The Weightiness of Preaching

In The Weightiness of Preaching, Doug Logan, Jr and Matt Cohen help you apply Francis Grimké’s enduring wisdom to your preaching. Francis Grimké’s legacy as a Reformed Black preacher is esteemed, and this book offers timeless wisdom for modern preaching.

Powerful

One of the most moving ideas for me in the book is the belief that every failure to carefully and thoroughly prepare for preaching is ultimately a failure to grasp the significance of the God-given moment. Yet, even with thorough preparation, we still depend completely on the Holy Spirit. Passion, preparation, and dependence on the Spirit are my greatest takeaways.

This book emphasizes that the real power and touch of God in the pulpit comes from experiencing God outside of the preaching moment. If I may put it in my own words: you must walk with God before you can walk with Him into the pulpit.

I must most convicted to read how preaching should draw attention to Christ rather than to ourselves. The book warns against being concerned with receiving invitations to preach outside your church and instead urges ministers to focus entirely on exalting Christ. This serves as a strong challenge to today’s event-driven speaking culture, especially in an age of celebrity pastors and preachers.

Helpful

Interestingly, the book also argues that helpful preaching, not great preaching, should be our goal. Unhelpful preaching may still be eloquent, entertaining, or even highly academic, yet still fail because it draws attention to the preacher rather than to Christ. The response of the congregation can help us discern whether our sermons are truly helping people or merely impressing them.

Toward the end of the book, readers are reminded that preaching is a privilege. Preachers are encouraged to see ourselves as representatives of God, standing between the living and the dead. Preaching is both a sacred responsibility and a God-given opportunity.

For new preachers, The Weightiness of Preaching will help you grow in faithfulness, humility, and dependence upon God in the pulpit. For those who have been preaching for years, it will reignite the spark and set you straight. It truly feels like having Grimké as your personal preaching mentor. The extensive quotations, combined with thoughtful commentary, make this book a treasure for anyone serious about preaching.

I received a media copy of The Weightiness of Preaching (Amazon) and this is my honest review. Find more of my book reviews and follow Dive In, Dig Deep on Instagram - my account dedicated to Bibles and books to see the beauty of the Bible and the role of reading in the Christian life. To read all of my book reviews and to receive all of the free eBooks I find on the web, subscribe to my free newsletter.