Pure Church

Colin provides this helpful, pithy prayer:

“Lord, keep me from saying words that later need recalling;
Guard me, lest idle speech may from my lips be falling:
But when, within my place, I must and ought to speak,
Then to my words give grace, lest I offend the weak.”

(Johann Heermann, 1585-1647)

Kevin DeYoung at the 9Marks blog:

One of the hardest things for any preacher to learn, especially young preachers, is to simply be yourself. Don’t put on someone else’s passion or humor or learning. And don’t take off your own personality because one of your heroes doesn’t share it exactly. Go ahead and learn from the best. But your congregation needs to hear you on Sunday, not an impression of the preacher you wish you were. Let your person constantly be refined by the Spirit of God, and let the truth of God’s word shine through your own personality. Preach as a dying man to dying men. And don’t forget to be your own man.

Read the entire, typically-Kevin (funny and insightful) post here.

“A ministry that is all prophetic all the time will wear down a congregation. It will eventually defeat a congregation. A ministry that is all sympathetic all the time will coddle the congregation straight into the deadly pastures of unwarranted self-assurance and the false pastures of self-security. A pastor who would be a theologian knows when and how to be both convicting prophet and comforting good shepherd.”

--Stephen J. Nichols, “Proclaiming the Image: Theology and Preaching,” Gheens Lectures at Southern Seminary

Which was your pastor today?

Related Posts:
The Pastor's Heart and Sermon Applications
South Africa, AIDS, the Social Gospel, and the Gospel

Jeff Purswell with a brief biblical theology of preaching as the central event in the gathered worship of God's people:

Throughout salvation history, all the way into the new covenant, God’s Word is at the center of worship. The early church devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and every church was nourished on God’s Word, all the way down to the last chapter of the last book that Paul wrote, where he tells Timothy to preach the Word “in season and out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2).

Why? Why so much preaching? Why all this talking? Because the primary way we encounter God in worship is through the preaching of the Word of God.

Think about it this way. Normally, in what we call “worship,” we spend significant time—perhaps the whole time—addressing God, singing to him, praising him, extolling him, praying to him. Wonderful! But in preaching we are no longer addressing God; he is addressing us. Nothing is more important than this moment. And this is why the most important worship leader in your church is your pastor.

That really gets to the heart of preaching. The Bible is not simply a book that we talk about. When God’s Word is faithfully preached, God is addressing us. God is speaking. We hear not merely a man’s voice. We hear the voice of God.

Read the entire post here.

Today I begin sermon preparation for Gen. 28:10-29:30. What a joy it is to look long into God's word with the privilege of then sharing it with His people! As I do so, I'm reminded of a couple of quotes from a short article we read in yesterday's staff meeting.

On one occasion, Spurgeon was asked the secret to his ministry. He replied without hesitation, "My people pray for me." Elsewhere he writes:

The sinew of the minister's strength under God is the supplication of his church. We can do anything and everything if we have a praying people around us. But when our dear friends and fellow helpers cease to pray, the Holy Ghost hastens to depart, and "Ichabod" is written on the place of the assembly.

What can we do without your prayers? They link us with the omnipotence of God. Like the lightning rod, they pierce the clouds and bring down the mighty and mysterious power from on high.... The Lord give me a dozen importunate pleaders and lovers of souls, and by his grace we ill shake all London from end-to-end. (C.H. Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit (repr. Ed. Pasadena: Pilgrim Publications, 1980), vol. 24, p. 445).

A second quote came from Pierre C. Marcel in The Relevance of Preaching (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1963), pp. 101-102:

When, then, will the believers en masse understand that they are primarily responsible for the preaching which they hear, yes, more than their preachers? If every pastor knew and felt that the congregation was praying and that each member had prayed, that the congregation was supporting him, interceding for him... what preacher would not feel himself a new man and whose preaching would not be transformed? Once again, preaching the word is a function and activity of the Church, not the function and specialty of a man.

Finally, a familiar saying among Dutch pastors translated (by Joel Beeke) as follows:

"If you pray me full, I'll preach you full."

Enjoy praying and preparing for the word on Sunday!

Our man in Fulham, London, Mike Gilbart-Smith, posts at the 9Marks blog two video sermonsfrom Stuart Ollyott on "How Not to Preach Boring Sermons." (part one and part two)

We're almost home, awaiting our fly from the Miami airport. It's been a great trip, refreshing in all the most wonderful ways.

