Preaching the Gospel

People are brought to faith in Jesus Christ

not because a preacher happens to be exceptionally

dynamic one Sunday morning, or because he finishes

his sermon with a spellbinding story.  Rather, in a

mysterious work that is both sovereign in expression

and divine in origin, the power of God unites with the

proclamation of the word of God and produces effects

that are in keeping with the purposes of God. 

Arturo Azurdia III

Spirit Empowered Preaching

Page 44

Then the Lord said to me, "You have seen well,

for I am watching over My word to perform it."

Jeremiah 1:12



Being Boudreau

This is a repost.

As you can tell, Boudreau is a Cajun name. Boudreau lived in southern Louisiana, close to the coast, near New Orleans. When hurricane Katrina was approaching, being a good Christian, Boudreau started praying to the Lord and asking for protection and deliverance from the storm. In his spirit Boudreau sensed the comfort and confirmation that the Lord had heard His prayers and he would be delivered from the storm. As the storm grew closer, the tide began to rise, the rain was falling hard, and the area near his home started to flood. At that time the county sheriff came by in his Jeep and told Boudreau to get in and he would take him to a higher area, safe from the storm. Boudreau told the sheriff no thanks, for the Lord would deliver him safely from the storm. Several hours later the storm was stronger and not only was the area near Boudreau's home flooded, but the waters had entered his house, causing Boudreau to climb up on his roof. At this time the sheriff came by in a boat, and asked Boudreau to get in, but Boudreau refused, telling the sheriff that the Lord would indeed deliver him from the storm. The storm became so severe and the water so high and powerful, that Boudreau was swept off of his roof and was being taken by the waters down toward the bayou when he was able to grab hold of the top of a tree. Once again, the sheriff came by, this time in a helicopter, and yelling over the storm, told Boudreau to seize the rope he had thrown down to him. Boudreau again declined, telling the sheriff the Lord would indeed deliver him. A few minutes later, when the sheriff could no longer stay over him and had left, Boudreau was swept off of the tree by the raging waters and went under.

Suddenly, Boudreau was absent from his body and present with the Lord. He gazed at the Lord in astonishment, and said to Him, "Lord, you promised to deliver me from the storm, what happened?" To which the Lord responded, "Boudreau, I sent you a Jeep, a boat, and a helicopter. All you had to do was get in."

Many times, probably too many times, Christians are like Boudreau. We have prayed for guidance, for deliverance, for wisdom, and God's answer to that prayer is right in front of us; but we are waiting for that dramatic deliverance, the hand writing on the wall, or the skies to part and the Lord's voice to sound, instead of looking at what he has given us through ordinary means to answer our prayer.

Are you being Boudreau, having prayed to the Lord, but ignoring the facts right in front of your face because they are not how you expect or want the Lord to answer your prayer? Are you afraid to step out in faith on the obvious? Are you holding on to something you should not be holding on to, waiting for the Lord to pick you up and put you where you should be? Are you letting the things of your flesh stand in your way hoping the Lord will "miraculously" give you what you prayed for? Are you afraid of the difficulty, the rejection, the pain or discomfort you might suffer and, as such, are waiting for the Lord just to make it happen so that you will not have to pay the price of obedience? Is it going to take some spiritual gumption on your part, and you are not willing to step up to the plate? Are you more afraid of man than you are of God?

My friends, look at the obvious, look at the facts, look at your situation, consider the actions and attitudes of others. God may have already answered your prayer, and be waiting for you to follow Him.

Making the Main Thing the Main Thing

Biblical preaching must always occupy the leading place of influence in the life of any church.  At the core of any healthy congregation is a vibrant exposition of God's Word.  Unfortunately, though, many pastors are turning away from the central role of expository preaching and doctrinal teaching.  But in so doing, they fail to realize that new converts, first and foremost, need to be taught God's truth.  As a result, many other things are competing with--and even replacing--the primary role of biblical preaching in the church.  Christian concerts, drama, pageants, festivals, musicals, talk shows, and religious movies are establishing a greater foothold in the life of the contemporary church.  Some of these activities may have a place in the church, but they must never compete with nor overshadow the Spirit-energized proclamation of God's Word within a church. 

In diagnosing the ills of emphasis on these auxiliary methods, Martyn Lloyd-Jones lamented, "All this at best is secondary, very often, not even secondary, often not worthy of a place at all...The primary task of the Church and of the Christian minister is the preaching of the Word of God."  He echoed the words of the chief pastoral voice of the Great Awakening, Jonathan Edwards, who declared, "The primary importance of the pastor is to be an expository preacher." 

