We belong to Harper Memorial Church in Glasgow and the Pastor, Craig Dyer, is currently working his way through 2 Timothy on a Sunday morning. Yesterday he took a second look at 3:1-9 and I felt that it was of such importance that it needed a wider audience. I would encourage you to download and listen to this message which Craig entitled ‘Impostors v Pastors’. Click here for the Church website and follow the links to ‘Downloads’. This message will be available at this link until Sunday 4th March.

Book of the Week (1)

My first book for 2007, which I am now only getting round to commenting on, was, I admit, a short (just over 170 pages) but hugely refreshing book. Stuart Olyott is currently Pastoral Director of the Evangelical Movement of Wales but has served in several pastorates in Europe and is a sought after conference speaker and preacher. I pastored a church not far from him in Liverpool some years ago and hold him in very high regard.

Stuart’s book ‘Preaching: Pure and Simple‘ is a straight forward, no-nonsense book from an experienced and godly preacher who has a real passion for preaching and a heart for God’s people. For me, one of the most powerful chapters was the one called ‘Doctrinal Substance’ where, as well as asserting the need for solid theological matter in preaching he identifies the consequences of preaching that is not doctrinally substantial:

1. God is not worshipped or loved as he should be
2. The Trinitarian nature of salvation is not admired
3. Believers are unaware of their privileges
4. Believers are confused about how to live
5. Personal witness is impoverished
6. The way to holiness is obscured
7. Church life is not ordered
8. Prayer is superficial

I don’t recall this emphasis in other books on preaching I have read recently and it underlined Olyott’s opening statement that “God’s work in the world and preaching are intimately linked. Wherever God is at work, preaching flourishes. Wherever preaching is devalued or absent the cause of God goes through a thin time. The kingdom of God and preaching are like conjoined twins who cannot be separated; they stand or fall together.” (p11)

Like many books on this subject, Stuart has his own ‘Ten Steps to Effective Preaching’ section which sounds a bit formulaic and mechanical but is far from it. It is intensely practical and above all spiritual.

Here is a preacher’s book on preaching that stirs and warms the heart and made me, for one, want to get straight back into the pulpit and preach.

BOOK OF THE WEEK (4)

I have to confess that this week’s Book of the Week has been something of a challenge for me and didn’t turn out to be quite what I was expecting! I also have to confess that until a few weeks ago I had never even heard of P T Forsyth who was, apparently, a fairly influential Scottish theologian in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Having read that Forsyth’s book ‘Positive Preaching and the Modern Mind’ was, in one evangelical preacher’s opinion, “the greatest book on preaching ever written”, I thought I had better take a look and found a copy in a Bible College library. For those of you not familiar with Forsyth there is some interesting information about him on the Christian History Institute website. Reading that helped me see why I found his book such hard going. To be fair, I had read that “Forsyth is an acquired taste and has a love of paradox as well as a great intensity and depth of thought.” The content of the book was actually given as The Lyman Beecher Lectures on preaching at Yale University in 1907

The paradox for me was that Forsyth , who does not believe in the verbal inspiration of Scripture and is non-committal, but I suspect unbelieving, on the question of the Virgin Birth, has such a high view of preaching and not in an academic or liturgical sense. Indeed, he had consciously moved away from the aridity of theological academia and liberalism and there is an undoubted passion in his commitment to preaching, often missing in those who have a higher view of Scripture than he professed.

He certainly believed in expository preaching - another paradox given his theological stance. “Preach more expository sermons”, he urges. “Take long passages for texts. Perhaps you have no idea how eager people are to have the Bible expounded and how much they prefer you to unriddle what the Bible says, with its large utterance, than to confuse them with what you can make it say by some ingenuity.” (p113)

For me, an interesting emphasis of Forsyth, no doubt reflecting his churchmanship, was the ideao f preaching being a sacrament. Not a perspective I come across very much in the circles I move in. Listen to how he describes preaching. “The preacher’s place in the church is sacramental. It is only an age like ours that could think of preaching as something said with more or less force, instead of something done with more or less power”. (p54 - italics are Forsyth’s)

Let me give you two more quotes, the first of which I hope will be accepted by my brothers on the other side of the water! “The Bible is like the US (if you will pardon this glancing light?), the richest ground in the world for every variety of ‘crank’ “(p27)

The second highlights the paradoxical position of Forsyth with regard to Scripture yet has much to teach us about preaching. “the true minister ought to find the words and phrases of the Bible so full of spiritual food and felicity that he has some difficulty in not believing in verbal inspiration.” (p26)

This book is certainly not light and easy reading but I am glad I persisted to the end. In among the quaint turns of phrase, philosophical concepts and, to my mind, somewhat muddled theological thinking, there are some gems here worth unearthing and reflecting on, though it wouldn’t be in my Top 10 books on preaching.

I’ve been away for a few days break so have not had the opportunity to post Steve Weaver’s personal Top 10 Preaching Books which he sent me on Monday, so here it is.

