PREACHING MATTERS
Encountering the living God
By Jonathan Lamb
IVP. 192 pages. £9.99
ISBN 978 1 783 591 497
Jonathan Lamb’s aim in writing this book was simple. He says: ‘Preaching matters, because it is a God-ordained means of encountering Christ.’ It is a refreshing book and one which is very easy to read, and is founded on a conviction of the importance of the Word of God in the lives of his people.
The book takes as its basis the remarkable account of God’s people rediscovering the Word in Nehemiah chapter 8. This approach is extremely helpful as it models for us the author’s conviction that everything that we do in preaching should put God’s Word front and centre. Using the narrative, the author unpacks the essential elements of sound, Biblical preaching.
Two sections which were particularly interesting were one on the matter of how the preacher is to prepare himself through prayer and one on how congregations can prepare themselves and help the person preaching God’s Word by their attitude. There are also a number of very helpful appendices at the end of the book which contain worksheets for sermon preparation and suggestions on how to run preacher’s groups and evaluate sermons.
I really enjoyed this book. In fact, I can’t remember any other books on preaching that I’ve enjoyed and benefitted from as much as this one. There is something here for everyone who loves preaching – whether as a listener, an occasional preacher or as a pastor. Highly recommended.