Evangelical churches desperately need to return to the primacy of the apostles' teaching.  Preaching is the foremost responsibility of the preacher and the church.

Steve Lawson
Famine in the Land
Pages 33-34

The Most Profound Change in the World

The most profound change in the world, is the change in a man or woman because they have been born again. 

They go from being dead to being made alive in Christ.

They go from being children of the devil to children of God.

They go from hating God to loving God.

They go from reveling in sin to hating sin.

They go from being held captive to being made free.

They go from dwelling in darkness to being light in the Lord.

They go from being of the world to being aliens in this world.

They go from being mastered by sin to overcoming sin.

They go from being enemies of God to being friends of God.

They go from practicing evil to practicing righteousness.

They go from desiring to please themselves to desiring to please God.

They go from having a hard heart to having a soft heart.

They go from following their own ways to following God's ways.

They experience of all this because of the rebirth of the soul, as a new man has been born within them and they can no longer remain the same. Yes, they may look the same, but they are different.  They are no longer the person they used to be as old things have passed away, and new things have come.

Have you experienced the new birth?  Have you had the life transforming rebirth of the soul?  Are you somehow different in your inner man?  If you claim to be a Christian, and yet have not been changed, then you have not truly been born again and are still lost in your sins, still under judgment, and still a child of wrath as the rest who do not know Him. 

Ask God today to save you, to have mercy upon you, to be compassionate to you, and turn from your ways and your sin, and turn to Him with all your heart.  Seek Him and He will let you find Him, and He will restore your soul and make you whole.

Thought for the Day

We must practice truth,

not just speak about it.

Francis Schaeffer

The Great Evangelical Disaster

Page 81

Holiness

Holiness, God and God alone possesses it.  God and God alone is holy.  Holiness is His most Divine attribute.  It is what sets God apart from all of His creation.  It is what makes Him distinctly God.  It is the power inherent in His presence.

It is safe to say holiness is God's most defining attribute.  It embodies all that He is and all that He does.  It is intricately woven into all His other attributes, and as such separates them from the carnal, the corrupt, and the mundane.  If we think of His attributes as a crown of jewels, holiness would be the most brilliant of all the jewels in the crown, and we would see it reflected in the lustre of all the others.  It is the outshining of holiness through each of the other jewels that provides the brilliance and purity of their color.

We cannot truly understand God apart from understanding His holiness.  The place to start in knowing God is His holiness.  Understanding His holiness is the springboard of the knowledge of God, it is the platform from which we must start.  It is the platform for our understanding of all His other attributes, His actions, His motives; and is the backdrop against which we should view them.

The holiness of God is the least known, least understood, least appreciated, and therefore the least valued of all His attributes; but, yet, it is His most important attribute. God always acts in accordance with His holiness; and how often is that overlooked or misunderstood.

The foundation of our reverence for God is our understanding of His holiness.  We revere (or fear) Him to the extent that we view Him as holy.  We only understand the sinfulness of our sin in light of our understanding of His holiness.  The issue of man's separation from God is due to the fact that He is holy and we are not, and it is God's requirement for man (Leviticus 11:44, I Peter 1:15-16, Psalm 5:4-7).

Oh, the abounding grace of God, that we would be made clean through the washing of water by the word, and clothed in the perfect righteousness of His Son.  Though our sins are as scarlet, they shall be made white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool...all through the blood of the Lamb.

Father, show us your holiness, so that we will treat You as holy.  Show us Your holiness so that we may properly revere You and Your name.  Give us understanding, O Lord, so that we may appropriately order our lives.  Teach us about Your holiness, O Lord, so that we may worship You as You and You alone deserve.  Amen.

The Church

The Church should not accommodate man,

it should, however, accommodate God.

Understanding the Gospel

For people to know when they hear another gospel they must first know and understand the true gospel.  For us as pastors, that means we need to be preaching the gospel well enough, often enough, and thoroughly enough so that our people will be grounded in the gospel.  As Hebrews 5:14 indicates, it is the knowledge and practice of the truth that gives discernment.

The gospel is the message of salvation, what God has done in the person of Christ to provide for forgiveness of sins and reconciliation to men.  The gospel is not having our problems fixed, dealing successfully with stress, being a better _______, overcoming addictions, or overcoming our past; it has nothing to do with health or wealth, prosperity or poverty, unleashing the champion inside every person, thinking positive thoughts, or feeling better about ourselves; and it does not include anything that man can, must, or should do to add to what God has accomplished through Christ. 

