I am going to let Dr. Piper speak for himself today with no comment except to say that, to me, this whole article seems like one of the most arresting pieces of writing by any writer that I have ever read. You simply MUST follow the link and read it all. It is a message that is vital to every single one of us. “Let me tell you about a most wonderful experience I had early Monday morning, March 19,... Read more
This continues our series on preaching, which is based on the fourth article of the Together for the Gospel Statement. The previous post in this series described some of the stereotyped differences in preaching between black and white preachers and what each can learn from the other. In the article I wrote for SermonCentral on technology and preaching, I ended by making the point that we must be careful not to fall into the trap of thinking the preacher’s task... Read more
This continues our series on preaching, which is based on the fourth article of the Together for the Gospel Statement. The previous post in this series warned of some of the dangers of expository preaching. I found this fantastic quote from the pen of Thabiti Anyabwile over at Pure Church describing what preachers who are stereotypically black and those who are stereotypically white MUST learn from each other: “Black preaching” is stereotypically thought to be emotional, even cathartic, rhythmic, centered... Read more
This continues our series on preaching, which is based on the fourth article of the Together for the Gospel Statement. The previous two posts in this series provided outlines for good sermon preparation from John Stott and Alistair Begg. While Expository Thoughts is certainly committed to preaching that is well prepared, they have a great post which points out a trap we can all too easily fall into — even those of us who haven’t been to seminary! “. .... Read more
Mark Dever at Together for the Gospel announces he is starting a 9Marks Blog and shares two critical lessons learnt from a difficult period: “Lesson Number One: no accountability relationships will work if there is not a commitment to honesty on the part of the person in question. Lesson Number Two: the public success of your ministry is no indication of the true state of your relationship with God.” Read more
I cannot independently confirm the source of this, but I found the following over at Unashamed Workman, described as John Stott’s advice on sermon preparation. If anyone can verify the source I will, of course, acknowledge it. Alistair Begg provides additional thoughts on this subject in my previous post, which can be found here. I. Choose Your Text A. It is best to rely on expository book studies for the steady diet of your people, because this ensures they will... Read more
This week’s dose of Spurgeon at Pyromaniacs is well worth reading in its entirety. It fits in nicely with my current series on preaching, and in many ways parallels what the Doctor’s quote says about “dead orthodoxy” on my blog this morning. Spurgeon believed in Spirit and Word. What a tragedy that many of today’s cessationists would feel uncomfortable about this language concerning the Spirit, and that the average charismatic doesn’t value the Word of God sufficiently. The urgent need... Read more
Most Mondays I take the time to raid my electronic version of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ materials, which is produced by Logos Bible Software. Today’s quote brings together two of my key topics of the year so far — revival and preaching. I have already expressed several times my concern that our preaching should not merely be dry and factual. Here the Doctor explains how dead orthodoxy is one of the most critical hindrances to revival. “We come now to another... Read more
Note: Please keep Pastor Begg in your prayers as he has recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer and is scheduled for surgery on April 23rd. In a booklet entitled, “Preaching for God’s Glory,” written for the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, Alistair Begg shares some practical points about his own method of sermon preparation, which he learned from an older minister while he was still a theological student: THINK YOURSELF EMPTYIt is all right and often beneficial to avoid the proud... Read more
A rather handy tool that I have had on my blog for a while has suddenly stopped working. I have two scripts that are supposed to, between them, automatically create links for Bible references. I have noticed today that they have stopped working. Anyone got any ideas as to why that should be? Read more
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