First, we were able to connect with some of my oldest and dearest friends. It was a real treat for me to have time together with Peter Rochelle, a brother I consider my first pastor and first example of faithful exposition, and at the same time to hang out with Mark Dever, a brother I consider my second pastor and most formative mentor when it comes to the life of the church. A real treat.

Then there was catching up with old friends and new. It was fun for me to introduce Bentley, my assistant pastor, and Stephen, new seminarian at Southeastern and former director of youth and missions, to my brother Clyde Alston, perhaps one of the most faithful servants you'll ever meet and a real Barnabas to me. The ribs at Applebee's were great, and the concrete from Goodberry's hit the spot!

Folks at FBC will be very encouraged at Stephen's start in seminary. He has established some really good routines and is thinking in all the right ways about building fellowship and relationships with others. He's found a really strong church, North Wake Baptist Church. He's enjoying his classes and has some fine teachers. And he says he's probably doing better spiritually than at any point in his life. On a personal level, it was probably most encouraging to get an update on Stephen.

The conference itself was outstanding. In a nutshell, I think the overall unofficial theme that emerged was "God does the work; trust Him." Each of the speakers addressed preaching and pastoral ministry in some way and the Lord instructed us all.

Mark Dever began with an exposition of Mark 4. He unfolded two parables that demonstrate that it's the word that does the work and that the advancement of the kingdom does not depend on us. Listen to this sermon if you're a pastor who has trouble sleeping at night because you worry about anything in your church.

Baptist21 sponsored a lunchtime panel discussion on "Great Commission Churches." Daniel Aiken, Mark Leiderbach, J.D. Greear, Mark Dever and I had a fun but informative time fielding questions on this broad theme. The first few minutes feature a spirited, friendly exchange between J.D. and Mark on multi-site churches.

Dr. Akin addressed us from Ecclesiastes 12:9-14, "The Preacher on Preaching." I found the emphasis on choosing our words carefully very helpful. What a privilege to use the gift of language to communicate about a God who speaks through His word.

My man Mike McKinley, looking very stylish in the new specs, served us from Luke 10 on the centrality of listening to Jesus. Excellent exposition that demonstrated the liberating power of making the word and listening central to our Christian lives.

C.J. Mahaney closed the night with an insightful and encouraging exposition of 2 Tim 4:1-5. If you struggle against impatience and unrealistic expectations as I do, C.J.'s meditation on pastoral discernment and skill and sanctification is pure relief and help.

I had the privilege of addressing the topic, "Will It Preach? Exposition in Non-White Contexts." We considered some objections to expositional preaching arising out of certain cultural assumptions, and then considered Neh. 8 as an example and apologetic of exposition.

There were lively panel discussions following each message. Those exchanges are often some of the most informative.

I assume some audio will be up at some point soon. In the meantime, Andrew Sherwood live-blogged the conference here.

Today we leave for the God Exposed conference at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. I'm looking forward to the trip for a number of reasons:

1. We'll sit under excellent preaching and preachers for a couple days. We should hear addresses from Mark Dever, C.J. Mahaney, Mike McKinley, and Danny Akin, President of Southeastern.

2. It'll be time to catch up with a number of good friends. There's Stephen, a former staff person at FBC recently enrolled at Southeastern. We'll have to find out about this watermelon milkshake thing he's hooked on! There's Bentley, a partner in ministry here at FBC and an elder as of this past Sunday. There's Pete, the man I regard as my first pastor and first model of exposition. There's Clyde, my Barnabas. There's James, fellow laborer in the gospel and new daddy. There's the crew from CHBC. And a whole ton of other people it'll be great to see and interact with.

3. It's Raleigh, where my wife and I met and where we began our family. Always good to visit the ol' stompin' grounds.

4. You can't go to Raleigh without going to Goodberry's. The best frozen custard on the planet.

5. Time probably won't permit actually eating some, but at least I'll be in sniffing distance of some fried fish! Cayman has wonderful restaurants (worth visiting the island just for the eating!), but there's nothing here like some fried fish and shrimp NC-style. (There is no decent barbecue, though. Too far east really.)

6. There's fall. I like the fall season; crisp sweater and jacket weather. It'll be awesome if the leaves are changing colors even the tiniest bit. In Cayman we have two seasons: peak and hurricane. Lots of glorious sunny days year-round, but fall is special. Fall means football, the final cook-outs of the seasons, tail-gating, and soon, Thanksgiving.

Two days of thinking about expositional preaching in one of the loveliest parts of the country with some of the best people you'll ever meet. Should be refreshing!

