According to A Legacy of Preaching, “(Falwell’s) personal life and experiences
were very similar to the two great preachers of the nineteenth century whom he
admired most: D. L. Moody and Charles Spurgeon, neither of whom has
significant formal education, yet founded schools and greatly influenced their
generation.”[1] The connection between D. L. Moody and Jerry Falwell is quite
interesting. I agree with your analysis of Moody’s sermon excerpt following the
persuasive elements skill.
g g g g g g g g g g I found that Jerry Falwell’s excerpt from his sermon “Never Quit,”
seemed to follow the outline of “Drawing Pictures, Telling Stories.” Falwell paints
the picture of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego having Christ with them in the
furnace, and then he connects that to a story about Mr. Moody, and then draws a
line to present day life.[2] This section from his sermon follows the story outline
of situation, stress, search, solution, and new situation.[3] However, I can see your
choice of preaching for faith in that Falwell ends this section of his sermon with
an encouraging and challenging phrase to the congregation.[4] It is interesting
how so many skills can be intertwined with one another.
I also chose D.L. Moody. He does have a unique way of being able to capture the
essence of the truth being preached. The proclaiming of the new birth among
many preachers today has become less and less a priority. Moody was spot on
when he talks about the new creation that comes by new birth. I see a lot of
people accuse workers of God of working for their salvation. I always repeat that
quote to them that we work because we've been saved. God did not just purchase
us by the Blood of His Son Jesus Christ so that we would just be precious
ornaments on a shelf, but to work. Even before Adam sinned he was given the
command to work in the garden.
I am always encouraged to hear preachers talk about enduring through trouble.
This idea that "your a kings kid" and you don't have to suffer is not a scriptural
teaching. Believers will face persecution and trials because God is refining us to
be precious in His sight. I think we as preachers have to always encourage others
to have faith. We have to let God bring us into a difficult circumstance so He will
reveal Himself more to us while bringing us out of trouble. It's often where we
meet Jesus, in the battle!
I agree that D.L. Moody resembles a lot like a military Chaplin. I agree with you that his
sermon excpert fits McDill's model of persuasive elements. His sermon I think comes
from Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 through 9 which states, " For it is by grace you have
been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by
works, so that no one can boast." As you stated his sermon is pointing to the truth of
salvation by Christ and not about what we do to be saved. This scripture in Ephesians
explains this so well. The sermon idea for this passage would be, "Our salvation is free
because of what Christ has done on the cross." I appreciate your input on D.L Moody. I
agree that Moody could be considered a Chaplain, he worked with the soldiers on and
off the battlefield, while still maintaining the mission Sunday school and reaching the
lost youth of the city. Moody had it right that you cannot work out something that you
do not already have. I like that you have stated “These illustrations persuade them in
that very moment and continue to influence the audience after the sermon, after Sunday
service.” We can learn a lot from moody and see that he was very concerned with
helping and reaching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our message should do
two things reach people with the gospel of Jesus and give them something that they
can apply to their life throughout the week. I really find Jerry Falwell message to be
timeless for Christians. You state “He wants believers to trust in the deliverer during the
troubling times, not expect to be delivered from them.” This message of faith gives hope
to people that the trouble will not be gone but that God is there during the trouble.
Falwell had a great way of preaching faith and we can learn a lot from preachers from
the past and how they preached
