Chuck Swindoll wrote, “Good men die young and most leaders crack up.” One of the reasons for the problem of burnout that Swindoll identified is that leaders try to do too much and delegate too little.
If ever a leader was immersed in ministry and at the same time very skillful at delegating it is Swindoll. He pastors, and produces radio broadcasts, Insight for Living, which is on more than 2000 stations, has served as president of Dallas Theological Seminary and then as chancellor. He is also now the pastor of Stonebriar Community Church, which he started in 1998. He has written 70 books and at age 79 continues to write one book each year. While his candle burns at both ends, he has not burnout.
Read moreCharles Simeon is an example of a believer who was a blessing even to people rejected him as their beloved pastor. Charles Simeon’s sermons have blessed my life. He produced twenty-one volumes of sermons. Today the Charles Simeon Trust holds workshop on preaching not only in American but around the world. He being dead still influences though his sermons. Simeon was appointed pastor of Trinity Church in 1782 in Cambridge by bishop of the evangelical wing of the Anglican Church. The church wanted the assistant to the pastor who had left. The assistant’s name was Mr. Hammond. Simeon was willing to step aside, but the bishop insisted and Simeon therefore considered this appointment the will of God.
Read moreAbraham would have agreed with Job in 14:1, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.” Abraham faced seven major tests and the last was the hardest. Abraham is possibly 137 years old. Sarah in Genesis 23:1 is 127 years old and Abraham is ten years older (Gen. 17:17).
Read moreSomeone said, “All the promises of are for us but not all of the promises of God are to us.” Not all of the Abrahamic Covenant is to us but this promise is for us. The Abrahamic Covenant is primarily to Israel. Just like the OT Mosaic Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, and the New Covenant. In Romans 9:4a, Paul asked “Who are Israelites?” In his answered, “to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants.”
Read moreKenneth Langley’s Theocentric View of preaching is found in Scott M. Gibson’s and Matthew D. Kim’s Homiletics and Hermeneutics: Four views on Preaching Today.
The Theocentric view is like the Christocentric view in some ways. Some who hold to the Christocentric view advocate preaching Christ from every. The Theocentric view advocates preaching God from every text. Both are not using exclusively the historical/grammatical method of interpretation and preaching or teaching only what is in the text. This was the essence of my post “Text-Driven (Grammatical-Historical Hermeneutic) Preaching.”
Read moreIn Part Two, the content of the story will be examined. After the context (STUDY THE CONTEXT: Macro Hermeneutics, Part One) is thoroughly researched, the interpreter moves inside to the content of the text itself. Macro hermeneutics looks at the trees. Micro hermeneutics focuses on the tree. Part two is: EXAMINE THE DETAILS OF THE PASSAGE SELECTED TO PREACH (Micro Hermeneutics, Part Two).
Read moreThe extended outline shows many of the preaching or teaching units from the book of Mark. Each unit can be a complete sermon, lecture, or Bible study. The extended outline shows the author’s original intent for his original audience. Each point is a summary statement of the unit. The preacher or teacher will need to change the summary statement into a timeless principle for his/her contemporary audience.
Read moreThe idea of the “Factual Data” sheet comes from reading that Warren W. Wiersbe’s homiletic teacher, Lloyd Perry who used a generic “Factual Data” sheet for sermon preparation. I have adapted the “Factual Data” sheet to the different genres (Poetic, narratives of Genesis, Joshua, Nehemiah, Mark, and the Epistles) of Scripture instead of the one-size-fits-all approach. The “Factual Data” sheet helps the expositor to be text-driven in preaching and teaching God’s Word.
Read moreThe idea of “The Factual Data” sheet comes from reading that Warren W. Wiersbe’s homiletic teacher, Lloyd Perry who used a generic “Factual Data” sheet for sermon preparation. I have adapted “The Factual Data” sheet to the different genres (Narratives, Hebrew Poetry, the Epistles, and the Gospels) of Scripture instead of one-size-fits all approach
Read moreToday the intermural debate rages between evangelicals over the creation of the earth (did God create the earth in six twenty-four hour days or did God employ evolution and take hundreds of thousands of years). This debate is closely tied to the age of the planet (is the earth young because God created it in six twenty-four days or is the earth old because God utilized evolution). It will be helpful to examine what the early church fathers believed and argued for.
Read moreI am borrowing my title from Dr. Gavin Ortlund who presents a very informative YouTube video on the differences and similarities between Protestants and Catholics on the doctrine of justification. He notes some important differences such as Protestants hold to imputed righteousness which is forensic. Imputed righteousness transpires at the moment of faith in Christ and is a completed judicial act. Catholics advocate infused righteousness which is based on observing the sacraments throughout his/her life.
Read moreWhat do you think is the most important sign that indicates Jesus is coming back? Wars and rumors of wars? Earthquakes? The love of many waxing worse and worse? Jesus in his end time sermon compared his future coming to the past flood. Jesus is referring to his second coming at the end of the Tribulation in Matthew 24:37-39. Jesus prophesied the sinful people before his coming would replicate the sinful people before the coming judgment of the flood who were “marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark.” In Genesis six, the godly were specifically marrying the ungodly before the flood. Being unequally yoked in marriage with unbelievers led to the Genesis flood in Genesis 6-8. Jesus warned his and our generation “to be ready” for the coming of Christ and his judgment just like the generation before the flood needed to be ready. Are you ready for the coming of Christ? Do you know Christ as your Savior? Jesus instructed us to learn from the generation that experienced the flood.
