Book Review: The Hardest Sermons You'll Ever Have To Preach

There are many things that Seminaries teach to prepare you for ministry and there are things that they can't. Not that they are not faithful to give you an education that you need, its just things in life are very unpredictable. Losing a loved one to cancer or suicide. Tragedies that shook our nation, such as 9-11. There is no training for that except on the field.

That is where this book, The Hardest Sermons You'll Ever Have To Preach, becomes a very helpful resource. Bryan Chapell collected 25 sermons for the purpose of equipping Pastors for the task of doing a sermon, whether corporate worship or funeral, for the unexpected. This book contains sermons for John Piper, Tim Keller, and many others with a Reformed Theology background.

I appreciated this book being available not just for sermon helps, but for theological purposes. This book contains Tim Keller's sermon from the Sunday after 9/11 which was very insight. There is one sermon on the loss of a child which can be not only hard for the parents to go through, but for a pastor to preach. I am thankful that Chapell put John Piper's sermon on that subject because I would not know where to start.

This book is a must need for pastors to have because you never know when tragedy will strike your city or a family in your church.

Thanks Zondervan for allowing me to review this book.