Welcome again to Things Unseen, where this week we've been reflecting on the subject of

preaching. It's important because Jesus urged us to take heed both how we hear and what

we hear. But it's also very important because we need to heed Paul's appeal in Ephesians

chapter 6 verses 18 to 20. Right after he's teaching on the Christian spiritual armor, he urges

the Ephesians to pray for preachers and to pray for their preaching. When students begin courses

on preaching at seminary or theological college, their teachers often give them a preaching grid

by which they can assess each other as they listen. We ask questions like, was the main point clear

were the illustrations appropriate and helpful, was the introduction, attention grabbing, was the

conclusion well handled, was the length of the sermon appropriate? I hope my just mentioning

this will help you imagine the ordealist student can go through if he doesn't think more highly

about himself than he ought to. Who is really sufficient for these things? Now I have to confess

that my own theological education didn't include any teaching on preaching and we were never

given a preaching grid. Actually I used to think that preaching grids were probably evil

inventions of American professors of preaching to make their students feel completely inadequate

and perhaps they were, but in some ways that's important. But they also do have a practical point.

They provide a framework of reference for students and help them to see what's important

and perhaps help them to correct some of their mistakes. On the other hand, and this may just be

a personal view, I've sometimes felt that when a teacher of preaching on systemy students following

his own pattern, perhaps saying, no John, we do it this way, the great danger is that everyone

gets squeezed into the same mold. And then some will end up like David wearing Sal's armor, it just

doesn't fit. And the sad thing is that it can squash the gifts that a young preacher actually has

by insisting that he uses gifts that he doesn't have. And I think I've sometimes seen that happen

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