Gospel Arrows: Observations on Heart-Piercing Preaching

By Dennis Prutow

In the short chapters of this little book, my effort is to help pastors and Bible teachers fashion gospel arrows for presentation in the pulpit and Bible classes. I start with the premise that if you are to have sharp, rather than blunt, gospel arrows, you must begin with a Bible text that has unity. You must discover the main point of this text, which should reflect the purpose of the Holy Spirit. You must teach and preach the purpose of the Holy Spirit. Next, I argue that sequence and progress are essential if Bible lessons and sermons are to be piercing gospel arrows. These gospel arrows must also evoke a proper emotional response with the use of good illustrative material and pointed applications. Of course, preachers and Bible teachers must use force and vehemence. In addition, body language must support the message. Other supports include using the second person to drive home points and present tense to bring contemporary meaning to ancient teachings. The following lessons also discuss why feelings matter. They explain why gospel preaching involves a soul-to-soul connection in which the Word of God touches human hearts and effects change. All of these matters and more are part of filling a Bible lesson or sermon quiver with penetrating gospel arrows.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dennis Prutow
• Release date: Mar 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9781945305269

Dennis Prutow

Denny Prutow was born in 1939 in Cleveland, Ohio. He attended the US Military Academy at West Point (1959-1963), Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California (1965-1968), and Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, Florida (1995-1998). Denny was an Army Chaplain, a pastor in both the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, and the Professor of Homiletics and Pastoral Theology at Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, PA. He developed Westminster Evangelistic Ministries and remains its administratior. Denny retired in 2013 after forty-five years of active ministry and is now RPTS Professor Emeritus of Homiletics. His books include So Pastor, What's Your Point?, Joyful Voices, Public Worship 101, The Visions of Revelation, You Cannot Escape from God, Biblical Baptism, and What is Saving Faith? He and his wife, Erma, live in Indianapolis, IN. They have three grown daughters and eleven grandchildren.

Book preview

Gospel Arrows:

Observations on Heart-Piercing Preaching

Your arrows are sharp; The peoples fall under You;

Your arrows are in the heart of the King’s enemies (Psalm 45:5).

Dennis J. Prutow

Copyright © 2020 by Dennis J. Prutow

All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted the Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible ®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author.

eBook formatting and cover design by ebooklaunch.com

ISBN 978-1-945305-25-2 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-945305-26-9 (ePub)

ISBN 978-1-945305-27-6 (kindle)

Westminster Evangelistic Ministries

Indianapolis, Indiana

Contents

Introduction

Pericope to Purpose to Power

Sequence and Gospel Mechanics

Emotion and Illustration

Pointed Applications

Force and Vehemence

Actions Speak Louder

Three Sharpening Hints

Feelings Matter

Soul-to-Soul not Paper-to-Paper

When God Touches You

Letting God Speak

Bibliography

Chapter 1

Gospel Arrows:

Introduction

Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies; the peoples fall under you. (Ps. 45:5). There is little doubt that Psalm 45:5 speaks of Jesus Christ, His enemies, and the weapons of His warfare. Hebrews 1:8 quotes the very next verse, Psalm 45:6, with reference to Christ. Of the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.’"

In this present day, the enemies of King Jesus are all those who stand opposed to Him and to His gospel. At the same time, His chief weapon is the gospel wielded by His servants, faithful preachers and evangelists. As instruments of grace, these servants aim His gospel arrows at the hearts of men and women, young people and children. The heart is the center and core of the whole inner person, the mind and emotions and will. Change occurs with the penetration of gospel arrows. In the end, it is Jesus Christ who launches these arrows and brings about this change of heart.

The comparison of gospel messages to arrows has a point. Pun intended. A gospel message meant to stick in the heart is not like a basket full of fruit tossed out to the congregation for the people to grab what they need. A gospel message meant to stick in the heart is not like clumps of clay thrown at a wall to see what will stick. A gospel message meant to stick in the heart is a gospel arrow designed for this purpose.

Fashioning these gospel arrows involves the KISS method, Keep It Simple Stupid. As the Heath brothers observe, "What we mean by simple is finding the core idea (Heath & Heath, 2008, p. 27). For biblical evangelists and preachers, this means finding the main idea of a biblical text. David Helm, chairman of the Simeon Trust, which seeks to promote practical instruction in preaching, observes, Biblical expositors don’t step into the pulpit to preach without first being able to articulate the theme of their text in one