Customer Reviews

Preaching with Passion (Preaching With Series)

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First of all, please note that Amazon is wrong: this book is not authored by John MacArthur. He merely wrote the preface. Preaching With Passion was written by Alex Montoya. It does not offer a lot of unique material, but it clearly presents an explanation of what is required to preach with conviction and sincerity.

The book offers more than a few clever complaints about boring and tedious preaching, beginning in the first chapter, "Preach with Spiritual Power." The other chapters include: "Preach with Conviction, Preach with Compassion, Preach with Authority, Peach with Urgency, Preach with Brokeness, Preach with the Whole Being, and Preach with Imagination.

For someone who has not been exposed to similar material, this work may prove beneficial. It emphasizes the need for the preacher to have a close walk with God and a burden for his people. For those of us who have attended pastor's conferences and been around the block a few times, its value may be more motivational than informational.

Montoya has written an excellent book for pastors and Bible study teachers who want to preach/teach with more conviction and passion.

Among the points Montoya covers include:

1. Reasons why preachers lack passion.
2. The power to preach comes only from God.
3. Passionate preaching comes from a person of convictions - know what you believe and then say it!
4. Excellent notes on having compassion for the people you preach or teach to and wrong reasons for preaching and teaching.
5. Do not use the pulpit as a weapon or become an authoritarian preacher. Do speak with authority but realize that authority comes from God, not yourself or others.
6. Allow God to break you so you can become a broken man and be more useful to God!
7. Use imagination when preaching - do not bore your listeners to sleep!

I agree with the previous reviewer about the book being more motivational than informational. However, pastors and teachers do need encouragement and motivation even after we have become thoroughly educated lest we become too self-satisfied and complacent. While I love to continue to learn new things, sometimes God has used the Bible and other books to motivate and encourage me!

In the 1600's John Flavel proclaimed, "it is far easier to study and press a thousand truths upon others, than to feel the power of one truth upon our own hearts..." Some 400 years later Alex Montoya has detected the same problem; preachers are often trained for exegetical study but not preaching with passion. This short book offers principles to combat lifeless preaching. As Montoya says, "The fact is many of us simply preach sermons, not the Word of God. We preach the exegesis, not the divine oracle. We preach crafted, alliterated manuscripts instead of the living Word. We are biblical, but the Word has been deadened by a lifeless delivery or a hampering style.

Montoya proffers his suggestions on restoring passion to preaching. He hopes to teach us how to preach with spiritual power, conviction, compassion, authority, urgency, brokenness, the whole being, and the imagination.

What I Liked:

I have noticed, and even fell victim to, the type of passionless preaching that Montoya is combating. If nothing else this book will serve as a wake up call to pastors that merely being exegetically sound is not true expository preaching. Montoya helps us wake up to the reality that how we say something has a bearing on what it is we say. It will serve pastors well to heed the advice given in this book.

Montoya does a good job of reminding us where passion comes from and that it is not simply something that can be conjured up once you get in the pulpit. Passionate preaching is not yelling as you preach. It is, as Martin Lloyd-Jones said, "theology coming through a man who is on fire". I appreciate that Montoya follows the mold of such men as Lloyd-Jones. It is rare to find a chapter on brokenness in a preaching book, hopefully Montoya's words will be heeded and will as John MacArthur says in his recommendation, "start an epidemic".

What I Disliked:

In an effort to stimulate the preacher and spur him on to action our author at times seems a little too anthropocentric for my taste. In Montoya's defense I do not think he intends to be. There are a few other dangerous statements in the book as well: such as, "preaching needs to be constantly adapting itself to the changing face of culture". I get what Montoya is saying but it could be potentially misunderstood. However, the overall tenor of the book is solidly biblical (and for my Reformed readers--it is of the Reformed persuasion) and not a major dislike with the book.

Should You Buy It:

Most certainly. The truth of the matter though is that a book cannot create a passionate preacher. This book will not fix all. It will define the problem and give a few suggestions for laboring to become a more passionate preacher. However, it takes a lifetime of boldly broken fellowship with the Almighty to create a passionate preacher.

While many books on homiletics (preaching) deal only with technique and sermon development, Montoya gets to the very heart of preaching. In some ways, I wish I would have had this book in seminary. But, it's probably more profitable for someone who have been preaching on a weekly basis for a period of time. For me, it was both refreshing and instructive.

So, to pastors who need a boost, I encourage you to read this book.

Here's a quote to whet your appetite:
"Truth discovered warms the mind; truth applied in our lives warms the heart; and the necessity of imparting this same truth to others sets the pulpit aflame." 50)

The book fails to center on the real power of preaching, God's Word.

Preaching with passion comes from a passion stirred up in the preacher's heart by his study of The Word. Any other passion is only manipulation.

Jonathan Edwards was said to read his sermons in a monotone voice in order to not manipulate feelings. He wanted the Holy Spirit, through The Word, to do the work.

I would not recommend Edwards' method. There is no place in preaching for boring people, not Edward's method was boring. Nor is there a place for putting on a theatrical show. Preaching must engage the mind first, by The Word, and then permit emotions to follow.

We're not to be preaching for apparent power or apparent effect, we cannot see as God sees. We are to be preaching to faithfully proclaim God's Word. All of the power is in The Word.

I wish Mr. Montoya had started with The Word in preaching and how it, and only it, can produce the passion appropriate for the pulpit.

This is the power: (Isaiah 55:11 NKJV) So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

This is the source of passion: (Psalms 1:1-2 NKJV) Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.