Have you read Berkhof?

I have been reading "The Lord our Shepherd" by J. Douglas MacMillan which contains a series of sermons based on Psalm 23 which he preached at the Annual Conference of the Evangelical Movement of Wales in 1979. There were many parts of these 4 sermons that struck me but this was the most remarkable for me.

"Don't try and shape great sermons. Try to preach and bring God to people. Forget yourself and forget how you are saying the thing. It is a terrible temptation, isn't it, when you know you have got to go and face people and you want to show them how good you are. You want to show them how you can use English and how well you know your Bible, and how much of the Puritans you have read - and you've read Berkhof as well! People don't, primarily, need to know that you have read Berkhof; they need to know that you are living with Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ is important for you, and that he is important for them."

[Public domain photo via Look and Learn.]