This characteristic of leadership is certainly seen in Nehemiah’s ministry. One out of every ten verses in Nehemiah is a reference to prayer. Chapter Two of Swindol’s Hand Me Another Brick, (his commentary of Nehemiah’s leadership) is entitled “A Leader---From The Knees Up.”
Read moreHow To Get To Know The Preachers of Yesteryear!
Since Spurgeon was not televised and McClaren did not pod cast, does this mean I must leave their beautifully leather bound sermons just to decorate my library shelves? Being personally familiar with a preacher is helpful to benefit from his preaching. Andrew W. Blackwood, who was the professor of homiletics at Princeton, in his book Preaching from the Bible aids us in getting to know preachers from the past. Blackwood encourages preachers to take six months to one year and read at least one good biography of a well known and greatly used preacher before getting into his printed sermons. Next, read any books he has written on preaching and pastoring (Andrew W. Blackwood. Preaching from the Bible. New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury, 1941, pages 235-236).
Read more6 Marks of Leadership: Mark One: Leaders Show Concern for God's Work (Neh. 1:1-4)
Mark Dever promotes Four Aspects of Leadership in Nine Marks of a Healthy Church with the acrostic BOSS.
B=Boss. The leader “reproves, rebukes, and exhorts with all longsuffering and doctrine.”
There is a delicate balance in local churches between pastoral authority (Hebrews 13) and congregational authority (Matthew 18). The pastors must exercise his authority to preach and lead in order for the congregation to fulfill its authority of approving correct doctrine and rejecting false doctrine (Galatians 1:9).
Read more“Praying People into Heaven”
Lewis Sperry Chafer in his book entitled “True Evangelism: Winning Souls by Prayer” writes, “The personal element in true soul-winning work is more a service of pleading for souls than a service of pleading with souls. It is talking with God about men from a clean heart and in the power of the Spirit, rather than talking to men about God…. the divine order is to talk to God about men, until the door is definitely open to talk to men about God” (Lewis Sperry Chafer. True Evangelism. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1993, 69-71). In light of this statement, we need to answer some questions about praying people into heaven.
Read moreYou Can Know God’s Will for Your Life (Part 3)
The first is through our God given desires. Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself also in the LORD, and he shall give you the desires of your heart.” If we are delighting in the Lord, then most likely what we desire is God’s will. One of the reasons I knew God’s will for my life was preaching is because I had a desire which fits with 1 Timothy 3:1: “If any man desire the office of a bishop he desires a good work.” "Desire" is mentioned twice in that one verse.
Read moreYou Can Know God’s Will for Your Life (Part 2)
Three conditions to meet in order to know God’s will for your life
The First Condition, You Must “Trust in the Lord.”
For the unsaved, it is God’s will that you get saved. God has a decreed will and a permissive will. God has decreed some things that will happen. God decreed the death of Christ for our sins before the foundation of the world. In Acts 2:22-23, wicked men carried out the predetermined plan of God when they crucified Christ. Even the decreed will of God does not eliminate human responsibility for which these wicked men are accountable to God.
Read moreYou Can Know God’s Will for Your Life (Part 1)
When John Wesley was thirty-two years old, he was a bachelor missionary in the colony of Georgia. While he was serving a church in Savannah, he met a young woman named Sophia Christian Hopkey. She was pretty and intelligent, and Wesley fell head over heels in love with her. But Wesley belonged to a group called the Holy club, and one of their ideals was that members should remain single. So Wesley was caught in a dilemma. Was it the will of God for him to marry Sophie or not? To find out, he and a friend named Charles Delamotte decided to draw lots. On three pieces of paper they wrote: “Marry”; “Think not of it this year”; and “Think of it no more.” Then they put the pieces in a container. Delamotte closed his eyes and drew out the third one, “Think of it no more.” Wesley was heartbroken, but he took the result to be the will of God. He ended the courtship, and, not long after, he sailed back to England. In his journal, he wrote over the record of his romance, “Snatched as a brand out of the fire.”
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