Substantive sermons
Ray Van Neste writes that, contrary to what many think, people do indeed want substantive sermons:
Preachers are often told that people really are not interested in substantive content in sermons. I know of pastors who have been severely criticized for dealing with texts that people did not find easily digestible, or useful enough in drawing crowds. Shallow, generic “life-thoughts” will appeal to some, but there is an increasing number of people who are crying out for substantive teaching as they yearn to know God and to have something weighty enough to serve as an anchor for their souls…Let us give them real substance, explained and applied of course, but not diluted and dumbed down.