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On Reading and Studying as a Pastor
by Ligon Duncan
A Passion for Reading and Learning (Part
1) by C.J. Mahaney
A Call to Spiritual
Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers by D.A.
Carson.
Victorious
Christians You Should Know by
Warren Wiersbe
An Exhortation to "feed My sheep"
by Donald Grey Barnhouse
Biblical Preaching by Hadden W.
Robinson
The Ministry We
Need by Richard Baxter
On Reading and
Studying as a Pastor by Ligon Duncan
Protestant pastors don’t read or study
very much these days, and most churches don’t encourage them
to do so. There are fewer pastor-readers than ever before (and
surfing the web, dabbling in this oddity and that, doesn’t count!).
Church members and even officers sometimes have a hard time
appreciating how much time a good message from God’s word takes
to develop, and furthermore don’t see the importance of the
pastor studying for anything other than preaching and devotions.
There is a strong dose of anti-intellectualism in our circles
and it doesn’t encourage a man to do the hard work of developing
the mind and expanding his knowledge.
But precisely because our people are
bathed in trivial information in this day and age, they need
a shepherd with real knowledge, much discernment and a nose
for truth. This knowledge must be acquired and those qualities
cultivated, and both require that you become a permanent student.
This call to study is, of course, entirely biblical.
The Bible emphasizes the importance of
the pursuit of sound learning for the wise in general, and for
pastors in particular. Proverbs 15:14 says that “The mind of
the intelligent seeks knowledge, But the mouth of fools feeds
on folly.” Proverbs 18:15 reiterates the principle when it says,
“The mind of the prudent acquires knowledge, And the ear of
the wise seeks knowledge.” Proverbs 24:5, “A wise man is strong,
And a man of knowledge increases power,” reminds us of the old
dictum “knowledge is power.” I don’t need to tell you that the
wisdom literature of the Bible is replete with calls to the
believer to pursue knowledge. But the Bible says more than this.
It emphasizes that ministers need to pursue study of the truth.
Ezra 7:10 describes this great Old Testament
leader in this way: “Ezra had set his heart to study the law
of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His
statutes and ordinances in Israel.” Hosea laments the want of
spiritual leaders like Ezra when it says “My people are destroyed
for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have
forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children”
(4:6). The same aspiration and complaint can be found in the
last book of the Old Testament: “For the lips of a priest should
preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his
mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts” (Malachi
2:7).
But it is in the pastoral epistles that
we find some of the most direct words of instruction and exhortation
regarding ministerial study. Paul can say to Timothy, “Be diligent
to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not
need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth” (2
Timothy 2:15). Here we have an apostolic directive for a young
minister to study with the equivalent exertion and effort of
a tireless day-laborer. The true minister is a workman (Paul
really likes this metaphor!). He works hard at his task. The
true minister is to work hard at study so as to know and preach
the Truth rightly.
Furthermore, Paul gives Timothy a sterling
example of studiousness from his own practice and priorities.
Think of his astonishing request in 2 Timothy 4:13 where he
asks, “When you come bring the cloak which I left at Troas with
Carpus, and the books, especially the parchments.” Now think
of it. Paul is only months away from death. He has written the
bulk of the letters of the New Testament. He has a lifetime
of ministry behind him. And what does he want to do? Study!
Winter is approaching and so Paul asks for his cloak, but more
importantly he asks for books and parchments. Though almost
at the end of his course, Paul aims to keep learning and growing
by spiritual reading.
Nobody has ever uttered a more poignant
pastoral meditation on this little verse than C.H. Spurgeon.
Here is what he says:
How rebuked are they by the apostle!
He is inspired, and yet he wants books! He has been preaching
at least for thirty years, and yet he wants books! He had seen
the Lord, and yet he wants books! He had had a wider experience
than most men, and yet he wants books! He had been caught up
into the third heaven, and had heard things which it was unlawful
for a man to utter, yet he wants books! He had written the major
part of the New Testament, and yet he wants books! The apostle
says to Timothy and so he says to every preacher, "GIVE
THYSELF UNTO READING."
