How Piper Learned to Preach

You might be getting the idea that I am obsessed with John Piper since several of my last few posts have included content from him. Well I assure you I am not and don't agree with him on everything. However, I do love the emphasis of his preaching. 

The following is an excerpt from an interview question with John Piper on, "Where and how do you learn how to preach?" This was posted today on the desiringgod.org blog at How Piper Learned to Preach. Go there to read the entire transcript, or you can watch the video below.

"I think the way that I became a preacher was by being passionately thrilled by what I was seeing in the Bible in seminary. Passionately thrilled! When Philippians began to open to me, Galatians open to me, Romans open to me, the Sermon on the Mount open to me in classes on exegesis (not homiletics, but exegesis), everything in me was feeling, "I want to say this to somebody. I want to find a way to say this because this is awesome, this is incredible!"

So for preachers today that go everywhere but the Bible to find something interesting or something scintillating and passionate, I say, "I don't get it. I don't get that at all!" Because I have to work hard to leave the Bible to go somewhere to find an illustration, because everything in the Bible is just blowing me away. And it is that sense of being blown away by what's here—by the God that's here, and the Christ that's here, and the gospel that's here, and the Spirit that's here, and the life that is here—being blown away by this, I just say, "That's got to get out."