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| Foreword | |
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| Preface | |
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| The Board Meeting | |
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| The Return of Dr. Vickerson | |
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| The Preacher's One Business | |
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| The Importance of Starting Early | |
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| Planning the week for sermon preparation | |
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| Planning three weeks in advance | |
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| Planning one year of sermons in advance | |
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| Redeeming the Time | |
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| Conducting a detailed self-study of your use of time | |
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| A Day in the Life | |
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| Logging your use of time throughout the day and week | |
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| Rifles and Shotguns | |
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| The importance of a clear purpose aimed carefully at its target | |
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| The danger of "word association sermons" | |
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| The purpose statement as the sermon's destination | |
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| Introducing the use of aphorisms in preaching | |
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| Preaching with Aphorisms | |
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| The definition of aphorism | |
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| Jesus' use of aphorisms in his preaching | |
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| Jonah Snoring | |
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| Using "non-dictionary" sounds to enliven preaching | |
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| Shaping the Purpose into an Aphorism | |
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| Rewriting the purpose statement into a succinct, memorable aphorism | |
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| Learning to listen for the use of aphorisms around you | |
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| Rewriting worn cliches into fresh, aphoristic statements | |
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| Vary the Vehicles | |
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| Developing clear, easy-to-follow sermon outlines | |
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| Using different kinds of outlines for variety and freshness | |
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| Persuasion and Procedure | |
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| Sermons aimed at persuasion | |
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| Attacking difficult and controversial topics from the pulpit | |
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| Procedural sermons: how to change, how to face difficulties, etc. | |
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| Surprise Power | |
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| Tapping into the power of the surprising statements of Scripture | |
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| Creating Internal Dialogue | |
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| Using questions to cause the audience to carry on an "internal dialogue" with the preacher | |
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| The use of puzzles and riddles to hold interest | |
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| Using the apparent contradictions of Scripture to anticipate the responses of the congregation and to challenge their thinking | |
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| The Nehemiah Project | |
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| Overcoming the tyranny of the urgent | |
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| Working with the Church Board to redefine the pastor's job description and to rearrange the congregation's expectations | |
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| Surprising Requests | |
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| Entering into Paul-Timothy relationships with other pastors | |
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| Reservoir Power | |
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| A reservoir of Scripture, scholarship, and prayer | |
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| Study that goes beyond week-to-week sermon preparation | |
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| The importance of studying the sermons of powerful preachers | |
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| A Visit to Forest Hills | |
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| The Three R's of Preaching | |
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| The importance and right use of reminding in preaching | |
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| The importance and right use of repetition in preaching | |
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| The importance and right use of reiteration preaching | |
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| The Six Fold Path | |
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| Reading and gathering illustrations and insights from six different categories of books at a time | |
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| Turning the Light on the Sermon | |
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| Sermon illustrations | |
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| Snob Appeal or Sense Appeal | |
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| Avoiding words that only boast of the preacher's vocabulary | |
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| Employing words that appeal to the five senses | |
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| Creating vivid, fresh images | |
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| Light from Fog | |
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| The importance and place of application in preaching | |
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| Campfire Reflections on Preaching | |
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| Using similes and metaphors | |
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| The place of humor in preaching | |
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| The use of puns | |
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| The Tale of the Tapes | |
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| Using the second person "you" for greater urgency | |
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| The importance of sermon analysis | |
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| Writing out introductions, conclusion, key thoughts | |
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| Home at Last! | |
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| The dangers of repeating old illustrations | |
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| The importance of using fresh illustrations of the Gospel's power today | |
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| The Late Night Phone Call | |
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| A Promise Kept | |
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| Aftermath | |
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| The importance of the preacher's life "adorning" the Gospel | |
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| The importance of mutual encouragement in the ministry | |
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| A Seminar on Fresh Preaching | |
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| The importance of keeping a checklist of principles as a reminder | |
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| Preaching-with-Freshness Checklist | |
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| One-Page Checklist | |
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| Paul's Seminar on Preaching | |