Arturo G. Azurdia III, Spirit Empowered Preaching
I recently finished reading Spirit Empowered Preaching by Arturo G. Azurdia III. This book doesn’t make it into my favorite books on preaching category (the pink cover alone disqualifies it), but it was still a helpful read for me as a preacher. I especially appreciated chapter 3 on the Christ-centered nature of the Bible/preaching. Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book:
“…the Bible now comes to us through the grid of the gospel.”
“The preacher wakes up on Lord’s Day morning and he can smell the smoke of hell on one side and feel the crisp breezes of heaven on the other.”
And I LOVED this quote that Azurdia included from Charles Spurgeon:
“Don’t you know, young man, that from every town and every village and every hamlet in England, wherever it may be, there is a road that leads to London?… So from every text in scripture there is a road towards the great metropolis, Christ. And my dear brother, your business is, when you get to a text, to say, now what is the road that leads to Christ?… the sermon cannot do any good unless there is a savor of Christ in it.”
Art actually had no choice over the color of the cover on this new version of his book. It reminds me of a funny story when a guy in Art’s church (I was there too) did a book review on The Sovereignty of God by AW Pink. He was hilarious, although he spent half his time talking about the guys name being Pink! So when the new version came out in Pink it was a huge church joke! Art was a great sport about it though!
So what is your favorite book on preaching?
I love that Spurgeon quote. That quote has had a profound effect on me. I also try to take each sermon to the cross of Christ; a gospel hermeneutic. Have you read Piper’s book “the Supremacy of God in Preaching?” It’s short, but you’ll want to underline the whole darn thing. Piper does it right with a blue cover too. none of this pink gobbledigook. peace bro – kiss the cru for me.
cs
Is pink not a God color then? Does it need an ultimate fighter on the cover? What is up with this ultimate fighting anyway, I’ve been dying to ask, Mitchell, Driscoll, Buzzard, who else? What’s the deal? So just what is the attraction? Anyone?
A response to Christian & Matthew
Christian:
Yes, man, it’s all about a gospel hermeneutic. This next year Graeme Goldsworthy is coming out with a book titled, I think, Gospel Hermeneutic. We need to read it and talk about it together.
Yes, I did read Piper’s preaching book. Good read. If you haven’t already read it, stop reading this and go buy Graeme Goldsworthy’s “Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture.” Hands down the best book on having a gospel hermeneutic, on preaching Christ wherever you are.
Stoked you’ve been impacted by that Spurgeon quote. I wish I had known of it sooner.
Matthew:
Ya, pink’s not a God color. The color pink is a result of the fall. Just kidding. I just think pink is a quite unmasculine shade and so it certainly isn’t the best choice for the cover of a book on preaching. Certainly an ultimate fighter on the cover would have been a better choice. I like how you’re thinking Matthew!
A full response to the attraction of Ultimate Fighting might require a full post someday. Watch this Saturday night’s fight and maybe you’ll get hooked and see how enjoying Ultimate Fighting helps you enjoy the glory of God more :)