Overcoming addictions does not save.  Being a better _________, does not save.  Feeling better about yourself does not save.  Making peace with your past does not save.  Only one thing saves, and that is placing the entirety of your trust on what God has already done in Christ as complete and sufficient for the salvation of your soul.  Anything less does not save, and anything more does not save. 

The Scriptures are saturated with the gospel.  Preach and teach through them, in context, and the gospel in all its richness and fullness will be presented; and your people will come to know, understand, and appreciate it.  People who know and understand the gospel are the ones most likely to share it, and they will be rooted and grounded in their own spiritual life. 

Redeeming the Time

How then do we redeem time, and how are we redeemed from time?  On the one hand, we rdeem the time by living out our lives according to our gifts and callings, thus serving God's purposes in our generation.  Those who live out their lives in this way do justice to the best of their time; and they live before all time because they live before God.

On the other hand, we redeem time by trusting the end of our time to the Lord and redeemer of time.  Ultimately, we redeem the time and are redeemed from time only through the One who is the redeemer of everything--He who is, the God who is the Lord of time and history and yet is  "the same yesterday today, and forever."

In St Augustine's description, God relates to us in time in ways that are "once for all [semel], all at one [simul], and always [semper]."  He is before our time, outside our time, and at the end of our time.  We can therefore each pray Augustine's celebrated prayer, which applies to time as much as any part of life:  "You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You."

Thus until the day of our homecoming arrives, we continually trust that the Lord of time will redeem us at the end of time.  And in the meantime that is our lives, we live out our callings in the thick of things, and so set about redeeming time actively though imperfectly, as timely as untimely people can ever be.

Os Guiness
Prophetic Untimeliness
Pgs 118-119

A Little Weekend Humor

This lady reminds me of my grandmother on my Mother's side.  Pulls no punches.  A little fuzzy, but worth the read.

The Aim of Our Preaching

But the goal of our instruction is

love from a pure heart and a

good conscience and a sincere faith.

I Timothy 1:6

Is the goal of your preaching to give the shallow

feel-good that is fleeting at best; or is it to bring

the conviciton of sin, righteousness, and judgment,

that leads to the deeper feel-good which is permanent?

There is a preaching that promotes the feel-good of the flesh,

which is primarily emotional, and as such is a 'passing pleasure'. 

There is also a preaching that produces the feel-good of the spirit,

the peaceful fruit of righteousness, that comes about from being right

  with God, because the true issues of the soul have been dealt with.

Means of Sanctification

Sanctification, again, is a thing which depends greatly on a diligent use of scriptural means.  When I speak of 'means', I have in view Bible reading, private prayer, regular attendance in public worship, regular hearing of God's Word, and regular reception of the Lord's supper.  I lay it down as a simple matter of fact, that no one who careless about such things must ever expect to make much progress n sanctification.  I can find no record of any eminent saint who ever neglected them.  they are appointed channels through which the Holy Spirit conveys fresh supplies of grace to the soul, and strengthens the work which He has begun in the inward man.  Let men call this legal doctrine if they please, but I will never shrink from declaring my belief that there are no "spiritual gains without pains'.  I should as soon expect a farmer to prosper in business who contented himself with sowing his fields and never looking at them till harvest, as expect a believer to attain much holiness, who was not diligent about his Bible reading, his prayers and the use of his Sundays.  Our God is a God who works by means, and He will never bless the soul of that man who pretends to be so high and spiritual that he can get on without them.

J. C. Ryle
Holiness
page 20

Preaching Jesus

We must not underpreach Christ,

but we can never overpreach Him.

Al Mohler

Expositor's Conference

2011

The Value of Christ

Again, the kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls,
who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Matthew 13:45-46

Jesus, the One thing worth everything!

Preaching Consecutively and Expositionally

My first exposure to Bible teaching after I became a Christian was through our Sunday School teacher who taught through the Bible, book by book and verse by verse; even though the pastor preached topically.  My greatest anticipation each Sunday was not the service, but the Sunday School class, because I knew I would hear from God through His word.

This experience, and listening to other expository preachers and comparing their sermons against the topical kind, led me to my personal conviction about following a consecutive exposition format in my own preaching and teaching.  Yes, I occasionally preach a topical message or even a topical series, but the overwhelming majority of the time I preach expositionally.  Attached below is a link to a post on why to preach consecutive expositions, and the author explains each point well.

http://thegoodbookblog.com/2011/sep/07/7-reasons-in-support-of-consecutive-exposition-of-/

The Cross and The Resurrection

Because of the resurrection:

The Cross is not a symbol of grief, but a symbol of joy.
The Cross is not a symbol of defeat, but a symbol of victory.
The Cross is not a symbol of despair, but a symbol of hope.