The man who never reads will never be
read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will
not use the thoughts of other men’s brains, proves that he has
no brains of his own. Brethren, what is true of ministers is
true of all our people. YOU need to read. Renounce as much as
you will all light literature, but study as much as possible
sound theological works, especially the Puritanic writers, and
expositions of the Bible. We are quite persuaded that the best
way for you to be spending your leisure, is to be either reading
or praying. You may get much instruction from books which afterwards
you may use as a true weapon in your Lord and Master's service.
Paul cries, "Bring the books" — join in the cry.
Paul herein is a picture of industry.
He is in prison; he cannot preach: WHAT will he do? As he cannot
preach, he will read. As we read of the fishermen of old and
their boats. The fishermen were gone out of them. What were
they doing? Mending their nets. So if providence has laid you
upon a sick bed, and you cannot teach your class — if you cannot
be working for God in public, mend your nets by reading. If
one occupation is taken from you, take another, and let the
books of the apostle read you a lesson of industry" (from
Spurgeon’s sermon #542 "PAUL - His Cloak And His Books"
in the Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit 9 (1863): 668-669).
Paul was a life learner, and you should
be too.
---taken from 9News March 2006 Volume
3, Issue 2 and used with permission from: www.9marks.org
A Passion for
Reading and Learning (Part
1) by C.J. Mahaney
“I have yet to meet a leader who is growing
in personal passion for God and godliness, and effectiveness
in pastoral ministry and preaching, who doesn't have a voracious
appetite for reading” (CJ Mahaney). With this realization in
view, Mahaney goes on to gather practical wisdom from three
of his good friends about their particular reading strategies;
how they practice this “most important spiritual discipline.”
The original conversation can be found at the Together for the
Gospel blog (http://blog.togetherforthegospel.org),
a lively, sometimes humorous, often edifying online exchange
between Mark Dever, Al Mohler, CJ Mahaney, and Ligon Duncan.
We will also publish the interaction in a series of 9News articles
in the coming months. This behind-the-scenes peek at the reading
lives of four pastors/church leaders could prove a useful tool
in reexamining your own reading practices. To set the context,
let’s take a look at the questions CJ posed to get the conversation
going:
When and how did your love for reading
begin?
Describe your present practice of
the spiritual disciplines and provide us with the specifics,
if you would (reading of Scripture, supplemental books, how
much time you devote to this each day, etc).
Apart from the daily study of Scripture
for the edification of your soul, approximately how much time
do you devote to reading each day or week?
What books are you presently reading?
Al, just for fun, how many books did you read last week?
What have been the five to ten most
influential books you have read?
Mark, please describe your monthly
reading plan so everyone can be inspired by your example and
provoked by your strategic approach to reading that is different
each month of the year.
Finally, who do you like in the Super
Bowl? (Al and Mark, you are allowed to ask for help with this
question.)
Thanks for taking the time to serve
us with the answers to these questions my friends!
In his typical humility, CJ was slow
to answer his own questions. But with a little prodding from
Lig, he provided an extended response. All it took was a simple
sport’s analogy. After turning CJ’s questions back on himself,
Lig commented, “sometimes no. 3 has to kick it back out to no.
1 for the trey from a suburban zipcode.” And with that athletic
reference, CJ was off to the races. So we’ll start there this
month; here are CJ’s responses to his own questions:
(1) When and how did your love for
reading begin?
Actually I can remember the very moment when my love for reading
began. It was immediately following my experience of sovereign
grace through the proclamation of the gospel. When I was 18
a friend who had relocated to Florida returned to Maryland in
order to share the gospel with me. He had been converted for
just a few weeks. That evening was the first time anyone had
shared the gospel with me and God in his mercy regenerated my
heart and forgave my many sins. On that most special evening
I realized that the Son of God “…loved me and gave himself for
me” (Gal 2:20). And though that evening was 34 years ago it
seems to me like it all just happened last night, so vivid is
my memory of that momentous evening. So what does this have
to do with reading? Well, until that evening a passion for reading
and the practice of reading simply didn’t exist in my life.
