Review: "Ministering Like the Master: Three Messages for Today's Preachers" by Stuart Olyott

Having taken preaching classes in two seminaries, I can confidently say there is much nonsense and garbage being taught and written about preaching; I can count on one hand the number of good books on preaching I have read – none of which were used in the seminaries I attended. Ministering Like the Master: Three Messages for Today’s Preachers by Stuart Olyott is one of the good ones.

Olyott’s little book (86 pages) is a collection, as one might guess, of one lecture and two sermons: three messages for today’s preachers.

All three messages look to the Lord Jesus as a preacher and draw conclusions from His Ministry and Preaching.

The first message, the lecture, entitled, “Our Lord Was Not a Boring Preacher,” looks at the structure of our Lord’s Preaching. “State–Illustrate–Apply.” Olyott goes through in primer fashion and explains how an effective sermon is structured.

The second, “Our Lord Was an Evangelistic Preacher,” investigates how Jesus preached such as to cause people to respond – to change – to not remain the same as they were before they heard Him preach.

The third, “Our Lord Was Not Just a Preacher,” looks at how Jesus lived out His Preaching among His Contemporaries and how we ought to do the same.

This is a small but powerful and well-instructive book that one would do well to give to seminarians and pastors – because they probably won’t ever hear of it in seminary.