What I mean by this is how often is a quotation used in the sermons you preach (or that you hear)? Not meaning here Scriptural citations but quotes from authors or other commentators, etc...?

It is not something I do often but wanted to hear from those who are much better preachers than I what was your practice (or that of your Pastor)?

__________________
Benjamin P. Glaser, M. Div, Licentiate, Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church
Member Fairmount ARP Church
Pittsburgh, PA

Deo Vindice

Rarely...

__________________


http://www.villagecommunitychurch.org/


"Preparing a sermon is like cooking a meal. You need pots and pans and utensils, but you don't bring them out to the table where people are eating." Derek Thomas


Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

Seldom. I quoted Matthew Henry once this past Sunday. Before that I don't remember the last time I used a quote other than Scripture (but I'm relatively sure it was Thomas Boston).

__________________
Curt Lovelace
Pastor, Covenant Baptist Church (CBA)
Acton, Maine
Director, Lifework Forum
Sermons at SermonAudio.com/CBCActon
Blogging at Coffee with Curt

Not exactly on topic here...but direct quotes or not, I would probably start to worry if my pastor wasn't plagiarizing from the pulpit.

__________________
Michael Turner
Christ Reformed Church | Independent [WCF]
Georgia

When a pastor quotes extra-biblical sources frequently I begin to wonder what he used for the foundation of the message.

__________________
Sandra, Lady of the Lake
CBA, Acton ME
http://www.viewsfromthedeck.blogspot.com

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16

Almost never. And when I do, it is far more likely to be a quick paraphrase or attributed illustration. I think it is exceedingly difficult for the congregation to follow a lengthy quote in a sermon, and its force is usually quite blunted because of the necessity of looking down and reading it.

__________________
Fred Greco
Senior Pastor, Christ Church PCA (Katy, TX)
Christ Church Blog

"The heart is the main thing in true religion...It is the hinge and turning-point in the condition of man's soul. If the heart is alive to God and quickened by the Spirit, the man is a living Christian. If the heart is dead and has not the Spirit, the man is dead before God." (J.C. Ryle)

Sometimes......

__________________
Ben Franks

I attend: Ketoctin Covenant Presbyterian Church (OPC)
in Purcellville, Virginia
I'm a member of: Heartland Community Church (PCA)
in Wichita, Kansas
I blog here (along with my Dad): http://rrfranks.blogspot.com/
And I'm a student here: www.phc.edu

"Remember the speeches we have spoken so often over our mead, when we raised boast on the bench, heroes in the hall, about hard fighting. Now may the man who is bold prove that he is."-Aelfwine at the Battle of Maldon

At least 50 times.

















Just kidding. 2 tops. I tend to like short ones, and I like to say, "A pastor once said... or a teacher once said...." instead of saying the name of the author. Most people do not know and do not care who said what. (Unless it's Calvin).

__________________
Pastor Nathan Eshelman, Los Angeles, CA
Reformed Presbyterian Church
PRESBYTERIAN THOUGHTS
Los Angeles Reformed Presbyterian Church
RPCLA Sermons Online
Puritan Reformed Seminary

My Pastor rarely quotes extra-biblical material....only on a few rare occasions he's used the Confessions or perhaps a quote from a commentary, but its only been a handful of times.

__________________
Yvonne
Reformed Presbyterian
Currently seeking a Church

"A man's most glorious actions will at last be found to be but glorious sins, if he hath made himself, and not the glory of God, the end of those actions." -T. Brooks

I think my pastor quotes 2-3 times per sermon, usually. Although I am loathe to criticize his sermons, I think fredtgreco is correct (that it makes it a little difficult to follow). I like the fact that he reads up on things. I would be nervous about a pastor who pulled all of his sermons solely out of his own thoughts and assumed he was right about all his interpretations.

But the man has never learned to read slowly, so the effect rather like we are cruising peacefully along ...




and suddenly we hit the rollercoaster Free Fall of Death ...




and then we're back to recover at the end of the quote ...




And things return to cruising peacefully along...





PS The one that stays smiling is the really deaf old lady who never knows what the pastor is saying, but she is always sure that it is something wonderful. Every congregation has one.


My pastor could have worse habits though, so I'm not really complaining.

__________________
Caroline
OPC
Schenectady, NY
Blog: The Unlikely Calvinist

Wow! That made my day.

Let me add that I do quote small portions of the Confession or Catechisms as they are applicable. I think that this is important for instilling the fact that we are a Confessional Church. The Confessions are not just there for the Pastors and Teachers- but are there for the congregation as well.

(That is the little old lady that thinks what I say is wonderful... she must be REALLY deaf).

My pastor preaches using the Heidelberg Catechism alongside his scripture texts. Every so often, he quotes Calvin, Owen, or another well-known figure.

