» Site Navigation | | | » Online Users: 142 | | 32 members and 110 guests | | austinww, calgal, CalvinandHodges, Chippy, christabella_warren, Colin Kelly, dannyhyde, David, EricP, Jake, jogri17, JTB, KSon, Laudante, Pergamum, PMBrooks, raekwon, Reformed Christian, Richard Tallach, Romans922, satz, Simply_Nikki, smhbbag, Southern Presbyterian, Titus35, William Price | | Most users ever online was 856, 07-06-2007 at 12:19 AM. | |  | 
09-07-2009, 10:41 PM
|  | Puritanboard Doctor | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Sarver, PA
Posts: 11,979
Thanks: 5,106
Thanked 2,644 Times in 1,604 Posts
| | | How Often Do You (or Your Pastor) Quote During a Sermon?
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)?
| 
09-07-2009, 10:43 PM
|  | Moderator | | Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Wrightwood, CA
Posts: 8,610
Thanks: 3,599
Thanked 1,319 Times in 758 Posts
| | |
Rarely...
| 
09-07-2009, 10:46 PM
|  | Puritanboard Junior | | Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Acton, Maine
Posts: 1,325
Thanks: 370
Thanked 385 Times in 247 Posts
| | |
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).
| 
09-07-2009, 10:53 PM
|  | Puritanboard Junior | | Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Atlanta Metro
Posts: 1,032
Thanks: 244
Thanked 260 Times in 164 Posts
| |
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. | | The Following User Says Thank You to Michael Turner For This Useful Post: | | 
09-07-2009, 10:55 PM
|  | Puritanboard Freshman | | Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Acton, Maine
Posts: 307
Thanks: 81
Thanked 94 Times in 73 Posts
| | |
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
| 
09-07-2009, 11:07 PM
|  | Vanilla Westminsterian | | Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Katy, Texas
Posts: 10,520
Thanks: 334
Thanked 3,502 Times in 1,412 Posts
| | |
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) | | The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to fredtgreco For This Useful Post: | | 
09-07-2009, 11:07 PM
|  | whippersnapper | | Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Purcellville, Virginia
Posts: 2,748
Thanks: 1,468
Thanked 539 Times in 328 Posts
| | |
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 | 
09-07-2009, 11:31 PM
|  | Puritanboard Junior | | Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 1,358
Thanks: 263
Thanked 602 Times in 318 Posts
| | |
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).
| | The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to nleshelman For This Useful Post: | | 
09-07-2009, 11:39 PM
|  | Puritanboard Senior | | Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: North Carolina
Posts: 2,001
Thanks: 892
Thanked 723 Times in 404 Posts
| | |
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 | 
09-07-2009, 11:47 PM
|  | Puritanboard Freshman | | Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Schenectady, NY
Posts: 217
Thanks: 42
Thanked 225 Times in 92 Posts
| | | | | The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to Caroline For This Useful Post: | | 
09-08-2009, 12:16 AM
|  | whippersnapper | | Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Purcellville, Virginia
Posts: 2,748
Thanks: 1,468
Thanked 539 Times in 328 Posts
| | Quote:
Originally Posted by Caroline |    Wow! That made my day.
| 
09-08-2009, 12:29 AM
|  | Puritanboard Junior | | Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 1,358
Thanks: 263
Thanked 602 Times in 318 Posts
| |
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).
| 
09-08-2009, 12:34 AM
| | Puritanboard Freshman | | Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Middlebury, VT
Posts: 33
Thanks: 0
Thanked 5 Times in 5 Posts
| | |
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) | 
09-08-2009, 05:28 AM
|  | Puritanboard Senior | | Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Cheltenham, UK
Posts: 2,141
Thanks: 325
Thanked 530 Times in 296 Posts
| | |
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
| 
09-08-2009, 07:47 AM
|  | Puritanboard Sophomore | | Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: West Chester, PA
Posts: 602
Thanks: 120
Thanked 206 Times in 129 Posts
| | |
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 | 
09-08-2009, 09:13 AM
|  | Puritanboard Junior | | Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Leesburg, VA
Posts: 1,256
Thanks: 155
Thanked 556 Times in 340 Posts
| | |
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.
| 
09-08-2009, 09:57 AM
|  | Puritanboard Freshman | | Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Springfield MO
Posts: 298
Thanks: 28
Thanked 153 Times in 81 Posts
| | |
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
| 
09-08-2009, 10:15 AM
|  | Puritanboard Graduate | | Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Pickens, SC
Posts: 3,306
Thanks: 922
Thanked 1,262 Times in 676 Posts
| | |
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/ | 
09-08-2009, 10:22 AM
|  | Vanilla Westminsterian | | Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Katy, Texas
Posts: 10,520
Thanks: 334
Thanked 3,502 Times in 1,412 Posts
| | |
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.
| | The Following User Says Thank You to fredtgreco For This Useful Post: | | 
09-08-2009, 11:24 AM
|  | Puritanboard Professor | | Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Lisbon, NY
Posts: 5,887
Thanks: 421
Thanked 635 Times in 294 Posts
| |
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 | 
09-08-2009, 12:23 PM
| | Puritanboard Freshman | | Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Orlando, FL
Posts: 235
Thanks: 0
Thanked 199 Times in 71 Posts
| | |
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
| | The Following User Says Thank You to Don Kistler For This Useful Post: | | 
09-29-2009, 06:52 AM
|  | Puritanboard Freshman | | Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Warren, Ohio
Posts: 13
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
| | |
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.
|  | | Thread Tools | | | | Display Modes | Linear Mode |
Posting Rules
| You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts HTML code is Off | | | |