1. Christ-Centered Preaching by Bryan Chapell. This was the first book on preaching which I ever read and it is my favorite. Urges the preacher to preach each sermon in the context of the whole Bible which is Christ-centered.
2. The Preacher’s Portrait by John Stott. Great book for the preacher. Stott examines several words used for the “preacher” in the Bible. An excellent and edifying study.
3. Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture by Graeme Goldsworthy. Another great book on interpreting and preaching Scripture in light of the progressive revelation of Christ.
   
4. Preaching & Preachers by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Must read. The good doctor was very opinionated and that makes for good reading. He is at his best discussing the romance of preaching.
5. Lectures to My Students by Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Another must read. One of my favorite books that I refer to again and again. The lecture on “Sermons - Their Matter” is excellent. “The Blind Eye and Deaf Ear” and “The Minister’s Fainting Fits” are other excellent treatments. This is also a book that will make you laugh out loud because of Spurgeon’s humorous way of expressing himself.
6. Power in the Pulpit by Jerry Vines & Jim Shaddix. This is a great book that deals with every aspect of preaching from the preparation of the preacher to the preparation of the sermon. It also deals with the delivery of sermons. An excellent one-stop guide to preaching.
7. An Earnest Ministry by John Angell James. This older work (I’m not sure that it is still in print.), as the title suggests, emphasizes “earnestness” in ministry. James is talking about what we might call passion. This work was helpful to me in seeing the difference between communicating passion and manipulating emotions. The former is essential, the latter is evil.
   
8. George Whitefield (2 volume) by Arnold Dallimore. Any preacher will be thrilled, encouraged and challenged by this biography. It is hard to put down, so beware!
9. Spurgeon: Prince of Preachers by Lewis Drummond. One of the first biographies which I ever read and one of my favorites. It is a long one, but an excellent read. Highly recommended.
10. The Temple Repair’d by Hercules Collins. This one is not readily available (except in library archives in London). But it will probably be the main focus of my research and writing for my ThM thesis. It contains great exegetical and homiletical advice from a 17th century Particular Baptist. Coming soon!

In response to my request for the top 10 recommended books for preachers, my friend Cliff Boone of Allentown, PA has been first off the mark with the following list.

1. A Manual For Biblical Preaching, by Lloyd M. Perry. This gave me the mechanics that got me started, and stressed the link between the text and the outline of the sermon itself. “Let the text give you the outline!”

2. The Supremacy of God in Preaching, by John Piper. Puts it all in perspective!

3. Spirit Empowered Preaching, by Arturo G. Azurdia III. A very important book! Cannot recommend it too highly.

4. An All-Round Ministry, by C.H. Spurgeon. Deals with more than preaching, but very helpful.

5. Two biographies of Spurgeon: Spurgeon: A New Biography, by Arnold Dallimore. And, The Forgotten Spurgeon, by Iain Murray. Both full of encouragement and instruction for the preacher.

6. George Whitefield: The life and times of the great evangelist of the 18th century revival. Vol. 1., by Arnold Dallimore. What God did through him should be an encouragement to preachers’ faith, and a reminder to us not to expect too little from God.

7. England’s Duty under the Present Gospel Liberty, by John Flavel. (in Vol. 4 or the works of John Flavel) As far as reading other men’s sermons to gain insight on preaching, this would be the series I’d recommend. Eleven sermons delivered in Dartmouth, England after the nonconformists gained permanent freedom to preach in the late 1600s. This series was marked by many conversions. It is from another era, but very challenging and instructive for preachers.

Take the Doctor’s advice

I’m sure I’m not the only preacher who struggles with the challenge of reading Scripture in my own devotions and desperately not trying to find three points or a good sermon in everything I read. I was very encouraged and stimulated by the advice of Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones in my last book of the week, Preaching and Preachers, (pp173-174) and hope you find it helpful too.

“The preacher, I say, does not read his Bible in order to find texts; but as he reads his Bible in this way - as indeed all Christians should - he will suddenly find as he is reading that a particular statement stands out, and as it were hits him, and speaks to him, and immediately suggests a sermon to him…..When you are reading your Scriptures…if a verse stands out and hits you and arrests you, do not go on reading. Stop immediately, and listen to it. It is speaking to you, so listen to it and speak to it. Stop reading at once, and work on this statement that has struck you in this way. Go on doing so to the point of making a skeleton of a sermon. This verse or statement has spoken to you, it has suggested a message to you…..But do not stop even at that: Put it down on paper…..For many years I have never read my Bible without having a scribbling-pad either on my table or in my pocket; and the moment anything strikes me or arrests me I immediately pull out my pad. A preacher has to be like a squirrel and has to learn how to collect and store matter for the future days of winter….So the rule is, whenever anything strikes you put it down on paper. The result is that you will soon find that you have accumulated a little pile of skeletons - skeletons of sermons - in this way. Then you will be truly rich.”