The only reading I did was the Washington Post sports
page and Sports Illustrated magazine. But on that evening
I couldn’t stop reading the KJV Bible my friend left for me.
And though I didn’t understand much of what I was reading I
knew that I was reading “… the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68).
This new love for reading about the Savior was dramatic and
a convincing proof to me of the genuineness of my conversion.
And by the grace of God, since that miraculous moment of regeneration,
I have not stopped reading and cannot imagine a 24-hour period
without reading. For me reading has been a means of increasing
in my knowledge of God, cultivating fresh affection for God,
and experiencing the nearness of God. It has been my practice
to begin and end each day reading. One simply cannot serve effectively
as a pastor apart from a passion for reading. And I believe
that all pastors should have an unlimited book allowance!
(2) Describe your present practice
of the spiritual disciplines.
This wonderful means of grace normally takes place at the beginning
of the day for approximately 1 hour. I agree with George Mueller’s
approach to this important practice, “…that the first great
and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was,
to have my soul happy in the Lord.” And there is no more effective
way to cultivate happiness of soul than to preach the gospel
to myself. So my morning spiritual diet normally involves surveying
the wondrous Cross on which the Prince of Glory died. John Stott
wrote, “The Cross is a blazing fire at which the flame of our
love is kindled, but we have to get near enough for its sparks
to fall on us.” So each morning I want to get near enough to
the Cross so these transforming sparks will fall on my soul
leaving me freshly amazed by grace and full of affection for
the God of all grace. At present I am making my way slowly through
The Gospel of Mark. I read and reflect on just a few verses
each day. And I am studying Mark’s gospel with the help of James
Edwards’ commentary The Gospel According to Mark and
The Cross from a Distance; Atonement in Mark’s Gospel
by Peter Bolt. By God’s grace sparks are falling on my soul.
(3) Apart from the daily study of
Scripture approximately how much time do you devote to reading
each day or week?
Lots.
(4) What books are you presently reading?
When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight
for Joy by John Piper
The Cross He Bore by Frederick
Leahy
Speaking Truth in Love by David
Powlison
The Dominance of Evangelicalism: The
Age of Spurgeon and Moody by David Bebbington
Who’s Afraid of the Holy Spirit?
Edited by Daniel Wallace and James Sawyer (When I first saw
the title of this book I thought this might be a book about
you guys but it’s not).
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius
of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
(5) How many books did you read last
week?
I am glad you asked! In the last week I have read an excellent
book co-authored by my good friend Ligon Duncan (along with
Susan Hunt) titled Women’s Ministry in the Local Church.
I am not aware of another book quite like it. I had the privilege
of reading the manuscript and the honor of providing an endorsement
for the book:
“Pastors desperately need books that
ground methodology upon theology – this is indeed such a book.
Ligon Duncan and Susan Hunt faithfully uphold the truth of the
Scripture and winsomely affirm the critical importance of women
in the church’s life and ministry. What sets this book apart
is not only the authors’ careful thought but their compelling
personal examples. The result is a deeply biblical yet intensely
practical guide that will greatly benefit not only women, but
pastors as well.” (must reading for pastors)
I read the book again because sadly I
had forgotten everything I previously read in the manuscript
I was sent months ago. For me this is the only discouraging
aspect of reading. I read a lot but seem to retain very little.
Here I confront the harsh reality of the Fall as well as my
average intelligence. I am just not one of the smart guys. I
am however an exceptional athlete and I do find great comfort
in this.
I have also recently read Uprooting
Anger by Robert Jones and God, Family and Marriage
by Andreas Kostenberger and would recommend them both to all.
(6) What have been the five to ten
most influential books you have read?
