What is the job of a godly preacher? It's to read and study the word of God — all of it, both comforting and warning — and have it sink down into his heart, and then explain and apply it to his people, with the aim of having it sink into their hearts. He needs to work hard to the best of his abilities, but also depend fully on the mighty power of the Holy Spirit. He needs to preach to believers and unbelievers. He needs to love Christ and always hold him up before his congregation.

I really enjoyed the short biographies of godly men who faithfully taught Christ from the scriptures, from the Reformation up till ~fifty years ago. They weren't perfect, some obviously less so, but they all had a love for God and a burden for their people.

I'm not a minister or a preacher, but it inspired me anyway to want to be of the same heart. Hopefully I'll come back to this in a year or so. ( )

One of the best preaching books I've read. Beeke, as usual, is firmly grounded in orthodox Reformed theology. He does a thorough examination of the basic matters of preaching, provides an overview of solid Reformed preaching from historical periods from the Reformation to the present and concludes with the book's greatest strength, a very pastoral and practical section on application to the hearts of the people in the pews. ( )