Ten Thoughts on Preaching, Plus One

1. Always preach about the person and work of Jesus, regardless of the text.
2. Nevertheless, preach the text of the Bible. Make use of large chunks, preach through books or use the lectionary to prevent you from picking favorite bits of Bible.
3. Sometimes preach small pieces of scripture and exhaust the text.
4. Preach experiential sermons, speak of ways to meditate on the text, ways to act the text, and ways to believe the text. This requires that you keep up with your own spiritual disciplines, especially silent mediation, prayer, and study. This also requires trying to be obedient to the word outside of the pulpit, try getting a job or doing volunteer work so that you can be around neighbors that you can try loving.
5. When possible illustrate the text with stories from elsewhere in scripture, frequently use the Psalms, also when possible illustrate the text with common local experience.
6. Learn Greek and Hebrew, to understand the Bible better, then rarely mention Greek or Hebrew words in sermons.
7. Write a prayer or benediction for the end of the sermon based on terminology and concepts from the text, actually write it with time and effort.
8. Read heady theological and philosophical tomes to stretch your understanding of the gospel, then rarely use their terminology in your sermons. This includes technical commentaries. I recommend starting with Irenaeus, but be sure to read Barth
9. Spend less time in sermon prep than you do in conversation with people, whether counseling, intentional discipleship, hanging out, or praying together.
10. Listen to other preachers, the internet has lots of them, but don't simply imitate them or steal their stuff.
11. Read more novels.

Wallace on 1Timothy 2:12

Hat tip to Mike Aubry for linking this article by Dan Wallace.

I highly recommend reading the article if you are interested in the issue of women in ministry, how to interpret 1 Timothy, or even in determining the direct object of an infinitive. There is nothing argued for or anything like this, just outlined. Again, I appreciate Wallace's scholarship and his service to the church, particularly for his level headed dealing with issues like this.