In
a similar way you have Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones who was very outspoken
against the cults and occult. He used solid theology and doctrine to
combat the lies of the false teachers who were raising up in his time. He
also was able to relate to the people because he would meet them where
they were by having a radio where people could ask questions. We know
this as the Bible Answer Man show. Billy Graham and D.L. Moody are
famous for their ability to gather hundreds and even thousands together
to hear the gospel preached. It would seem that much of the preaching
these men did was foundational in the salvation message of the Gospel.
This would in effect be as McDill calls it their sermon idea. The preachers
were able to reveal to the people the revelation of God in the scriptures
throughout history and were able to use the timeless theological message
from then to apply to today. It is evident especially after hearing these
preachers preach that they would use a text and faithfully apply it to a
sermon that would be used by God to convict and encourage those
listening. In summary these four preachers had the sermon idea of
preaching the Cross to get men saved and then defending the Gospel so
that those who are saved can mature in unity of the Faith and not be led
astray by false doctrines.
"
Bibliography
Forrest, Ben and Kevin King, et al., editors."A Legacy of Preaching, Volume
Two---Enlightenment to thePresent Day.The Life, Theology, and Method
of History’s Great Preachers. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. (2018)."
McDill, Wayne."12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching. 2nd ed. Nashville:
B&H Academic. (2018)."
