Preaching & Teaching

What boring preaching does–without exception–is answer questions which no one is asking.

I'd like to suggest that there's a world of difference between "Everything happens for a reason" and "God brings reason out of everything that happens." This is how I see the phrase, God is in control.

I wonder what proportion of gospel preachers really preach the radical message of God’s grace, and how many feel the need to qualify it and augment it and protect it? When we preach grace, how do we over-qualify it?

I've kept a notebook of the wisest sayings I've ever heard from my most trusted teachers. Good pastoring and great preaching comes from collecting -- and using -- the spiritual wisdom of those who have gone before us.

In my experience too many Christians are taught to avoid subjective experiences with God. At the close of William Sampson’s wonderful book, Meeting Jesus, he asks, “What was the color of Jesus’s eyes?”

So you’re invited to preach at someone else’s church. Or a conference. Or a chapel service. The venue doesn’t really matter. What does matter is not committing one of the seven deadly sins of guest preaching.

We can’t truly appreciate the New Testament without an understanding of the Old Testament.

In Bob Hostetler's vast pastoral experience he has helped pastors in many aspects of the lives, including this prayer before preaching.