Read moreThe influence of Jonathan Edward’s sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” is legendary. It has been called the most well-known sermon in American history. Edward’s influence, however, was greater with his family. Jonathan and Sarah had eleven children. For one hour before dinner, Edwards would gather his children together and help them with schoolwork and talk about their day. Edwards wrote, “Every house should be a little church.”
Read moreWhen I took high school biology, my biology teacher whom I considered very intelligent, started teaching us the theory of evolution as fact. This view totally contradicted what my pastor had preached and taught from God’s Word. My biology teacher was very convincing, and I began to doubt if God was who my pastor declared him to be. I was very confused. What I was struggling with was a huge worldview question: Where did I come from?
Read moreI am borrowing this title from Dan Kimball’s book by the same title. Dan Kimball is arguing that especially the younger generation has been turned off by what they call “the organized church.”[1] For example, I know a young Christian adult who reads his Bible each night with his family and prays with them. This he said was better than going and sitting in a building on Sunday morning for an hour. What he does is great and more than some who only go to church.
Read moreHow can our reading and studying of God’s Word take us by the hand and lead us into the presence of God? How can our study of God’s Word actually be a means of grace as it was in Paul’s life (Acts 20:32)? One answer is the meditation of God’s Word. It is easy for us who are bombarded with information not to meditate or process all the input to which we are exposed. We are inundated with news from our car radios, emails at work, texts and tweets from friends, website surfing, and podcasts and TV in the evenings, and endless cell phone calls.
Read moreDo Christians have to tell the truth in all situations? What about situations where telling a lie may save someone’s life?
Joseph Fletcher had what is described as the “one norm ethic of love” in his controversial “Situation Ethics: The New Morality.” He wrote that the situation trumps Scripture: “Situation ethics ... goes part of the way with Scriptural law by accepting revelation as the source of the norm while rejecting all ‘revealed’ norms or laws but the one command----to love God in the neighbor .... We are only ‘obliged to tell the truth, for example, if the situation calls for it; if a murderer asks us his victim’s whereabouts, our duty might be to lie.”[3]
Read moreThe late Dr. Jack L. Arnold agreed with John MacArthur that the Revolutionary War was a rebellion against God:
“In our own American Revolution, Christians were divided over how to understand their responsibilities to the state and over the right to revolt. Some, especially those of the Church of England, fought on the side of the British in an attempt to be faithful to Romans 13:1. Others fled to Canada. Yet the Reformed Churches, especially the Presbyterians, felt the revolution justifiable. This revolution was somewhat different from others as it did not result in a breakdown of law and order. Political, social, and economic order was maintained. In fact, the Congress of 1774 had no thoughts of revolution and tried for two years to gain equal representation by lawful means. History shows that Britain, not the Colonies, forced the issue. It was in 1776, after much prayer, that the Continental Congress decided to declare its independence. This ultimately led to the formation of our Declaration of Independence, which acknowledges God as the Creator of all men. Our Constitution and form of government were set forth to a nation that was God-fearing, Christ-living, and biblically oriented. However, this does not prove it was biblically correct to revolt …. To resist government is to resist God because the government is merely an instrument of God.
The Founding Fathers had a starkly different view of the American Revolution. The Founding Fathers believed and preached two theological positions to justify their civil disobedience.
Read moreOn July 4th we celebrate Independence Day, the day commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This document declared our independence from the government of Great Britain in 1776.
A great controversy between evangelicals rages concerning what the Founding Fathers did in the Revolutionary War for Independence.
Was the American Revolution civil disobedience or rebellion against God’s Word in Romans 13?
Was the Revolutionary War Self-Defense against Great Britain or Sin?
Was the War for Independence Just War or an offensive war?
Was the Declaration of Independence a declaration of unbiblical treason?
Read moreThe idea of The “Factual Data” sheet comes from reading that Warren W. Wiersbe’s homiletic teacher, Lloyd Perry used a generic “Factual Data” sheet for sermon preparation. I have adapted the “Factual Data” sheet to the different genres (Poetic, Epistles, Narratives of Joshua, Nehemiah, and Mark) of Scripture instead of the one-size-fits-all approach. See David Howard, Jr.’s An Introduction to the Old Testament Historical Books for move helpful background material for Joshua.
The “Factual Data” sheet helps an expositor be text-driven in preaching God’s Word.
First, the “Factual Data” sheet enables the Bible student to interpret a text in the context of the Biblical passage. It is like a funnel that is big at the top and narrows down to the text itself. The interpreter starts with the remote context (context of the genre) and works his way to the immediate context (the book of the Bible in which the text is found).
Next, the “Factual Data” sheet helps the Bible student get inside the text itself. This is where, in the case of narratives, the unique characteristics of this genre are helpful in interpreting the text and also finding the Main Point of the Sermon (MPS), and outlining or developing the MPS. We begin with the context.
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