He usually keeps things very simple, such that the uneducated in the congregation get the point.

__________________
Stephen J. Powell
Middlebury, VT

"Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me" John 14:1 (NASB)

I have an unwritten rule with myself to keep the quotes down to two - one for a hymn verse that might be useful, one for a comment from a commentator. But often, none.

__________________
Jonathan Hunt

Elder holding forth the word of life at:
Cheltenham Evangelical Free Church (Confessionally Based)
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom

Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with confidence.
-- Thomas Elsworth

Depends on who's preaching and what he's preaching on (i.e. less in a book of the Bible preaching series, maybe a little more in a topical-exegetical series). Less these days than before, and it's never a distracting point. Most times, I've found, it's a way of my pastors caring for people in the congregation as a means of saying "Hey, I benefited from X guy in this area, and I think you will to." Hence the quotation.

__________________
Jacob
Sovereign Grace Ministries
Covenant Fellowship Church
WTS M.A.R. in Theology student
West Chester, PA

"Grace renews nature; glory perfects grace." ~ John Owen
"Grace tried is better than grace, and more than grace. It is glory in its infancy." ~ John Flavel
Blog - The Strasbourg Inn

My pastor, and others that I listen to, tend to make indirect quotations from time to time when it helps to make a point a bit more clear; they rarely will give direct quotes. I do like to know the source of the quote. Same goes for scripture, I really don't like to hear "John said ..." without knowing exactly which scripture is being quoted ... if the additional text from scripture really helps to illuminate the passage being studied, I will likely want to note it in the margin.

__________________
JWithnell
Member Bethel OPC
Virginia
http://learningyesican.blogspot.com/

Occasionally. Probably one in four sermons I will use a quote from someone like Calvin or Matthew Henry.

__________________
Rev. Andy Eppard
Associate Minister
First Cumberland Presbyterian Church
Springfield, MO

My pastor tends to quote from his favorite commentators, and I've noticed he does it when the passage we are studying is complicated and open to more than one interpretation or when the quotation drives home his point. He always cites where he gets the quotation and why he is using it.

A good example of that would be this past Sunday when he was preaching on Genesis 39 regarding Potipher's wife and Joseph. He pointed out that Potipher's wife was consumed with lust and wanting pleasure for the moment (In contrast to Joseph who who was concerned about offending God by disobeying His commands).

The pastor then read from I Corinthians 6 where Paul talks about how it is both sinful and unnatural to use sex in a way that God never intended. He then quoted CS Lewis who said that having sex without marriage was like eating food and immediately throwing it up.

When appropriately used, quotations can be helpful, and I don't think my pastor is any less of a scholar for using them.

__________________
J Baldwin
Keowee Presbyterian Church, PCA
Pickens, SC
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27

Check Out My Blog: http://reflectjoy.blogspot.com/

I don't think it is a matter of scholarship. My point was that (esp) long, read quotes break up the flow of a sermon.

I will, for example, cite the Shorter Catechism on occasion to emphasize a point. I do that (and not the Confession or WLC) because I can do that from memory, and it is shorter. I also prefer to paraphrase Calvin or Henry, or anyone instead of reading a lengthy quote.

I think sometimes a preacher can be tempted to find a really good, in depth quote and use it to support a point, but when it is long and convoluted, hard to follow when not in front of people, and read, it does not really help.

If there were a "perfect" quote on point, I'd be tempted to put it somewhere in the bulletin.

I don't do it often, and when I do I usually just say "a pastor/scholar/theologian said it this way... etc." and almost never give the name, (though I have it in my foot-notes in case anyone asks afterward.) I want to keep the attention on the text, not on the author of the quote. Usually I paraphrase too since the Enligsh is often older and would not flow well with modern usage. I did quote the Eagles once, just to illustrate the folly of unbelief.

__________________
Patrick
MDiv, RTS Jackson
Pastor, Grace Presbyterian Church (OPC), Lisbon, NY

"He does well, that discourses of Christ; but he does infinitely better, that by experimental knowledge, feeds and lives on Christ." Thomas Brooks.
"Let us not please ourselves that we have deep understandings, but let us shew our understandings by our practice." Richard Sibbes

I do it quite often, actually, mostly from the Puritans, though I've quoted from secular authors also. These men say it much better than I could. I like what Spurgeon said, "I am amazed at what men will make of what God has said to them, but so little of what God has said to others."

__________________
Dr. Don Kistler

I may quote anywhere from 0 to 3 times in a message, to help reinforce a point. When someone else has said it better than I can, there's no sense trying to reinvent the wheel. I can't remember ever using a lengthy quote, however.

__________________
Jim Koehler, Jr.
Elder, Shekinah Church - JKPC - Bristolville, Ohio
Husband of Elizabeth, Father of Jennifer, and Father-in-law to Bill, and Grandfather to Billy.