Gospel Tears

One of the great themes running through the Scriptures is joy.  The words joy, rejoice, and rejoicing are used 349 times in the Bible.  This theme of joy, as all other themes, is subservient to and draws its life from the greatest theme in the Scriptures, the redemption of unworthy men and women by God, through Christ.  It is the reflecting upon this greatest theme and understanding this greatest theme that should bring us joy.  There are occasions when our reflection and understanding bring about such a profound appreciation and joy that we are moved to tears, tears of joy and celebration and thanksgiving.

Also, in considering the greatest theme, we should be moved to compassion, compassion for the lost, the other men and women with whom we have shared that lost condition that is common to every person ever born on the planet.  In considering their lostness in light of the understanding of our salvation we are moved to tears; tears of compassion that move us to plead with God...them too, Lord, them too.  I was once as vile they, once as wicked as they, once as much a God-hater as they, once as much a sin-reveler as they; so in having mercy upon me, have mercy upon them.

May we all reflect upon our great salvation, the greatness of our Savior, and be moved to gospel tears.

The Oversight of Souls

Of this church I was made a minister according

to the stewardship from God bestowed on me

for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out

the preaching of the word of God.

(And how does he fully carry out the preaching

of the word of God, that stewardship?)

We proclaim Him, admonishing every man

and teaching every man with all wisdom,

so that we may present every man complete

in Christ.  For this purpose also I labor,

striving according to His power, which

mightily works in me.

Colossians 1:25, 28-29

"If pastoral ministry is going to thrive in our churches we need to regain an understanding of the centrality of the oversight of souls.  In fact, I will argue that the heart of pastoral ministry is this attentive care of souls....The renewed emphasis on substantive preaching in many quarters is to be celebrated, but preaching is not the heart of pastoral ministry; rather, preaching is an outflow of oversight.  We do not guard souls in order to preach.  Rather we preach as one means of guarding souls.

Our central task is not managing good programs, drawing large crowds, or even delivering powerful messages ( to these I would add, even vision-casting).  Our central task is shepherding souls as they depart the City of Destruction and hazard their way toward the Celestial City.

It is so easy to forget this or to miss it altogether.  When we do, all else is skewed.  Ministry to masses can overshadow the needs of individuals, programs can replace people, and sermons can become lightweight pep talks or, even when soundly biblical, they can end up abstract lectures which fail to provide real guidance for people as they struggle with sin, self, and Satan."

Ray Van Neste

The Care for Souls:

Reconsidering Pastoral Ministry in Southern Baptists and Evangelical Contexts

Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism

Pages 114-115

As preachers we can preach in order to pastor, or we can be a pastor in order to preach.  There is a substantive difference in the two, both in focus, and in outcome.  We must focus on preaching and teaching pastorally, with an outcome that is focused on the individual souls that God has put under our care.  The quality of our sermons will ultimately be manifested and measured by the completeness in Christ likeness of the souls under our charge.  So are we preaching to preach, or our we preaching to pastor?  A good question for us all.

All Italics Mine

The Great Revealer

But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage

that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper

will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.

And He, when He comes, will convict the world

concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment;

concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me.

John 16:7-9

...but that the proclamation of Christ is the great revealer of sin, the great distinguisher of men.  When Christ is preached, the touchstone is applied, and men are convicted of being sinners and of the depths and hideousness of their sin by their exhibited attitude toward the Son of God....There is no revelation of character so accurate, so powerful, so unmistakable, so inevitable, as that wrapped up in the simple question, "What think ye of Christ?" ...And all who come not are demonstrated to be sinners, and the depth of their sin is thus revealed.

Benjamin B. Warfield
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
Page 20

The Gospel-the Message of Evangelism and Discipleship

...we should recall that Paul did not write any evangelistic works.  He addressed all his writing to Christians who already believed the gospel.  He did not write to make converts, but to teach disciples who already believed.  Each church had a different set of issues.  Groups within churches had different issues.  Whether the issues involved worship, doctrine, leadership, ethics, stewardship, spiritual gifts, marriage or anything else, Paul always rooted his teaching in the gospel.  The gospel is not only the message of how to be saved, it is also the message of how to be saved.  It is the message of both evangelism and discipleship.  All Christian doctrine and practice have their basis in the gospel.  Practices and beliefs of Christians that are not rooted in the gospel are not Christian.  They may be cultural or personal, but all Christian belief and practice comes as an implication of the gospel.

Harry L. Poe
Recovering the Gospel for the Twenty-first Century
Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism
Page 157