Knowing God by J.I. Packer
The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul
The Cross of Christ by John Stott
The Cross and Christian Ministry by D. A. Carson (must
reading for every pastor)
John Owen on the Christian Life by Sinclair B. Ferguson
and Temptation and Sin (Volume 6) by John Owen
The Forgotten Spurgeon by Iain Murray (must reading for
every pastor)
The Journal of Biblical Counseling edited by David Powlison
(must reading for every pastor)
Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands by Paul Tripp (must
reading for every pastor)
Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood edited by John
Piper and Wayne Grudem (must reading for every pastor)
The Days Are Just Packed: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection
by Bill Watterson (must reading for every pastor)
And the list could just go on and on although I would agree
with the wise counsel of Richard Baxter:
“It is not the reading of many books
which is necessary to make one wise, but the well-reading of
a few, could they be sure to be the best.”
(7) Who do you like in the Super Bowl?
Let’s get one thing straight about the Super Bowl. The Super
Bowl is THE most overrated event in all of sports. The Super
Bowl rarely delivers as advertised. And the silly, superficial
coverage for the two weeks leading up to the game is simply
unbearable. Having made those important points, I must also
state that I have no emotional attachment to either team. So
I really don’t care who wins this year. I’d like to see Pittsburgh
win because I have friends who are Steelers fans and Seattle
did beat my Redskins in the playoffs (but not the regular season)
so it’s not difficult for me to root against them. I think Pittsburgh
has the better defense so I think they will win. Always pay
attention to defense, my friends, no matter what the sport.
But here is the good news. March Madness is coming! The NCAA
basketball tournament that always delivers as advertised is
fast approaching! (And I am predicting right here and right
now that Duke will lose!) And how about if throughout March
I provide a daily commentary on the tournament? Hey, I’ve got
an idea. As a unique service to all who read this blog let’s
the four of us liveblog from the final four! Al, can you get
us tickets?
---taken from 9News March 2006 Volume
3, Issue 2 and used with permission from: www.9marks.org
Top of Page
---Taken from A
Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His
Prayers, (pp.131-132)
Written by D.A. Carson who is
professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
in Deerfield Illinois.
"Now I would like to address rather
directly the clergy who read these pages. Do you desire, with
all your heart, what is best for the congregation you serve?
Then you must ask yourself how much time you devote to praying
this sort of prayer? (Phil. 1:9-11) Part of the problem we ministers
in the West face when we butt up against this challenge is that,
while we know we have been called to the ministry of the Word
and prayer, several notable pressures impose themselves, pressures
so persistent they end up shaping our values and therefore our
schedules.
The pastor’s job has been diversified.
We no longer give ourselves to the ministry of the Word and
prayer, because we have become professional counselors, fund-raisers,
administrators, committee members, referees, politicians, and
media personalities.
Many pastors are confused about their
own identity and may suffer from low estimates of the value
of their work. Up until thirty years or so ago, clergy were
generally respected in the Western world. Three decades of rising
secularism, of the media’s persistent presentation of clergy
as wimps or charlatans or both, of public perceptions that we
are obsolete (like dinosaurs) and arrogant, and we may feel
a little insecure. Many of us work with professionals and even
teach professionals, but we quickly discover that we are not
treated like professionals ourselves. It can be argued that
such pressures should not bother those who follow in the way
of the cross. In practice, however, many clergy overcompensate,
acting far too much like professionals and far too little like
those given to the ministry of the Word and prayer.
Not a few clergy feel discouraged
and unfruitful. Many pastors work for months and years without
seeing a single convert. Some have bright ideas but feel they
cannot pull the weight of ecclesiastical tradition with them;
others value the traditions from which they spring and feel
threatened by the endless succession of faddish innovation.
The years trickle past, and dispirited resignation sets in.
Some clergy bury themselves in endless activism. Through
no one’s fault but their own, they give themselves to endless
work, always keeping busy but never carving out time to study,
think, meditate, and pray.
These and similar pressures corrode our
values, deflect our aims, and finally corrupt our schedules.