All of the pastors I've met in South Africa thus far. But I especially appreciated this tid-bit from Grant Retief. Roughly quoted:

Gospel preaching is the first tier of AIDS ministry in South Africa--not orphan care or hospice. And that's because AIDS is the only epidemic known to man that can be controlled by behavior. If people have their sexual behavior brought under the Lordship of Christ, it could change the impact of AIDS radically.

South Africa has the highest AIDS rate in the world. In one area, the average age has been lowered due to AIDS-related deaths from 67 to 37 in just about 20 years! Nothing I can think of has been more devastating to a society. An entire generation of adults is vanishing from existence. And one presumes a great many of them are going to hell.

I'm sobered.

I'm on my way to meet Michael Lawrence in Washington, D.C. to leave tomorrow for two weeks of ministry in South Africa. We're traveling at the invitation of Entrust and 9Marks and we'll have opportunity to serve in a number of exciting ways.

While there, we've been asked to address the Church of England South Africa's National Conference. Michael will deliver two addresses on penal substitution; I'll have the privilege of delivering two addresses on "the gospel and 'race'" and one address on the sufficiency of Scripture. The "Gospel and race" addresses will essentially be the T4G talk broken into parts and expanded a little. Later in the visit I'll have opportunity to do this talk with students at University of KwaZulu-Natal. Please pray for these talks if the Lord gives you liberty. I can't think of a context with more opportunity and more challenges for a discussion on the gospel and 'race.' And I can't think of a more necessary discussion among the people of post-Apartheid South Africa. I praise God for moving CESA and others to search His word for divine wisdom and help from His Spirit.

I'll also have opportunity to join with Tim Cantrell and the saints at Antioch Bible Church (north of Jo'burg) for their worldviews conference. Looks like it'll be an excellent conference addressing a range of issues demonstrating the supremacy of Christ over all things. I'll have the honor of addressing "The Supremacy of Christ Over Islam" and "The Supremacy of Christ Over Ethnicity." Michael will address their men's discipleship group.

From Jo'Burg, Michael heads to Pietermarietzberg to preach at the Lord's Day service of Church on the Ridge. Meanwhile, I'll head to Durban to enjoy the company of Grant Retief and preach at Christ Church Umhlanga.

We'll also conduct a 9Marks conference with pastors and church leaders. I'm looking forward to the interaction with African church leaders from both independent and Church of England South Africa groups.

We'll have tons of lunches and meetings with pastors and ministry leaders throughout the stay. And we'll sneak some sightseeing things in here and there. It should prove to be a faith and heart-expanding time in the Lord.

Unashamed Workman has a round-up of messages on expositional preaching featuring Steve Lawson, Peter Grainger, Craig Dyer, Iain Murray, and Ian Shaw. All of the messages look wonderful, but I'm particularly interested to hear Murray on "the expository ministry of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones" and Shaw on "the expository ministry of John Bunyan."

Somebody somewhere in the blogosphere recently plugged The Puritan Reformed Journal. It prompted me to dig out an old issue of the journal. I read Joel Beeke's article "God-Centered Theology in the Ministry of the Word," a brief exposition of 1 Cor. 1:1-2:5. It's an excellent brief treatment of the preaching ministry. But one of the things I found encouraging were the quotes on preaching sprinkled throughout the article. Here's a taste just for fun:

"Let us preach, as Francois Fenelon says, "with the zeal of a friend, the generous energy of a father and the exuberant affection of a mother."

Martin Luther: "I preach as though Christ was crucified yesterday, rose from the dead today, and is coming back tomorrow." (my favorite)

Charles Bridges: "Let Him be the diamond in the bosom of your every sermon."

Richard Baxter: "If we can but teach Christ to our people, we teach them all."

Spurgeon: "A sermon without Christ as its beginning, middle, and end is a mistake in conception and a crime in execution.... When we preach Jesus Christ, then we are not putting out the plates, and the knives, and the forks, for the feast, but we are handing out the bread itself.... [Let us] preach Christ to sinners if we cannot preach sinners to Christ.... I wish that our ministry--and mine especially--might be tied and tethered to the cross."

Samuel Rutherford: "Next to Christ I have one joy, to preach Christ my Lord."

William Perkins: "Preach one Christ, by Christ, to the praise of Christ."

Martyn Lloyd-Jones: "I can forgive the preacher almost anything if he gives me a sense of God."

Joel Beeke: "Faithful ministers aim to give God the same place in their own hearts and in the hearts of their people as He holds in the universe."

Lloyd-Jones: "Preaching is theology come through a man who is on fire."

