Haddon W. Robinson > Quotes

“What worries you masters you”
― Haddon W. Robinson

“Be clear! Be clear! Be clear!” Clarity does not come easily. When we train to be expositors, we probably spend three or four years in seminary. While that training prepares us to be theologians, it sometimes gets in our way as communicators. Theological jargon, abstract thinking, or scholars’ questions become part of the intellectual baggage that hinders preachers from speaking clearly to ordinary men and women.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“people need to be reminded as much as they need to be informed.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“There is something else to remember: each point should be a declarative sentence, not a question. Questions do not show relationships because they are not ideas. The points in your outline should answer questions, not raise them.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“The purpose behind each individual sermon is to secure some moral action. We need to know what that action is.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“Every sermon should have a theme, and that theme should be the theme of the portion of Scripture on which it is based.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“The purpose behind all doctrine is to secure moral action.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“Christians are Christ’s body, the organism through which He works. Every addition to that body enables Him to do more. If you want to help those outside, you must add your own little cell to the body of Christ who alone can help them.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“De Quincey compared the two arts of rhetoric, logos and pathos, to rudder and sail. The first guides discourse and the second powers it (Thonssen and Baird, 1948, p. 358). Even”
― Haddon Robinson, The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching: A Comprehensive Resource for Today's Communicators

“I have a conviction that no sermon is ready for preaching, not ready for writing out, until we can express its theme in a short, pregnant sentence as clear as a crystal.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“Restatement is like marching in place. It does not have forward movement, but it is part of the parade. It is saying the same thing in different words.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“First, what is the vision of God in this particular text? Second, where precisely do I find that in the passage? (The vision of God is always in the specific words and the life situation of the writer or the readers.) Third, what is the function of this vision of God? What implications for belief or behavior did the author draw from the image?”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“Preach means “to cry out, herald, or exhort.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching

“True, if you preach nonexpository sermons, it may seem easier to preach dramatically because you don’t have to bother with the text. You can take your own stories and fashion them and handle the text any way you want that has dramatic flare. The problem with that is if we take seriously our calling as preachers, we haven’t been called to entertain people, we haven’t been called to tickle their ears or to get them to say, “Wasn’t that a magnificent sermon! Wasn’t that dramatic!” We are called to proclaim the Word of God.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching: A Comprehensive Resource for Today's Communicators

“Is there someone with whom you have a broken relationship? A spouse, a parent, a friend? As a follower of Jesus Christ, you need to take the first step today to make it right. Is there a letter you should write? Is there a phone call you should make? Is there a visit you should make or a conversation you should have? Then will you ask God for the courage to make that contact and take that step to get that matter settled?” “Your job is the will of God for you. Tomorrow when you go to your work, take out a Post-it note and write ‘God has put me here to serve him today’ and then place it on your desk or in your locker—someplace where you can see it easily. Whenever you look at that note, breathe a prayer, ‘Lord, I’m working this job for you. Help me to do it to please you.’ In that way you can remember the workday to keep it holy.” You may change the conclusion later in your preparation, but you have determined where you purpose to go. You concentrate your thought with greater efficiency if when you begin, you know what you intend to accomplish.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“To apply a passage, therefore, you need to see what your passage reveals about God and the way people responded and lived before God. Look for those same factors in contemporary life. How does the condition of people today reflect the sins, fears, hopes, frustrations, anxieties, and confusion of women and men centuries ago? What vision of God do they need? How do they respond or not respond to that vision? In this way, you can move with integrity from the biblical text to the modern situation.16”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“What does this mean?” What has to be explained so that my listeners will understand the passage? Does the biblical writer explain his statements or define his terms? Does he assume that the original readers understood him and needed no explanation? Are there concepts, terms, or connections that modern listeners might not understand that you need to explain to them?”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“State the idea so that it focuses on response. How do you want your listeners to respond? Instead of “You can rejoice in trials because they lead to maturity,” try “Rejoice when hard times come.” If you know what your listeners should do, tell them. State the idea so that your listeners sense you are talking to them about them.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“So what? What difference does it make?” How should this concept be applied? Is the biblical writer applying his idea? Where does he develop it? Exhortations in the Scriptures grow out of the context. Some sermons resemble cut flowers: the admonition of the author is cut off from the truth that produced it. The imperatives are always connected to the indicative. The effect should be traced to its cause. Is the author presenting an idea that he doesn’t apply directly but will apply later in his letter? Where does he do that? How do you apply this truth to your listeners now? Does the biblical writer assume that the reader will see the application of an assertion? The writers of the Gospels often assume that the readers will see the implication of a parable or a miracle. In narrative literature especially, ask yourself, “Why did the author include this incident?”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“Expository preaching is the communication of a biblical concept, derived from and transmitted through a historical, grammatical, and literary study of a passage in its context, which the Holy Spirit first applies to the personality and experience of the preacher, then through the preacher, applies to the hearers.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“Poorly prepared conclusions that wander about looking for an exit line leave a congregation looking toward the exit.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“To the men and women who keep a sacred appointment on Sunday morning. Bewildered by seductive voices, nursing wounds life has inflicted upon them, anxious about matters that do not matter. Yet they come to listen for a clear word from God that speaks to their condition. And to those who minister to them now and those who will do so in the future.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“Your goal is to wash the minds of your people in the Word so that Christ is formed in them. That’s biblical preaching.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching: A Comprehensive Resource for Today's Communicators

“While it takes three years or more to get through seminary, it can take you ten years to get over it.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“As you can see, the homiletical idea is simply the biblical truth applied to life.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“Every preacher needs to keep in mind three great axioms: 1. Don’t ever dare to stand in front of a group of people with a Bible in your hand and not expect change. We must have a holy confidence—confidence in God and his Word, confidence that God is going to change lives whenever we speak from his book. 2. Remember that the goal of all ministry is transformation. It’s not about being liked. It’s not about being accepted. God’s ultimate goal is to change lives. 3. At the end of the day, the effectiveness of our preaching will burst forth from the holiness of our personal lives.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching: A Comprehensive Resource for Today's Communicators

“In your sermon manuscript short sentences keep your thoughts from tangling and therefore are easier for you to remember. When you deliver your sermon, you will not concern yourself at all with sentence length, just as you do not think about commas, periods, or exclamation points. As you preach, your words tumble out in long, short, or even broken sentences, punctuated by pauses, vocal slides, and variations in pitch, rate, and force. Short sentences in your manuscript serve your mind; they have little to do with your delivery.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages

“Inappropriate application can be as destructive as inept exegesis. When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, he tried to achieve victory through misapplication of Scripture. The tempter whispered Psalm 91 with admirable precision: “He will give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways . . . lest you dash your foot against a stone” (vv. 11–12). Then Satan reasoned, “Because you possess this strong promise, why not apply it to a leap from the pinnacle of the temple and demonstrate once and for all that you are the Son of God?” In refuting the devil, Jesus did not debate the grammar of the Hebrew text. Instead He attacked the application of Psalm 91 to temple jumping. Another passage of Scripture better fit that situation: “You shall not tempt the LORD your God” (Deut. 6:16 NRSV).”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching

“bland composite” of the congregation’s “congenial, ever helpful, ever ready to help boy scout; as the darling of the old ladies and as sufficiently reserved with the young ones; as the father image for the young people and a companion to lonely men; as the affable glad-hander at teas and civic club luncheons.”1 If that description pictures reality at all, preachers may be liked, but they will certainly not be respected.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching

“Through bifocal preaching, those who hear come to understand and experience what the eternal God has to say to them today.”
― Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages