Thank you, Matt, for taking us to the throne. And thank you, Danny, for the invitation to be here, and thank you all for coming. My theme is the essential and

prominent place of preaching in worship.

Or to be more precise, not just why is the word

of God central or prominent in worship.

But why historically and today

does this peculiar kind of communication

called preaching have such a prominent place in worship.

Almost any place you go in the Protestant world,

about half of any given worship services devoted to this phenomenon called preaching.

Why is that? Is there a biblical warrant for that? That's where we're going to go from the scriptures. But before I begin

to unpack the specifics from a text that I'll read with you in a moment, let me give you four statements to try to help you feel the weight of this that I do.

And perhaps help those of you who may feel that it might not be as immediately relevant for you

since you're not a preacher or don't plan to be one, nevertheless could find it, I hope will find it enormously important.

So four, four statements that if you agreed with these you would understand why this topic has such weight for me.

Number one, Jesus Christ crucified for sinners and raised from the dead by the glory of the Father

to vindicate his saving work and reigning at the right hand of the father

is the only hope of the eternal happiness

of every single person in the world

who has lived or ever will live.

Number two, the Church of Jesus Christ

is the pillar and bulwark of that glorious truth.

1st Timothy 315.

...