Perhaps the most rewarding thing a pastor receives from the Lord is some sense or evidence that his preaching is bearing fruit with his people. Whether it's the conversion of souls or the edification and help of the saints, the preacher wants his preaching to bear much fruit.

And, of course, we want it to redound to God's glory. After all, it is God's word and God the Holy Spirit that does the work and produces the fruit. We will deflect well-meaning comments that seem to us to attribute to much to the human servant and not enough to God. We'll search for pithy soundbites to use at the doors afterward so that folks will be directed to God.

But, oh! how often the heart craves to hear that good report, that positive appraisal of "our" sermon and preaching. And, oh! how often we want to preach for God's glory and all the while "be known" for preaching for God's glory. Pride is sneaky, and the preacher is as vulnerable to it as everyone else.

Recently, I read two anecdotes from fellow servants who humbly confess their own wrestling with pride and preaching. I share them here because they were instructive for me and exposed what I know lurks in my heart as well. I also share these because I want to commend these books.

Ajith Fernando in The Call to Joy and Pain: Embracing Suffering in Your Ministry:

Recently I gave a two-part series of messages at an international conference. During my first talk there was little confusion about the time allocated to me. While speaking I realized that I had to rush my talk to finish on time. Foolishly, I began to speak fast. The first language of many in the audience was not English, and they found it hard to follow what I was saying. My tense mood also caused me to lose my sense of freedom as I spoke. After I finished, I realized the message had not been well understood. After the talk was over, some friends who were there and were concerned that I had not done a good job gave me advice on how I should give my next talk.

I went to my room devastated. There is nothing I dread in life as much as ministering without the freedom of knowing that I am being carried along by the Spirit's anointing. I clearly had not sensed this that evening. I sent a text message to my wife asking her to call me, and I told her what had happened. I asked her to inform my friends to pray about my next session the next morning. I also asked her to pray for me over the phone. That night I worked hard on cutting short my second message so I would not be rushed. The next morning's session went really well. The same friends who had advised me the night before came and expressed their joy over their feeling that God had used that talk.

As I was thinking about this, I was trying to make sense of what had happened. I realized that during the first few days of the conference many people had come up to me and told me how much they had appreciated my books and talks I had given at various conferences. I realized that I had become proud. I wanted my talks at this conference to be outstanding. But my motivation had shifted from wanting to glorify Christ to wanting people to see my abilities as a speaker and Bible teacher. Such motivation resulted in my ministering out of my own strength, for God will not share his glory with another. If such attitudes grew within me, my ministry would be displeasing to God, and his anointing would leave me.

God graciously permitted me to make a mess of my talk so he could purify my motives. I thanked God for the chastisement and gave myself a mental slap on the cheek, saying, "Thanks, Lord, I needed that!" I asked him to help me, despite the impurity of my motives, to seek only his glory in all I do. (pp. 70-71)


The second comes from Greg Dutcher in You are the Treasure that I Seek: But There's A lot of Cool Stuff Out There, Lord:

Laying his Bible on the dashboard, the pastor starts the ignition and pulls out of the church parking lot. "Your sermon was treat today, honey. Did you get any feedback?" asks his wife.

The minister cocks his head slightly, as if retrieving the answer takes a good deal of effort. After a few moments of "searching" (after all, people's comments were the furthest thing from his mind), he responds, "Yes, I think one or two people said they thought it was helpful. Praise the Lord."

And with that the conversation changes. The pastor looks fully engaged when his wife talks about the new children's coordinator: "She's wonderful." But if she could see what's playing out in his mind, wouldn't she be surprised! The fact is that he received many comments about today's sermon: "funny," "inspiring," "solid," "transforming." And every one of those comments is running through his mind in full Technicolor splendor! He's been in a rut lately, and today he was determined to break free. Looks like he did....

He is a man who knows that Christ is the pearl of great price. He invests his life proclaiming that true contentment and satisfaction are found in no one other than Jesus himself. But why does he seem like a vain woman craving compliments on the drive home from church? Doesn't he know better?

Or ask yourself: Do you know better? Let me answer that while you're giving it some thought. After all, I am the pastor in the story. On another Sunday not too long ago, I preached a message where I boldly stated, "Jesus Christ is our everything, or he isn't anything." I meant every word of it. And even when we finished our service by singing that Christ is our strength in weakness, the treasure that we seek, our all in all, I meant every word of that, too.

