Preaching
205
Every word spoken by the direction of the Holy Spirit will be full of
the deepest solicitude for the salvation of souls.—
Selected Messages
2:159
.
Feeling
Preaching must reach both mind and heart—The preaching of
the Word should appeal to the intellect and should impart knowledge,
but it should do more than this. The minister’s utterances, to be
effectual, must reach the hearts of his hearers.—
Gospel Workers, 152
.
[197]
Tame truth cannot convert. Sleeping ministers preach to sleep-
ing people—By tamely presenting the truth, merely repeating the the-
ory without being stirred by it themselves, they can never convert men.
If they should live as long as did Noah, their efforts would be without
effect. Their love for souls must be intense, and their zeal fervent. A
listless, unfeeling manner of presenting the truth will never arouse men
and women from their deathlike slumber. They must show by their
manners, by their acts and words, and by their preaching and praying,
that they believe that Christ is at the door. Men and women are in the
last hours of probation, and yet are careless and stupid, and preachers
have no power to arouse them; they are asleep themselves. Sleeping
ministers preaching to a sleeping people!—
Testimonies for the Church
2:337
.
Decision
Too often, preaching includes no direct appeals—No one can
tell what is lost by attempting to preach without the unction of the Holy
Spirit. In every congregation there are souls who are hesitating, almost
decided to be wholly for God. Decisions are being made; but too often
the minister has not the spirit and power of the message, and no direct
appeals are made to those who are trembling in the balance.—
Gospel
Workers, 151
.
Win decisions by combining the theory of the truth and
Christ’s redeeming love—Some ministers err in making their ser-
mons wholly argumentative. There are those who listen to the theory
of the truth, and are impressed with the evidences brought out; then,
if Christ is presented as the Saviour of the world, the seed sown may