Top 10 Books on Preachers and Preaching
Steve Weaver’s comment to my recent post sparked an idea in my brain. I am sure that as preachers we are all great book worms, if not actual addicts. I would like to pull together a list of the top 10 books on preaching and preachers, as chosen by preachers. Please take a few moments for reflection and let me have a list of your top 10 books on this great subject and, as I get responses, I’ll post the results. If you can’t come up with 10 please let me have as many as possible! Could I also encourage you to email this link to any preacher friends and contacts you have so that we can get as many people as possible taking part and so get as wide a range of suggestions as possible. My email address is in my profile. God bless.

Book of the Week (3)

One of my goals for 2007 is to read one book on preaching each week. Mind you, given the size of some of the books I have in my sights that may prove a little ambitious. Still, nothing ventured….. Having just completed my third book (so I’m still on target!), I thought I would briefly review each book through the year, starting with the one I’ve just completed and I’ll hopefully review the previous two at some stage.

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones must be one of the most influential preachers of the 20th century and it was he that introduced me to the concept of both systematic and expository preaching. Having said elsewhere that I grew up in a Manse but not with a tradition of expository preaching it was while at Bible College in Glasgow that I discovered and immersed myself in the writings of Lloyd-Jones. Each day I had a 45 minute train journey to college and I worked my way through most of the Banner of Truth series on Ephesians and Romans that the Doctor preached at Westminster Chapel in London. It was here that I learned the ’science’ of carefully reasoned arguments and sensed the passion of the preacher, even in the written word. I only once had the privilege of hearing the great man in the flesh but even now, whenever I read his writings, I hear his voice and intonation and voice.

Preaching and Preachers is, without any doubt, a classic, and any preacher who aspires to be an effective communicator of God’s truth must read this book at least once. Several things have struck me as I have read it this time.

1. His high view of preaching and the role of the preacher. “the work of preaching is the highest and the greatest and the most glorious calling to which anyone can ever be called.” (p9) He places a great emphasis on the requirement of a call of God to preach, dismissing almost out of hand the man “who claims that he can do it as an aside in his spare time“. (p106)

2. His recognition of preaching as the central and most important feature of the local church and the church’s abandonment of the primacy of preaching as the cause of much of the ills of modern society - “the most urgent need in the Christian Church today is true preaching” (p9) ; “it is the departure of the Church from preaching that is responsible in a large measure for the state of modern society.”

3. His emphasis on the need of spiritual power and anointing in the preparation and equipping of the preacher as well as in the preaching. I particularly liked his scathing description of homiletics and books like ‘The Craft of Sermon Construction’ as “an abomination” (p11 and “prostitution” (p119).

Having just been in dialogue with a Bible College about the content of a course on expository preaching, I was warmed and encouraged by the Doctor’s comment on the focus of a lot of theological training of preachers. “so much training in these days spends time in dealing with negative criticism, the dry bones, and men have become more concerned about this than about the message. They ‘miss the wood for the trees’, and they forget that they are meant to be preachers conveying a message to the people who are in front of them, as they are…and the hungry sheep look up and are not fed.” (p116)

Let me give you one more quote, even more timely in 2007 than it was in 1971. Speaking of the common assertion that people today are not willing and able to hear carefully reasoned exposition, he says, “We are told that today they cannot think and follow reasoned statements, that they are so accustomed to the kind of outlook and mentality produced by newspapers, television and the films, that they are incapable of following a reasoned, argued statement. We must therefore give them films and filmstrips, and get filmstars to speak to them, and pop-singers to sing to them and give ‘brief addresses’ and testimonies, with just a word of Gospel thrown in. ‘Create your atmosphere’ is the great thing, and then just get a very brief word in at the end.” (p123)

How much more cause would he have to be concerned if he were alive today. So important and profitable is this book that I have resolved that I will re-read this book once a year.

New Blog Name
I have decided to change the name of the blog for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it wasn’t terribly imaginative and secondly there is already at least one other preacher’s blog of that name. I have gone for what is one of my favourite biblical descriptions of the glorious work of the preacher, taken from 1 Corinthians 4 and mentioned in one of my recent posts on preaching.

Preaching Blogs
Having spent an hour or so this afternoon checking out some of the preaching related sites on the web I thought I would pass on some of my findings.

I have already mentioned Colin Adam’s Unashamed Workman site which is really excellent and is updated daily. Undoubtedly one of the best sites I have come across.

Pulpit Magazine is actually the web blog of the Shepherds’ Fellowship, a ministry of John MacArthur and his team. It goes without saying that anything from that stable is real quality and this site opens up all sorts of riches worth digging out.

My third find of the day was Pastor Steve Weaver’s blog with a fascinating and very helpful range of material. Steve shares some very practical insights into his own ministry methods.

Expository Thoughts does just what it says on the label - it’s dedicated to preachers and preaching and there’s some good meaty matter there.

All of the above are now in my list of useful preaching related links