Posts
Friday, July 24, 2009
There has been a deficiency of good preaching in the American pulpit. The lack of authority in our preaching today may be a result of the transition of preaching going from expository to topical sermons. Expository preaching just means to explain the text that the preacher is speaking from. You can contrast that with topical preaching, which tries to teach on a certain topic of the bible such as Faith using many passages of Scripture, rather than explain one text of Scripture at a time.
Mark Dever in his book, 9 Marks of a Healthy Church says that the first and most important mark of a healthy church is Expositional preaching. He says,
"The first mark of a healthy church is expositional preaching. It is not only the first mark; it is far and away the most important of them all, because if you get this one right, all of the others should follow. This is the crucial mark. ..This is so important that, if you miss this one and get all the other eight marks right, in a sense these others would be just so many accidents...if you get the priority of the Word established, then you have in place the single most important aspect of the church's life, and growing health is virtually assured, because God has decided to act by His Spirit through His Word."
9 consequences of not preaching Expositionally:
1.usurps the authority of God over the mind and soul of the hearer
2.usurps the lordship of Christ over His church
3.hinders the work of the Holy Spirit
4.manifests a lack of submission to Scripture
5.severs the preacher personally from the sanctifying grace of Scripture
6.it cripples worship
7.prevents the preacher from fully speaking for Christ whom he serves
8.depreciates by example the spiritual duty and benefit of studying Scripture
9.does not demonstrate the speaker's giftedness in teaching
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Another song from my collection, "Jump High"
Everyone is jumping
and everyone is high
but i feel no remorse
for the ones i told goodbye
i will praise you steadily
and lift your name on high
witness the mercy
and a tear drop from my eye
when i turn away
they come close from afar
but my candle lights up
to protect me from the dark
you destroy the enemy
from cities near and far
abduct my fears
and shatter them wide
and cause a collison between you and I
and then I will be jumping, and then I'll be high
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
