Tom Hicks

The Word of This Salvation in the Mouths of Christ’s Ministers

Preaching & Worship

“In a time when preaching often has more in common with therapy or entertainment, Michael Cooper’s book is a welcome call to faithful preaching by retrieving the robust, Christ-exalting, Scripture-saturated theology of preaching found in Benjamin Keach (1640–1704). Keach was one of the most prolific pastors among the early English Particular Baptists, and he is well-worthy of study and imitation. With warmth and scholarship, Cooper demonstrates that true renewal in the pulpit can never come through cultural accommodation, but only through humble retrieval of the scriptural way of preaching, demonstrated by our theo-homiletical heritage, where the Word of God is sufficient, Christ is central, and the Spirit of God provides his strengthening and illuminating power. I heartily recommend this work to every preacher and teacher. It not only diagnoses the crisis but prescribes the biblical cure: preach the word, in season and out, standing on the shoulders of faithful preachers who came before you.”