Scott M. Gibson > Quotes

“The Old Testament was the Bible of our Savior, the apostles, and the early church. We cannot understand them or their work if we ignore the fount from which they drank or the authoritative library from which they read.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching the Old Testament

“Perceiving preaching as discipleship gives preachers a more meaningful way of approaching those to whom they speak. No longer are their listeners an audience or even a congregation; they are believers, followers of Jesus Christ, disciples.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching with a Plan: Sermon Strategies for Growing Mature Believers

“His is the eternal decree, his is the love that drew salvation’s plan, his is the initiative in sending the Son, his is the power that raised Christ from the dead and put all things under his feet. “To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!” (Eph. 3:21 NIV).”
― Scott M. Gibson, Homiletics and Hermeneutics: Four Views on Preaching Today

“Provision of divine redemption in the face of spiritual need is the consistent message of Scripture and the chief means by which human hearts flood with love for God that is power to obey his commands”
― Scott M. Gibson, Homiletics and Hermeneutics: Four Views on Preaching Today

“Kaiser well understands what many people often fail to realize: that God knew perfectly well that there would be a twenty-first century AD back when he was inspiring Moses to write down the Old Testament law, and that the words God revealed in that law would remain essential information—in fact, life-and-death stuff—for believers of all ages, not just Old Testament Israelites.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching the Old Testament

“Preaching should be God centered because God is God centered and wants us to be God centered in everything we do. All God does he does for his glory, and all we do—eating, drinking, and certainly preaching—we do for his glory (1 Cor. 10:31).1 Preachers may take up a variety of texts and topics, but they should take them up (and their hearers with them) all the way into the presence of God, so that listeners are instructed by the Word of God, convinced of the value of God, captivated by the holiness, grace, kingship, wisdom, and beauty of God. Preaching is all about and all for God.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Homiletics and Hermeneutics: Four Views on Preaching Today

“the prophetic books, as books, have the same theological purpose as the books of the New Testament. They speak of God’s continuous commitment to his covenant pledge to bless Israel and the nations by means of a “new” covenant (Gen. 12:1–3). The mediator of that pledge is the “seed of Abraham” (Gen. 22:18; Gal. 3:16). God’s means of accomplishing his pledge is to inscribe the divine law upon the hearts of all believers. The prophets did not write their books to teach their readers the Sinai covenant. Their intent, like Moses’s, was to call their readers to a life of faith under the new covenant (Isa. 7:9b).”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching the Old Testament

“While a prophet’s primary task was to confront the ungodly with words of warning, the primary task of the prophetic books was to give comfort to those who read them. That comfort came in the reassurance of God’s faithfulness to his “new covenant” promises. That is what the prophetic authors intended to give to their readers as a basis for their continued hope. Preaching from the prophets ultimately means extending the range of their biblical sermons about the “new covenant” to include the church audience.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching the Old Testament

“As we demonstrate how every text reflects aspects of or needs for God’s grace that are made plain in the fullness of time, we honor the unity of Scripture, God’s progressive plan of redemption, and the many ways that the Holy Spirit coordinates the whole Bible to reveal the grace of the Savior and the futility of any other hope.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Homiletics and Hermeneutics: Four Views on Preaching Today

“Lay people learn hermeneutics from their pastors’ preaching. Whether we like it or not, they learn how to interpret Scripture from how we handle Scripture in the pulpit. So what do we teach listeners about hermeneutics when Jesus makes a surprise appearance in a sermon from Proverbs?”
― Scott M. Gibson, Homiletics and Hermeneutics: Four Views on Preaching Today

“When you see yourself as a discipler, you will rethink how you preach, what you preach, and why you preach.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching with a Plan: Sermon Strategies for Growing Mature Believers

“That Christ was to be born of a woman, as the seed of Abraham through Isaac and of the fourth son of Jacob is clear. That the Messiah would be a prophet like Moses and a sin-bearer for the race and that he would suffer and die as the means of propitiation are right there. Where he would be born, his earthly poverty, the precise circumstances of his death, and the certainty of his resurrection from the dead are all laid out in meticulous detail.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching the Old Testament

“Given such an emphasis on the written Scriptures in the prophetic tradition, understanding the prophets as authors of books, rather than merely proclaimers of divine judgment and salvation in particular social settings, should be the central focus of the question of preaching from the prophets.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching the Old Testament

“In sum, we have attempted to show at least four major respects in which our exquisitely beautiful and precious Old Testament is a necessary source of much preaching by expositors of our time.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching the Old Testament

“A practical theology of preaching recognizes and values people, understands where they are, and recognizes the importance of planning preaching with discipleship in mind.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching with a Plan: Sermon Strategies for Growing Mature Believers

“(we should not need a magic wand or a decoder ring to interpret Scripture),”
― Scott M. Gibson, Homiletics and Hermeneutics: Four Views on Preaching Today

“While Kaiser has steadfastly refused to silence the prophets, he also repeatedly warns against giving them the last word.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching the Old Testament

“In any preaching from the law it is important to get across early and often the following simple but crucial concept: No rules, no relationship. That’s the essence of what people need to understand about the value of the law for them as they seek to follow Christ. The law wasn’t—and isn’t—there to make us busy keeping rules so we won’t get into trouble; it’s there because through it God’s people were brought into relationship with him. Biblical laws are covenant stipulations: a means of formally connecting two parties (God and his people) with all the benefits that the connection provides.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching the Old Testament

“People may be impressed with this celebrated personality or that evangelical icon, but the evangelical luminary doesn’t have a clue about your church, what they need, and what God wants you to communicate to them as they move toward maturity in Christ. And that’s good!”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching with a Plan: Sermon Strategies for Growing Mature Believers

“it is the aim of God to renew the affections of believers so that their hearts will most desire him and his ways. This is as contrary to antinomian preaching as heaven’s blessings are to Satan’s lies.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Homiletics and Hermeneutics: Four Views on Preaching Today

“By helping a congregation grow in their understanding of the ways in which the arguments and theology of the New Testament are dependent upon an understanding of the Old Testament, a pastor or preacher may both demonstrate a personal love and passion for the Old Testament as the Bible of the authors of the New Testament and develop such a love and passion in the church that it becomes more “Berean” and less likely to fall into Marcionite ways of thinking.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching the Old Testament

“The business we are about is the ministry of the Word, and the ministry of the Word seeks to grow up believers in Jesus Christ.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching with a Plan: Sermon Strategies for Growing Mature Believers