If we regain biblical priorities, all of these pressures will
appear in a different light. Has the job been diversified? Once
our priorities are straight, we will learn to relegate tasks
to their appropriate rank according to the values of Scripture.
Delegate some things; cancel others. You do not have to have
a bulletin; you have to pray. You do not have to chair every
committee or attend every meeting; you have to pray. Are we
confused about our roles? If we remember what we have been called
to and devoted ourselves to praying for what is best, we may
care a little less about the opinions of a secular world and
devote ourselves more scrupulously to serving the only Master
whose opinion matters. Do we feel unfruitful and discouraged?
Not only must we remind ourselves that our Master is more interested
in faithfulness than in statistics, we shall also be bold enough
to ask if some of our unfruitfulness is the result of being
diverted from the ministry of the Word and prayer. How much
have we prayed for what is best---for a spiritual harvest, for
conversions, for demonstrations of the fruit of the Spirit?
Could it be that we have experienced little because we have
asked for little? Is our unfruitfulness proportionate to our
prayerlessness? Paul’s prayer knifes through so many of our
excuses. Finally, do we bury ourselves in activism? When, then
do we devote ourselves to that to which we have been called,
to the ministry of the Word and prayer?
The sheer prayerlessness that characterizes
so much of the Western church is depressing, because it frequently
coexists with abounding Christian activity that somehow seems
hollow, frivolous, and superficial. Scarcely less disturbing
is the enthusiastic praying in some circles that overflows with
emotional release but is utterly uncontrolled by any thoughtful
reflection on the prayers of Scripture. Just as God’s Word must
reform our theology, our ethics, and our practices, so also
it must reform our praying. At the heart of all our praying
must be a biblical vision. That vision embraces who God is,
what He has done, who we are, where we are going, what we must
value and cherish. That vision must shape our prayers, so that
the things that most concern us in prayer are those that concern
the heart of God. Prayerlessness is often an index to our ignorance
of God. Real and vital knowledge of God not only teaches us
what to pray, but gives us powerful incentive to pray. Prayer
is not like a good recipe: simply follow a set of mechanical
directions and everything turns out right in the end. Effective
prayer is the fruit of a relationship with God and this book
stresses the relationship we must nurture as we pray to the
living God.
A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities
from Paul and His Prayers ISBN: 0-8010-2569-9
Top of Page
---Taken
from Victorious Christians You Should Know (pp.7-10)
Written by Warren
Wiersbe the author of many books and an avid reader himself!
How I wish the desire for good books
characterized more believers today! Reading is to the mind what
eating is to the body: it provides nourishment. Many people
are starving their minds by neglecting the nutritious volumes
that are available for their reading. They try to minister to
others, but they have nothing to give.
We must face the fact that God
wrote a book---the Bible. We must also face the fact
that He gave teachers to the church, and that "apt to teach"
is one of the important qualifications for a pastor. Of course
apt to teach implies apt to learn. Yet many pastors, sad to
say, do not read, and as a consequence, they do not grow. This
means that their people do not grow and that the church does
not prosper. "You have a fine library," I said to
a pastor who had invited me to minister in his pulpit. "Yes,"
he replied, "and I wish I had time to use it."
Reading is not a matter of having time,
but of taking time, of making time. We always make time for
the things that are important to us. God gives us each twenty-four
hours a day, and how we use those hours reveals the priorities
in our lives. If you devoted only thirty minutes a day to serious
reading, you could complete the average book in at least a week.
"But, I’m just not the student type!"
someone may argue. I’m not sure I know what the student type
is. You can be sure that I am not encouraging anybody to become
an ivory-tower recluse, a bookworm who isolates himself from
life and reads himself into senility. There is no such thing
as the student type, because all kinds of people enjoy reading.
No, the time has come for us to lay aside
our feeble excuses and come to grips with the serious business
of reading for learning and living. Never underestimate the
power of a book. According to one authority, for every word
in Hitler’s Mein Kampf, 125 lives were lost in World
War II. ***
What shall we read? Certainly the Bible
and books that help us understand it better. A knowledge of
the Bible is more important than a college education. If you
have learned to use your Bible, you can master any other book.
