Hi
Sermon helps, What good resources do you use?
Thanks
Paul
Hi Sermon helps, What good resources do you use? Thanks Paul
I find that the Africa Bible Commentary often makes me look at passages from a slightly different angle. It has been slowly working its way up my priorities list.
I recently created a sermon collection I labeled 'sermon help' including all historical sermons, illustrations, Bible question and answer, and harmonies. So far I've been pleased with the use in my passage guide along with relevant commentaries. The filter string I used was:
type:(monograph, commentary, harmony) AND subject:(sermon, illustration, quotations)
I do own Spurgeon's sermon collection which really fills out my search
My favorite tool for preparing a message is a good Bible dictionary. I know that's a bit strange so let me explain:
I've been heavily influenced by the likes of Ed Clowney, DA Carson and Tim Keller in their admonishments to preaching "inter-canonical themes" and a broadly redemptive-historical focus. They encourage you to preach the passage in its broader context and ask the question "How does this passage about the temple relate to the greater theme of God meeting people and culminating at the cross?" or "What does this particular instance of sacrifice have to say about God's eternal purpose for the greatest sacrifice?" etc.
I think this is a really powerful and biblical preaching technique and a Bible dictionary is extremely helpful to figure out how a particular passage develops a particular theme as the theme eventually points towards the cross.
My favorite dictionary is the ISBE.
