Strange it is that any discussion of preaching should take place outside the context of believing prayer. We have not prepared until we have prayed… We cannot represent God if we have not stood before God. It is more important for me therefore to teach a student to pray than to preach
The Anatomy of Preaching, Baker, 1989, p. 53-54.
Topical preaching has a venerable place in the history of the craft. Its legitimacy is seen in the validity of biblical and systematic theology. While this should not be the first choice of the pastor-teacher, every pastor will preach topically on occasion… Because the topical sermon can be more relentlessly unitary, one discovers that any list of the ten sermons which have most decisively influenced world culture and society consists mostly if not entirely of topical sermons.
Taken from Anatomy of Preaching,1999, p. 31, by David L. Larsen, published by Keregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI. Used by Permission. All Rights Reserved.