J.I. Packer’s Advice to New Pastors

From World Magazine, J.I. Packer’s advice to new pastors:

You have three priorities: teach, teach, and teach. Evangelical churches are weaker than we realize because we don’t teach the confessions and doctrine. Set new standards in teaching. Understand the word catechesis, and practice that art.

(HT: Justin Buzzard)

8 Reasons for Biblical Preaching

In the second of three articles in his series An Appeal to All Pastors: Why and How Should We Preach, Sam Storms gives us eight reasons why pastors should be committed to biblical preaching.

1. We must preach because of the power of the Word of God to change human lives and to transform the experience of the church.
2. We must preach because preaching is God’s ordained means for making himself known to us.
3. We must preach because preaching not only communicates truth about God, it also mediates the very person and power of God.
4. We must preach because preaching (aside from reading) is the most effective means for transmitting the truths of Holy Scripture.
5. We must preach because preaching is the fuel for worship. Preaching fans the flames of passion for Jesus.
6. We must preach because preaching is not simply the fuel for worship, preaching is worship.
7. We must preach because preaching is the catalyst for church growth, renewal, and revival.
8. We must preach because preaching is the means by which the glory of God is revealed and imparted to those who listen with faith.

(HT: Desiring God)

Identifying Reliable Preachers

5 Questions to Ask from 9Marks:

Question 1 (Sola Scriptura): Does the preacher ground everything he says in the Bible? Does he, in other words, begin with the authority and sufficiency of Scripture?

Question 2 (Sola Gratia): Does the preacher freely emphasize that because of sin, a right relationship with God can only be established by God’s grace alone?

Question 3 (Sola Fide): Does the preacher stress that salvation is not achieved by what we can do, rather salvation is received by faith in what Christ has already done?

Question 4 (Sola Christus): Does the preacher underline that Christ is the exclusive mediator between God and man? Does the explainer both affirm and proclaim that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” and that nobody comes to the Father but by Christ?

Question 5 (Sola Deo Gloria): Does the preacher exalt God above all?

 

Finding Illustrations Everywhere

Loved this post from Mark Batterson:

I just started reading What the Dog Sawby Malcolm Gladwell. Love the way he writes. And I love his philosophy of writing. “Our instinct as humans is to assume that most things are not interesting. But if you want to be a writer, you have to fight that instinct every day.”

I think that is one key to being a preacher or writer. I’ve tried to take this approach to life: everything is interesting. Or to translate it into a preaching philosophy: everything is an illustration. You have to be careful. Obviously, you want to live your life. And your kids are your kids, not little illustrations running around saying cute things! But great preachers and writers see an illustration in everything. Why? Because they are interested in everything. And the driving motivation is a holy curiosity.

Gladwell says: “The trick to finding ideas is to convince yourself that everyone and everything has a story to tell.”

13 Tips to Avoid Voice Strain

The Resurgence is starting a series of posts on “The Preacher’s Voice.”  The first installment was about preventing strain on your voice.  Here are some tips:

• 1. Rise early and drink warm liquid, such as water with fresh lemon juice.
  2. Do not have a large meal before speaking.
  3. Exercise early and lightly on the day of preaching.
  4. Do not nap before public speaking.
  5. Stay calm and avoid strain the night before preaching.
  6. Do some light public speaking before preaching.
  7. Pronounce words clearly and distinctly; mispronounced words cause strain.
  8. Keep room temperature water with you and sip throughout preaching.
  9. Do not force excitement; let it come naturally.
  10. Adequately test the PA system before preaching.
  11. Do not use excessive bass in the PA system.
  12. Change up your pace during the message.
  13. Rest your voice after preaching

5 Ways to Effectively Conclude a Sermon

“The conclusion should not merely recapitulate your sermon—it should apply it. Obviously, you should be applying all along, but you should keep something for the end which will prevail upon your people to take action. “No summons, no sermon.” Preach through the head to the heart (i.e. the will). The goal of the sermon should be to “storm the citadel of the will and capture it for Jesus Christ. What do you want them to do? Employ a variety of methods to do this:

1. Argument—anticipate objections and refute them.
2. Admonition— warn of the consequences of disobedience.
3. Indirect Conviction—arouse moral indignation and then turn it on them (Nathan with David).
4. Pleading—apply the gentle pressure of God’s love, concern for their well-being, and the needs of others.
5. Vision—paint a picture of what is possible through obedience to God in this area.”

