This Week's Sermon Commentaries
Ruth 1:1-18 Sermon Commentary
To my mind stopping the reading of Ruth 1 at verse 18 is the narrative equivalent of ending the movie Field of Dreams just before the moment when Ray encounters his long-dead and estranged father on his magical Iowa baseball diamond. Why stop short of the scene that brings the whole thing together!? So trust…
Psalm 119:1-8 Sermon Commentary
In the world of secular music, I would guess you would be hard pressed to find many songs with titles like “I Just Love Rules!” In fact the website Ranker provided their top list of songs with the word “law” in the title but songs of the variety “I’m Lovin’ the Law” don’t seem to…
Hebrews 9:11-14 Sermon Commentary
As I noted in a 2018 commentary on this week’s Epistolary Lesson, this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson is “bloody.” In fact, it’s so bloody that citizens of the already figuratively blood-soaked 21st century may be uncomfortable with it. But perhaps humanity needed such a radical solution because its problem was so deeply-ingrained. Few pieces of baggage…
Fine-Tuning Your Preaching
Sermon Craft – Rev. Meg Jenista
Political or Partisan? – Rev. Meg Jenista
Preaching Salvation – Rev. Meg Jenista
Desire for Anointed Preaching Part 1 – Rev. David Beelen
Desire for Anointed Preaching Part 2 – Rev. David Beelen
Sermon Introductions Do’s and Don’ts – Rev. John Rottman
Preaching Parables Graciously – Rev. John Rottman
The Ethics of Sermon Illustrations – Rev. Scott Hoezee
God-Active Language – Rev. Scott Hoezee
What is an Illustration? – Rev. Scott Hoezee
Show, Don’t Tell – Rev. Scott Hoezee
Imagination and Images – Rev. Peter Jonker
The Controlling Image – Rev. Peter Jonker
Physical Space in Preaching – Rev. Mary Hulst
Preaching Without Notes – Rev. Mary Hulst
The Center for Excellence In Preaching
We provide pastors with fresh and vibrant resources to enhance your preaching. Explore our library of sermon commentaries including our new sermon commentaries made available each week. Dive into our key preaching connection topics and find relevant illustration ideas from movies and literature. Fine-tune your preaching with short, refreshing teaching videos on various aspects of preaching. We also curate lists of recommended commentaries and books and provide information on upcoming conferences and seminars.
Mark 12:28-34 Sermon Commentary
The text’s message this week is simple. It’s the all-encompassing nature of the application that gets overwhelming. Did you know, for instance, that there are 613 commandments in the Pentateuch? Summarizing and prioritizing, as Jesus does here, was a normal practice among the rabbis and scribes of Judaism, not to mention that it’s a helpful…