John Piper argues that the goal of preaching is the glory of God, and that preachers go wrong chiefly by aiming at something smaller. The first part sets out a theology of preaching - the gravity and gladness it requires, the Trinitarian shape of it, the place of the cross and of the Spirit's power - and insists that people are helped most not by a preacher who entertains or advises but by one who makes God weighty to them.

The second part turns to Jonathan Edwards as a case study: what he believed about God and how it showed in the way he preached. This revised and expanded edition adds material reflecting on Piper's thirty-three years in the pulpit at Bethlehem Baptist Church, giving a glimpse of what he learned across a long ministry. A short book that preachers tend to return to when their preaching has grown small.