The two fundamental objects that a sermon must keep in mind are ‘the word of the Bible’ and ‘the listener.’
It is not enough to just harvest wheat.
If it is not prepared in a form that people can eat, it cannot provide nutrition or joy.
Such healthy preaching comes from two loves.
Love for God's Word and love for people, both of which become the source of a desire to show people God's glorious grace.
While it is clear that only God can open the hearts of those who hear, the preacher must also invest considerable time in presenting the truth accurately and ensuring that it is deeply engraved in the hearts and lives of those who hear it.

--- p.27~28

By analyzing each cultural narrative, Paul exposes the "intellectual arrogance" of the Greeks and the "works-based righteousness" of the Jews, which were the idols of each culture, and reminds them that their pursuit of the highest values ​​and goodness was in fact sinful and self-destructive.
This is not just an intellectual exercise or a clever rhetorical strategy.
It is nothing less than an act of love and care.
As sociocultural beings, our inner motivations are deeply shaped by the human communities to which we belong.
In interpreting the Bible, Christian preachers must help people understand themselves more accurately by comparing and contrasting the Bible's message with the culture's core beliefs (which are often invisible to those within it).
When this is done properly, people will naturally realize, 'Oh, so that's why I thought and felt that way.'
This moment can be one of the most liberating and catalytic steps in a person's journey to faith in Christ.
--- p.34~35

Any sermon that simply tells us how to live without connecting those principles to the context of the gospel can easily give the impression that if we just work hard enough, we can become perfect enough to handle it on our own.
Edmund Clowney points out that when we tell a 'particular' Bible story and do not explain it within the context of the Bible's story about Christ, we have in effect altered its meaning for 'us.'
It becomes a moral exhortation to 'work harder' rather than an invitation to live by faith in Christ's ministry.
Ultimately, there are only two ways to read the Bible.
'Is it fundamentally about me, or is it fundamentally about Jesus?' In other words, 'Is it fundamentally about what I should do, or is it fundamentally about what He has done?'
--- p.84

Tramper Longman, an Old Testament professor, once told me that reading the Bible is like watching the movie The Sixth Sense.
The film has a truly surprising ending, forcing us to go back and re-interpret everything we saw earlier.
The second time you watch it, you can't 'not' think about the ending even when you watch the beginning and middle of the movie.
The ending casts an undeniable light on all the scenes that came before.
Likewise, if you see that every context of every story, every climax of every theme, converges on Christ, you cannot help but see that every biblical text is ultimately about Jesus.
Now, you are forced to think about Christ.
Even if the text you are looking at now is not specifically a messianic prophecy, a major figure foreshadowing Christ, a canonical theme, or a key biblical image or metaphor.
Now you have no choice but to see him.
--- p.119

Paul takes the correct beliefs of his audience and uses them to criticize their wrong beliefs in light of Scripture.
It shows that their beliefs do not even fit the standards of their own presuppositions.
Paul adapts to love and resist at the same time.
By affirming people's good impulses, by approving the insights they discover, by borrowing concepts and modes of reasoning they can understand, Paul does not simply reject them, but honors them.
Paul contextualizes intentionally and consistently.
Rather than putting the good news first and the bad news second, he mixed confirmation and confrontation so that his listeners could not avoid or resist the power of the word to appeal to their minds and hearts.
Here we find Paul's answer to the question of whether to adapt to the culture or to resist it.
The answer is not 'a little of both' or some kind of half-assed answer.
We adapt and contextualize to the culture so that we can speak the truth in love while simultaneously confronting the culture.
--- p.137~138

A sermon that only provides information can tell people what to do when they go home.
On the other hand, a sermon that moves the heart—that is, a sermon that moves our hearts from love for our profession and the cheers of the people or our independence to love for God and His Son—changes the hearers on the spot.
It is said that Martin Lloyd-Jones did not always like people writing down his sermons.
I had the idea that dictation would be more suitable for lectures.
He believed that the preacher's responsibility was to make knowledge 'come alive'.
Lloyd-Jones and Edwards believed that a sermon should make a deep impression on the audience's mind, and that this was more important than "the transmission of information."
I think it's a good idea for the audience to take notes on the first half of the sermon.
But if they are still taking notes at the end of the sermon, it is evidence that we are not touching their emotions.
--- p.223

There is a temptation for the pulpit to lead us to the Word, but what we really need to do is let the Word lead us to the pulpit.
Rather than preparing sermons, prepare more diligently for your life as a preacher.

--- p.273