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

“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)

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)

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)

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

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?

If you want to preach interesting sermons, you to need to lead an interesting life. Or to put it another way, if you have “no life” outside of church you’re messages will seem canned. They’ll be more theory than practice.

Interesting life = Interesting sermons

- Mark Batterson, National Community Church

Pastor C.J. Mahaney (formerly of Covenant Life Church and leader at Soveriegn Grace Ministries) has over 40 sermon videos posted on Vimeo.  This si a great resource for a preacher’s own edification and growth.

Check it out!

When it comes to preaching, content is king but energy s the ace of spades. I’m not sure exactly how to define it. And it manifests itself differently in different personalities. But if you really believe something it’ll animate you. The more you believe it the more energetic you’ll get when you’re talking about it. I think this is the pathos part of persuasion that Aristotle talked about. People need to feel your energy as they listen to your words.

I love the way John Wesley said it: “When you set yourself on fire, people love to come and see you burn.”

- from Mark Batterson