Prime Minister<\/b><\/p>\n
The great 19th century British statesman and prime minister, William Gladstone, once said, \u201cOne thing I have against the clergy both of the country and in the towns. I think they are not severe enough on congregations. They do not sufficiently lay upon the souls and consciences of their hearers their moral obligations, and probe their hearts and bring up their whole lives and actions to the bar of conscience.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe class of sermons which I think are most needed, are of the class which once offended Lord Melbourne. He was seen coming from church in the country in a great fume. Finding a friend, he exclaimed, \u2018It is too bad I have always been a supporter of the church, and I have always upheld the clergy, but it is really too bad to have to listen to a sermon like that we have heard this morning. Why, the preacher actually insisted upon applying religion to a man\u2019s personal life!\u201d Gladstone concluded, \u201cThat is the kind of preaching I like best, the kind of preaching which men need most, but it is, also, the kind of which they get the least.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morning Glory, Sept.\/Oct., 1997, p. 34<\/p>\n
Sermon<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the Civil War,\u201d writes author Tim Riter, \u201cPresident Lincoln attended Wednesday evening services at a church close to the White House. Accompanied by Secret Service agents, Lincoln would sit in the pastor\u2019s study during the message; then they would walk back together. One evening, after the service, an agent asked Lincoln, \u2018What did you think of tonight\u2019s sermon?\u2019<\/p>\n
Lincoln replied, \u2018It was brilliantly conceived, biblical, relevant, and well presented.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018So, it was a great sermon?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018No, it failed. It failed because Dr. Gurley did not ask us to do something great.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Today in the Word, May, 1996, p. 30<\/p>\n
In Brief<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 Admit God\u2019s Word to be His message to you.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Submit to the authority of the Book.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Commit the words of the Scriptures to your memory.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Transmit the message to someone else.<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
Slave Preacher<\/b><\/p>\n
During the time of slavery, a slave was preaching with great power. His master heard of it, and sent for him, and said: \u201cI understand you are preaching?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d said the slave.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, now,\u201d said the master, \u201cI will give you all the time you need, and I want you to prepare a sermon on the Ten Commandments, and to bear down especially on stealing, because there is a great deal of stealing on the plantation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The slave\u2019s countenance fell at once. He said he wouldn\u2019t like to do that; there wasn\u2019t the warmth in that subject there was in others.<\/p>\n
I have noticed that people are satisfied when you preach about the sins of the patriarchs, but they don\u2019t like it when you touch upon the sins of today. <\/p>\n
Moody\u2019s Anecdotes, Page 91<\/p>\n
Fatal Mistake<\/b><\/p>\n
An English preacher of the last generation used to say that he cared very little what he said the first half hour, but he cared a very great deal what he said the last fifteen minutes. I remember reading many years ago an address published to students by Henry Ward Beecher, in which he gave a very striking account of a sermon by Jonathan Edwards. Beecher says that in the elaborated doctrinal part of Jonathan Edwards\u2019 sermon the great preacher was only getting his guns into position, but that in his applications he opened fire on the enemy. <\/p>\n
There are too many of us, I am afraid, who take so much time getting our guns into position that we have to finish without firing a shot. We say that we leave the truth to do its own work. We trust to the hearts and consciences of our hearers to apply it. Depend upon it, gentlemen, this is a great and fatal mistake. <\/p>\n
Dr. Dale, quoted in Preaching, G. Campbell Morgan, p. 89<\/p>\n
Quotes<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 Unused truth becomes as useless as an unused muscle. – A.W. Tozer, That Incredible Christian<\/p>\n
\u2022 Booker\u2019s Law: An ounce of application is worth a pound of abstraction. – The Official Rules, p. 16.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u201cIf I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the Devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing. – Martin Luther<\/p>\n
It\u2019s Not What\u2026<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 It is not what men eat but what they digest that makes them strong; <\/p>\n
\u2022 not what we gain but what we save that makes us rich; <\/p>\n
\u2022 not what we read but what we remember that makes us learned; <\/p>\n
\u2022 not what we preach but what we practice that makes us Christians. <\/p>\n
Francis Bacon.<\/p>\n
D. L. Moody<\/b><\/p>\n
While D.L. Moody was attending a convention in Indianapolis on mass evangelism, he asked his song leader Ira Sankey to meet him at 6 o\u2019clock one evening at a certain street corner. When Sankey arrived, Mr. Moody asked him to stand on a box and sing. Once a crowd had gathered, Moody spoke briefly and then invited the people to follow him to the nearby convention hall. Soon the auditorium was filled with spiritually hungry people, and the great evangelist preached the gospel to them. <\/p>\n
Then the convention delegates began to arrive. Moody stopped preaching and said, \u201cNow we must close, as the brethren of the convention wish to come and discuss the topic, \u2018How to reach the masses.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Moody graphically illustrated the difference between talking about doing something and going out and doing it.<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
Wonderful Sermon<\/b><\/p>\n
A gray-haired old lady, long a member of her community and church, shook hands with the minister after the service one Sunday morning. \u201cThat was a wonderful sermon,\u201d she told him, \u201cjust wonderful. Everything you said applies to someone I know.\u201d <\/p>\n
Bits and Pieces, November, 1989, p. 19<\/p>\n
Resources<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 The Seven Laws of the Learner, B. Wilkinson, ch 3. <\/p>\n
\u2022 Application in Biblical Hermeneutics and Exposition, R. Zuck, Walvoord: A Tribute, Donald Campbell, ed., Moody, 1982, p. 15.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Prime Minister The great 19th century British statesman and prime minister, William Gladstone, once said, \u201cOne thing I have against the clergy both of the country and in the towns. I think they are not severe enough on congregations. They do not sufficiently lay upon the souls and consciences of their hearers their moral obligations, … Continue reading “Application”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}