And then I found myself a few hours later browsing through a catalog upcoming Macintosh products. It was a calm, casual way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon. And then--rising like Poseidon out of the glossy-page sea--I saw it: the new iPhone. Wow! A phone, an iPod, and a pocket computer! How could I live another day without one of those? Without realizing it, I lost myself for another hour on the Internet reading any article I could find for more information about this life-changing device. I should have just been honest and prayed, "Lord, you are the treasure that I seek... but there's some really cool stuff out there, too." But the disparity between the place Christ should hold in our lives and the place He does hold should give us hope. It tells us that there is a battle to be fought, a battle that God can fight in and through us. (pp. 12-13, 15)


I see bits of myself in both of these author's confessions. How about you?

Colin tips us to an uncharacteristically hilarious sermon introduction from Mark Dever. Worth the 6 minute listen.

Iain Murray records an interesting aspect to Lloyd-Jones' preaching. Or more accurately, the cultural context into which he began his preaching career. Apparently, among Welsh preachers of the day, there was the accepted and revered practice of preaching with "the hwyl." Murray explains, in the words of a newspaper of the time, that "the hwyl" was a "combination of ecstatic emotion and of musical intonation which has held vast congregations absolutely spellbound with its mesmeric effect." That same writer declared that "the hwyl" was "the distinctive and exclusive characteristic of Welsh preaching."

Here's what's up so far:

A Minister That Gaurds Against Heresies
Pastor Eric C. Redmond

A Sign From God
Pastor Eric C. Redmond

The Abiding Nature of The Moral Law
Pastor Eric C. Redmond

The Christian Writer in the Public Square
Elder John R. Lee

The Great Object of Christ's Mission
Pastor Vernon Allen

The Souls Cry for God
Pastor Vernon Allen

What is the Gospel
Pastor Anthony Carter

This year's theme was "Spreading the Gospel," expositions from the Book of Acts. Audio is here. As is the case every year, the fellowship was rich and refreshing.

The conference talks included:

A Kingdom Mandate (Acts 1)
Thabiti Anyabwile

The...Holy Spirit (Acts 2)
Anthony Carter

Exclusivity of Jesus(Acts 4)
Hensworth Jonas

Purity in the Church (Acts 5)
Thabiti Anyabwile

...Church Planting (Acts 13)
Anthony Carter

The Blessings of Opposition (Acts 16:19-40)
Hensworth Jonas

This year, Sis. Evelina Thomas joined us and blessed us in song. Here's a sample, "There Is A Fountain Filled with Blood," a song that stunningly enough she had never sang before. Enjoy!



Next year's theme is "None Better Than Christ: The Supremacy of Christ in the Book of Hebrews". Carter, Jonas and myself will be returning, Lord willing, along with our dear brother Redditt Andrews, Pastor of Soaring Oaks Prebyterian Church in Elk Grove, California.

Don't miss next year! Make this one of the spiritual investments you make in your life and church!

Here.

Ronald Alexander, son of the Rev. Eric Alexander, has built a website in honor of his father's preaching and teaching ministry. (HT: Challies) The site includes over 20 years of exposition from Alexander the elder's ministry at St. George's Tron in Glasgow, Scotland. You'll also find a brief biography of Alexander.

From the site's welcome page:

Eric Alexander has spent his adult life serving Jesus Christ, in His Church, as a minister of His Word. He has preached Christ exclusively from Holy Scripture, convinced that the Bible is the only reliable and sufficient revelation God has given us of His Son.

The conviction behind all Eric Alexander's preaching is that Scripture is fundamental to the Church's life and continuance, and therefore it is the exposition of Scripture which is fundamental to the Church's pattern of activity.

As the years have passed and the world has changed, he has grown ever more convinced of the urgent priority of summoning the church to the Apostolic priority expressed by the Apostles themselves in Acts 6v4; "We will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word."

Driving home from Bible study Wednesday night, my wife and I began discussing a pastor friend who is encountering significant resistance to his ministry of consecutive exposition. At one point things turned into a family discussion as follows:

Mom: Girls, can you believe that some people don't want to hear their pastors explain the Bible to them?

Youngest girl [incredulous]: So, what's the point of going to church?

Dad: Exactly.

Mom [graciously]: Well, some people would rather hear the pastor tell them how to do certain things and tell them entertaining stories.



Oldest girl [perplexed]: What?

Dad: Like how to parent, how to communicate with your wife, and so on.

Oldest girl: I don't understand. Isn't the Bible full of things like that if you just keep preaching through it?

Dad [triumphant]: Yep. You understand it quite well. When you grow up and move away, be sure to find a church that's dedicated to preaching the word of God like that.

If my 9 and 10 year olds get it, I wonder why it's so difficult for adult pastors to understand.