We also need to read books that will help us serve the Lord
better. But along with these we must also read books that will
help us build our lives and our homes---biographies of great
Christians, the classics that have endured the test of time,
and those mind-stretching books that we have always avoided.
How much richer we would be is we would refuse the books of
the hour and discover again the books of the ages.
Victorious Christians You Should Know
written by Warren Wiersbe ISBN: 0-8010-9667-7
Top of Page
---Taken
from Romans: Expositions of Bible Doctrines (Commentary on Rom.
1:11-13 Vol.1 pp.139-145)
Written by Donald Grey Barnhouse
Too many ministers have not learned that
sermonettes by preacherettes make Christianettes. The growth
of the soul is a definite thing. If you want to have a strong
spiritual life, you must spend time on it. How many Christians
there are who wish to live spiritually on a frothy diet that
does not make for sound, spiritual health. A program of light
jazzy religion can stulify spiritual growth.
The truth which God gives may be imparted
from person to person. What does it mean to impart truth from
one heart to another? It should be understood that it is a vertical
work and not a horizontal one. There have been those who have
attempted to introduce into the Christian vocabulary the idea
of "sharing" certain experiences but the idea of sharing
as such is not to be found in the Bible. Sharing begins with
the human heart and its experiences, and goes to another human
heart. The Bible term is quite different, for the process is
quite different. We do not share; we witness. Witnessing begins
at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and at the throne of God
in Heaven where our Lord is now seated, and comes by way of
our heart to the need of those around us.
A great illustration of this difference
is to be found in the book of Acts when Peter stood up to preach
to the people of Jerusalem. If there was ever a man who could
have stood on their ground and shared an experience with them,
it would have been Peter. He could have said to them, "Now
listen, you people, and I will tell you how I was in exactly
the same predicament as you. I denied the Lord Jesus. I denied
Him with oaths and cursings in the house of Pontius Pilate.
And I can understand your denial because I passed through the
same experiences." But there is not even the remotest trace
of such an attitude. He said rather, "Ye men of Israel...the
God of our father, hath glorified His Son Jesus; whom ye delivered
up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate." (Acts 3:12-13)
And the remarkable thing about this passage
is that not only does Peter, the denier, accuse them of denying
Christ without any mention of the fact that he had been guilty
of the same denial, but he repeats the charge in the next verse.
"But ye denied the Holy One and the Just."
The imparting of spiritual truth is not
a sharing but a proclamation. There is a need of being established
and nothing but the Word of God will establish the Christian
and give him strength to grow. It can never be done in any other
way. You cannot find even one Christian on this earth who has
developed into strength of wisdom and witness in the Lord who
has attained it by any other means than study and meditation
in the Word of God. There are various other aspects of Christian
life and worship, but none of them will build the believer in
strength and vitality apart from the study of the Word of God.
The pastor-shepherd will be most like His Lord when he is praying
for the flock and seeing that they are getting the food they
need, and without which they cannot grow.
Top of Page
---Taken
from Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery
of Expository Messages
Written by Dr. Haddon W. Robinson,
former president and professor of homiletics and speech at Denver
Seminary and teacher at Dallas Theological Seminary for nineteen
years.
Anyone sensitive to the Scriptures knows
the awe of the ministry. The preacher’s "throne is the
pulpit; he stands in Christ’s stead; his message is the word
of God; around him are immortal souls; the Savior, unseen, is
beside him; the Holy Spirit broods over the congregation; angels
gaze upon the scene, and heaven and hell await the issue. What
associations, and what vast responsibility!"
