Charles Spurgeon makes the next contribution to our series on ‘The Preacher and…..his study’. This great quote comes from his sermon on 2 Timothy 4v13 which I was using with my students today as a biblical basis for becoming serious book lovers and readers:

“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 thing which it is 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 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.”

The first thing any preacher needs to do, even before sitting down to divide up and work on the text or passage he is to preach on, is to get to know the text well.   Using Ramesh Richard’s analogy of Scripture Sculpture, I call this vital stage ‘Feeling the Flesh, and it’s one I fear many of us neglect or rush over in our haste to get down to the analytical work of preparation.  In my paper, Feeling the Flesh, I outline 6 steps in this first stage of sermon preparation - Selection,Gestation, Observation, Interrogation, Interpretation,  Contextualisation.

Here are my thoughts on ‘Gestation’:

My dictionary describes gestation as “being carried in the womb between conception and birth”[1] and that’s precisely and accurately what we need to do with the passage of Scripture before we begin the process of seeing it come to life in our preaching.

This is all about becoming intimately familiar with our chosen text. What we need to do, as early as possible, is to immerse ourselves in the passage or, more accurately, let the passage become immersed in and part of us.  You may prefer to call this stage meditating or ruminating.  This word actually comes from pastoral life and is what cows do - they ruminate - or as we more often describe it, they chew the cud.  Hour after hour they wander about or lie around chewing on what they have bitten from the ground until the grass gets into their digestive system. 

That’s what we need to do at this stage with God’s Word, we need to chew it over; over and over until it truly becomes part of us and we know every nuance and emphasis as well as every word of that passage.

Here’s how Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, expressed it, “Get saturated with the Gospel.  I always find that I can preach best when I can manage to lie asoak in my text.  I like to get a text, and find out its meanings and bearings and so on, and then after I have bathed in it, I delight to lie down in it, and let it soak into me”[2]

Geoffrey Grogan, my former Bible College Principal, speaking about the need to get familiar with the Bible generally says,  “Turn off the television and spend several hours each evening with your Bible open, and make a start TODAY. Use a good sturdy Bible, probably with a hard cover, with good marginal references, and any method - marking, taking notes, circling in red ink any marginal reference that seems particularly significant - any method at all that will impress the inspired text on your memory, your imagination and your heart. Get inside the Bible and ask God to enable you to get it inside you.  I have a friend who is 95 and whose mind is absolutely stored with poetry. He tells me that he has never deliberately learned a poem in his life, but that he loves poetry so much and has read the same poems so many times that the text of them has become rooted in his mind.  Follow his example as far as the Bible is concerned.”

In a comment on my preaching blog the other day, someone made this comment, “Very often one has to wade into a text up to one’s knees and slosh around a bit before the structure begins to become apparent.”   That’s the same idea.

What we are talking about here is a stage at which we just absorb the text or passage of Scripture into our minds and whole beings.  Let me give you some practical advice on this

i.         Know your text as early as possible
As soon as you can, identify the passage and begin to chew it over and meditate on it. This will vary for us in our different situations.  If you are in a regular preaching ministry, week by week, working through a section or a book, you will know very quickly what the next passage is to be.  When I was in pastoral ministry, I used to make it my practice on my first working day of the week, which was usually Tuesday, just to immerse myself in the text I was to preach on the following Sunday so that for the rest of the week, either consciously or subconsciously, I was chewing it over.   Sometimes in my present situation I can know two or three weeks ahead what I am going to be preaching on and it’s never too early to start the gestation process.  John Stott calls this stage “subconscious incubation”.

     ii.    Ruminate on it as often as possible

- read, reread and re-read it again and again

- record it on a CD or tape, or use a pre-recorded version and play it while driving the car or on your mp3 player as you walk around the house or do the gardening

- say it out loud to yourself again and again

- absorb it in any way you can

- initially be careful not to get too close to the detail

- get the big picture, feel the flow, sense the rhythm

- if it’s a manageable sized portion, try and memorise it, though you will sometimes  find, as Geoff Grogan illustrated from his friend, that you will find

  yourself memorising Scripture just by delighting in it and immersing yourself in it

- do all this in a conscious spirit and attitude of prayer

[1] Readers Digest Oxford Complete Wordfinder   1990   London

[2] Spurgeon C H   1960   All Round Ministry  p124   London  Banner of Truth

Pastor Peter Grainger of Charlotte Chapel in Edinburgh makes the following suggestions by way of advice to young and would-be preachers as part of our series looking at issues related to  Timothy 2v2.

1. If what I preach is to be authentic, I need to preach the sermon to myself as I prepare. The test of this in delivery is how much I then address the congregation as “I” and “we” rather than ”you” (singular or plural). 

2. Maintain a teachable spirit by never being content with your preaching but always striving for excellence and seeking feedback (including/especially from younger colleagues) and evaluating criticism from whatever source or motive it comes (there’s usually a grain of truth that can be mined).

 3. Don’t be too discouraged by criticism or too impressed by praise (”Flattery is like perfume - smell it, don’t swallow it!” - Howard Hendricks).

Last Saturday saw the second preachers’ workshop in Glasgow and it was, again, a really encouraging and stimulating day, with a good number of folk gathering together, some having travelled quite a distance. In the morning, Edward Lobb, Director of Cornhill Scotland, gave some very helpful and practical advice on ‘Sharpening up your Preaching’ and also walked us through an exposition of Titus 2. In the afternoon session I continued the series ‘Preparing to Preach’ and we foucssed on what I called ‘Feeling the Flesh’, how to get really familiar with the text ever before we get down to preparing our sermon.