- John Stott

(HT: Adrian Warnock via 9Marks blog)

Tim Keller on Preaching v. Shepherding and Leading

I have often seen many men spend a great amount of time on preparing and preaching lengthy, dense, expository messages, while giving far less time and energy to the learning of leadership and pastoral nurture. It takes lots of experience and effort to help a body of people make a unified decision, or to regularly raise up new lay leaders, or to motivate and engage your people in evangelism, or to think strategically about the stewardship of your people’s spiritual gifts, or even to discern what they are. It takes lots of experience and effort to know how to help a sufferer without being either too passive or too directive, or to know when to confront a doubter and when to just listen patiently. Pastors in many of our Reformed churches do not seem to be as energized to learn to be great leaders and shepherds, but rather have more of an eye to being great teachers and preachers.

(Tim Keller @ The Gospel Coalition Blog)

Piper on Preaching Christ

Here’s a talk worth making time to listen to,

John Piper’s final message in Bonn, titled “Preach Christ,” called pastors to…

1. Preach the truth that God’s highest goal in history is the display of his own glory.
2. Preach that it is loving for God to do what he has to do to open our eyes to see his glory.
3. Preach the cross from its eternal foundation in the past to its eternal consummation in the future.
4. Preach conversion as the Holy Spirit’s act of opening blind eyes to see the glory of Christ in the gospel (2 Cor. 4:4-6).
5. Preach sanctification as the effect of seeing the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18).

John Piper said that 1 Corinthians 15:3 may be the clearest definition of the gospel in the Bible. It shows us 6 aspects of the gospel:

1. The cross was planned (“in accordance with the Scriptures”).
2. The gospel is a historical event (“Christ died”).
3. The death of Christ achieved something (“for our sins”).
4. That achievement is freely offered to everyone for faith alone. If that achievement were offered on the basis of my performance in any measure, there would be no gospel.
5. When I do believe in Jesus, the achievement is applied to me.
6. The end of the gospel is to see and enjoy the glory of God. God is our highest treasure; we are reconciled and forgiven and justified and given eternal life to enjoy God (1 Peter 3:18).

When we are fully and finally purchased and converted and sanctified in this way, then we will be fully satisfied in God and God will be fully glorified in us. And that’s why the universe was created and exists.

(notes from Desiring God)

4 Key Gospel Beliefs to Preach

Gospel is spelled “d-o-n-e,” not “d-o”. The word “Gospel” implies an event that has already been done, not something we must go and do. The Gospel is not, then, primarily about what we are to go and do for God, but about what God has done for us. The Gospel is good news, not good advice.

The core message of that good news is that God saves sinners. From start to finish, it is all God’s work, not ours.

Christ saved us by substituting for us. He lived the life we were supposed to have lived, and died the death we were condemned to die. Whatever “metaphor” you choose for salvation–justification, redemption, cleansing, defeat of the evil powers–substitution is the core of it. For example, Christ’s blood cleanses us… but how? Because He substituted for us and absorbed the curse, corruption and condemnation for sin.

The Gospel is only good news if it gets there in time.

Read more from J.D. Greer on his blog

The Bible is…

After a recent conversation with a friend I have been thinking about the Bible, and what role it plays in the life of a person with faith in Christ. It seems to me that people run into all sorts of problems when the teachings of the Bible collide with how they think life should go. For them, having simple faith in Jesus is easier than accepting the Bible as the final authority in all matters of life, especially when the teaching of Scripture differ from the prevailing popular opinion.

With that in mind I have been trying to put together a definition of the what the Bible is. My goal is for the definition to be as brief, yet as all encompassing as possible. It also has to be intelligible for the non-Christian – even if it is not accepted or believed. Here’s what I have so far:

The Bible is God’s Word, that is, it is a collection of multiple genres of writing (historical, judicial, biographical, prophetic, poetic, etc.) which all combine to tell ONE story, the story of a trinitarian God:

1) creating all that is;
2) enduring the rebellion of humanity;
3) initiating and completing a plan of redemption for the fallen;
4) and restoring all things for the glory of Himself and the ultimate happiness of humanity.

The words of the Bible were written, collected and preserved under the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit, without error in their original form, and currently serve as the baseline for all faith in Jesus Christ and the final authority on ALL matters for those who claim to know and be known by Jesus Christ.

What do you think?