Not everyone agrees that expository preaching---or
any sort of preaching for that matter---is an urgent need of
the Church. The word is out in some circles that preaching should
be abandoned. The moving finger has passed it by and now points
to other methods and ministries that are more "effective"
and in tune with the times. The man in the pulpit feels robbed
of an authoritative message. Much modern theology offers him
little more than holy hunches, and he suspects that the sophisticates
in the pew place more faith in science texts than in preaching
texts. For some preachers, therefore fads in communication become
more stimulating than the message. Multimedia presentations,
filmstrips, sharing sessions, blinking lights, and up-to-date
music may be symptoms of either health or disease. Undoubtedly,
modern techniques can enhance communication, but on the other
hand, they can substitute for the message---the startling and
unusual may mask a vacuum.
In spite of the "badmouthing"
of preaching and preachers, no one who takes the Bible seriously
dare count preaching out. Paul encouraged his young associate
Timothy to "preach the Word." The man in the pulpit
faces the pressing temptation to deliver some message other
than that of the Scriptures---a new religious philosophy, old
religious slogans, a trend in psychology. A preacher can proclaim
anything in a stained-glass voice, at 11:30 on Sunday morning,
following the singing of hymns. Yet when a preacher fails to
preach the Scriptures, he abandons his authority. He confronts
his hearers no longer with a word from God but only with another
word from men. Therefore most modern preaching evokes little
more than a wide yawn. God is not in it.
The type of preaching that best carries
the force of divine authority is expository preaching. But while
most preachers tip their hats to expository preaching, their
practice gives them away. Expository preaching has suffered
severely in the pulpits of men claiming to be its friends. Yet
not all expository preaching necessarily qualifies as either
"expository" or "preaching." Regrettably
the Bureau of Weights and Measures does not have a standard
expository sermon encased in glass against which to compare
other messages. Any manufacturer may paste the label "expository"
on whatever sermon he pleases, and no Ralph Nader will correct
him. But in spite of damage done by imposters, genuine expository
preaching has behind it the power of the living God.
What then it the real thing? What constitutes
expository preaching? How does it compare or contrast with other
kinds of preaching? The rules of homiletics do not in themselves
produce effective preachers but it is a place to begin. During
two decades in the classroom, the author of this book "has
evaluated nearly six thousand sermons" and has "discovered
what to do and what to avoid." The author (teacher) of
this book walks the reader (student) through ten sermon preparation
stages that are content-oriented and follow the process of sermon
making from start to finish.
Biblical Preaching: The Development
and Delivery of Expository Messages ISBN: 0-8010-7700-1
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---Taken from The
Ministry We Need
by Richard Baxter
If God would but reform the ministers
and set them on their duties zealously and faithfully, the people
would certainly be reformed. This work [of catechising] is essential
for the reformation of the church. If this work is neglected
the church will remain in its present poor state. Are we only
thinking about a revival sent from God and not a reformation
to be labored at ourselves? Do you not understand that you must
diligently work in earnest preaching and catechising? Do you
not realize that revival brings a far greater workload? When
God sends revival it is often very different from our romantic
expectations.
Remember the word "minister"
means one who serves. We should imitate Christ, the Good Shepherd,
who laid down his own life for his sheep. Our motive comes from
the price that was paid: "the church of God, which He purchased
with his own blood." Shall we despise the blood of Christ
by thinking His people are not worth our best care? Shall we
neglect souls who were bought at such a great price? If Christ
came from glory to seek them will you not go in search of them?
If He suffered so much to save them will you not deny yourself
for them? As we look upon the gathered people of God, remember
they have been bought with the blood of Christ. Listen to that
blood pleading with your to be faithful in all your work.
---Taken from The Ministry We Need
(ISBN: 0-9464-62-51-8) an abridged and rewritten version of
The Reformed Pastor (ISBN: 0-85151-191-0) written by
Richard Baxter which includes a short summary of his life. Ministers
themselves are not perhaps sufficiently disposed to purchase
works of this kind; they are more ready to purchase books which
will assist them, than such as will stimulate them in their
work. If, therefore, any plan could be devised for every minister
in the country to read this book, what incalculable good might
be effected. ---Taken from the preface by William Brown, Edinburgh,
March 12 1829.
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