All the files from the day, in mp3, pdf and ppt format are on the Harper Church website and details of future seminars are on the Preachers’ Workshops website. The next seminar is on Saturday 17th November when our Guest Expositor will be Dr Sandy Roger, Principal of the Faith Mission Bible College in Edinburgh.

As promised earlier in the week here is Pastor Alun McNabb’s choice of the books that have been most influential in his preaching ministry:

Spurgeon: “Lectures to my Students.”  Surely unequalled.

James Dabney: “Preaching.” An old classic - powerful.

John Angel James: “An Earnest Ministry.”    A clarion call to Zeal. Few books like it.

Arthur Pink: “Sovereignty of God.” To get us soaked in God.

Bunyan: “Pilgrim’s Progress” & “The Holy War.”  These two to keep us in the real world.. What a thing to be able to say about books written in the 17th century. Spurgeon, who knew a book when he saw one, said he had read “Pilgrim’s Progress” over a hundred times. I read that quote fifteen years ago and have read it myself three times a           year ever since.  Pure gold.  A new convert read it and said: “I saw myself on every page”

And some newer books—-

Stuart Olyott:  “Ministering like the Master.”  Very practical.

Jay Adams:  “Truth Applied” & “Preaching with Purpose.”   In the usual helpful Adams style.

Bruce Mawhinney:  “Preaching with Freshness.”   Not read this, but has been highly recommended.

I am grateful to Peter F Whyte at Gilnahark Baptist Church for this information about what looks like a really useful new preaching resource.

Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary runs the Center for Preaching. Their latest initiative is the Preaching Points podcast — “a weekly program that provides brief reflections on preaching that points you to preaching excellence. Each Monday, you will be able to download and listen to fresh insights on preaching from our faculty at the Center for Preaching, as well as professors and friends of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.”

Peter Whyte also maintains a huge list of on-line preaching related links at the church site.

The latest contributor to my ‘222 Principle‘ series is Pastor Alun McNabb who was for many years Pastor of Dudley Baptist Church in the West Midlands of England. Pastor McNabb offers the following very wise advice to those wondering whether God would have them start out on a preaching ministry:

“I would strongly suggest to any would-be preacher that he get all the help he can on whether or not he is gifted for such a work. One of the leading preachers of the day said some time ago that he feels there are far too many men preaching today. He meant men preaching who are not gifted to preach. Some years ago I taught at Belfast Bible College for three years (part time) and saw so many men come for training to be preachers who were never preachers before they came. It was so sad to see the frustration as they never became what they imagined was God’s will for them. I believe the problem lies in men not seeking sufficient help, and also in too many people afraid to tell them the truth. My advice would be that they should seek out six or seven godly ministers and ask them to be sincere and honest in their assessment. With CD’s etc, this is much easier than it used to be. O how many men have got as far as full time appointments - in the pastorate or other spheres - only to discover the heartbreak that they are in the wrong place. Sorry to be so negative, but I feel that if a man is gifted for preaching it will be evidenced. My problem at present is saving men from grievous sorrow as they lead their families down dead ends. May the Lord help you in your noble efforts. My experience has often been that if a man says he feels called to preach there are few who will say they think it not to be so. This is a fault in churches and, sad to say, very much so in colleges. The church is thrilled to have someone going into full time work and the college is thrilled to get another applicant. O for a new generation, that God would raise up, of Spirit filled preachers who will shake our land from end to end. How we need it. Is the lack of preachers a judgment of God upon us because so many Christians now prefer a concert hall to a pulpit?”

You can listen to some of Alun McNabb’s ministry here and later in the week I will post his ‘Preacher’s Choice’ of influential books

Many thanks to Irish Calvinist for directing me to this. This video is from the WorshipGod06 Conference Aug. 9-12, 2006. Ryan Ferguson is giving a memorized dramatic recitation of Hebrews 9 and 10 from the ESV Bible. God’s Word is powerful. Students at College have a demanding Scripture memorisation assignment as part of their course and I’m going to show them this to encourage and inspire them!

At College I am currently teaching a course I call ‘Profiting from the Word’. This is mainly to do with the principles of interpretation etc but I have just done a couple of sessions on ‘How the Bible came to us‘ as a series of Bible FAQs and thought it might be of interest to others so have posted it here as a pdf file. (click on the image for the link)

Continuing our series, ‘The Preacher and…..study‘, here is the promised second excerpt from Lloyd-Jones on this important matter. (previous one here)

“Under this same heading I would put the reading of sermons. I must be careful about this. I have already indicated that there are sermons and sermons, and that the date at which they were published is somewhat important. I can simply testify that in my experience the help that I derived in my early years in the ministry from reading the sermons of Jonathan Edwards was immeasurable. And, of course not only his sermons, but also his account of that Great Awakening, that great religious Revival that took place in America in the eighteenth century, and his great The Religious Affections. All that was invaluable because Edwards was an expert in dealing with the states and conditions of the soul. He dealt in a very practical manner with problems arising in a pastoral ministry among people who were passing through the various phases of spiritual experience. This is invaluable to the preacher. The preacher has thus to choose his reading judiciously, not only for the sake of his own soul but also that he may be able to help others, not only directly but also in their reading. Much harm is often done by advising people to read the wrong type of book - you can make them worse instead of better. If a man is already slightly melancholic, and tends to morbidity and introspection, and you give him a book that is mainly designed to produce conviction of sin and to awaken and alarm, you may well drive him mad. He does not need that, he needs encouragement and positive instruction at that point; and vice versa. So you have to know what to read for yourself, and also for others. I leave it at that. There is ample material; indeed the preacher’s great difficulty is to find sufficient time for reading; it is a constant battle.”