On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, by John A. Broadus (4th ed., Vernon L. Stanfield, editor), chapter 25.

Here is a precis.

The preacher may have the highest intellectual and moral attainments; but these are insufficient without a sanctified imagination.

The imagination sees.  It brings history, facts, people, to life.  It takes the accumulated effects of experience, observation and knowledge and from them forges something new.

What is the role of imagination in preaching?…

According to Shedd (Homiletics and Pastoral Theology), there are just three basic types of sermon.

1. The topical sermon.  The sermon has one definite subject, which can be expressed in a single statement or proposition.

Shedd cites a sermon by Robert South (see here), on Number 32:23 – ‘Be sure your sin will find you out.’  In Shedd’s summary:

The proposition of the sermon is this: “Concealment of sin is no security to the sinner.”

We cannot expect our hearers to remember everything that we say to them.  But how can we increase the chances that they might be able to call to mind, and perhaps benefit at a later date, some of the key ideas that we wish to communicate?

In other words, what are some of the ways in which we can create ‘sticky statements’?

Here’s a helpful acrostic on the word PREACH:

Picture – Is there a word picture or metaphor?…