Spirit-Led Preaching: The Holy Spirit's Role in Sermon Preparation and Delivery

by Greg Heisler

In the words of author Greg Heisler, “Spirit-Led Preaching is a call issued to preachers, pastors, and teachers of homiletics to recover the Holy Spirit for expository preaching in the same way we have recovered the biblical text. . . . My plan for doing this is to recover the doctrine of pneumatology (the study of spiritual beings/phenomena) for our theology of preaching, resulting in a renewed emphasis on the powerful combination of Word and Spirit working together as the catalyst for powerful expository preaching.”Heisler thoroughly examines how the Holy Spirit illuminates and empowers the preacher, opens the hearts of the hearers, and applies the message to their lives. Indeed, to ignore the Holy Spirit’s role in sermon preparation and delivery would be a considerable oversight.

Genres: Theology, School

176 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2007

Reviews

[Cale Manley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this in college and it’s definitely worth a reread. The last chapter on anointing is especially good.

[Noah Nemni · Rating 1 out of 5]

Basic, boring, cessationist

[Nathan Hardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate the balanced approach suggested by Heisler. Study and prayer. Exegesis and illumination. Preparation and flexibility and so on. Not an in-depth look but still helpful, especially when attempting to put specific meaning to words that are used loosely concerning preaching.

[Michael Locklear · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book on the role of the Holy Spirit in the life and ministry of a preacher. If you are a preacher, this book will greatly encourage, convict and spur you on as you prepare and preach God's Word. I highly recommend this book.

[Cole Feix · Rating 3 out of 5]

One good idea, with some helpful framework. Everything else was a little bit long-winded

[Salvador Blanco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heisler successfully turns your eyes and heart to the activity of the Spirit in the whole of the sermon prep process. Word and Spirit through and through. Much needed even today. The editors should've omitted some of his oral style of writing for the book. The book, however, is full of zingers!

Good quotes:

"One temptation we face as preachers is to fall in love with the tools and the process of exposition, to the degree that we become sermon factories and preaching machines. We get more excited about opening up our favorite commentary than we do about praying over the biblical text and meditating on its powerful truth" (48).

"... whatever the Spirit illumines in the study, he will empower in the pulpit" (51).

"A preacher cannot claim the Spirit as an excuse for laziness and a failure to do the exegetical work in a text. A preacher who ignores the work of the text is ignoring the author of the text, the Holy Spirit... Mark 13:11 in context refers to persecuted Christians, not procrastinating preachers" (93).

[Andrew Ivester · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heisler is thought provoking as he prods the subject of preaching. While the reader may not agree with everything, he will be forced to consider the points made in this book. This book belongs on the preacher's shelf because of its uniqueness in the category of preaching. It is not a long book, but one worthy of deep thought.

[Jan Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

4/15 // We need to connect and speak / preach from an inner connection with the Holy Spirit / Force / Oneness. Like that idea, but then that all comes with a lot of John Piper & John MacArthur-ish things. Repressive in a lot of ways to say the least.

[Hannah Gies · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a practical reminder that the power of preaching is only found in the Holy Spirit. I appreciated the emphasis on the Holy Spirit's role in everything: from the studying, to the sermon prep, to the delivery, to the transformation of the preacher's own life. A solid read.

[Heather Martinez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book on how the Holy Spirit operates in the life of a minister/pastor. The unction to help with sermon preparation, time spent with God & allowing the Holy Spirit to flow through a minister's life.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a really great read for anyone who wants to be led by the Spirit as they preach. I thoroughly enjoyed the insight and approach of the book. It is fairly comprehensive. I will be looking to it as a reference again.

[Chase Bartlett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heisler walks through ten chapters on how the Holy Spirit is involved in preaching. The content was informative, but much was overlapping between the chapters. The worth of the book is the final chapter.

[Obed Ortiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

[Brady McElhenney · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of preaching books don’t speak about the Holy Spirit as much as they should. Heisler’s book is a must read! You will need to read it with a pin in hand ready to underline and take notes!

[Nate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty academic and lacked the flames which one needs to begin the journey toward anointed preaching.

Recommend Tony Sargent's Sacred Anointing for a better jab at the subject.

[Joseph DelGrosso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite preaching book so far

[Dustin Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this work, Heisler encourages readers to revisit the role of the Holy Spirit in Expository Preaching. The writer reminds the reader that the Holy Spirit is the third person in the trinity and should not be ignored in faithful preaching. True preaching is Spirit-led and Word driven.

[Eric Molicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good effort on a tough subject. It's tough, because the Lord has not given us as much info on it as we would like- which is a good thing! We want 7 steps to getting the Spirit's power, but the Spirit is a person as this work helpfully reminds us, and not subject to preacher's efforts to codify his enablement.

That said, there were some tangible takeaways from this work- just not enough to earn a fourth star.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a very good book. I could definitely tell that it was written by a seminary teacher/pastor. I found it very helpful and practically very useful. I plan to incorporate it's principles.

Preaching Holiness.

[Joey Rosado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book that truly meets preaching where it needs to begin and end, and that is through the Holy Spirit. I would recommend this book to anyone who needs to be reminded, and learn how to be a spirit led preacher. For no other way to preach will suffice.

[David Rathel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A refreshing reminder of the Spirit's role in the preparation and delivery of sermons.