Our Scripture verse on preaching is 1 John 1:3 which reads: "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ."
Our quote on preaching today is from Rich Mullins. He said, "I have attended church regularly since I was less than a week old. I've listened to sermons about virtue, sermons against vice. I have heard about money, time management, tithing, abstinence, and generosity. I've listened to thousands of sermons. But I could count on one hand the number of sermons that were a simple proclamation of the gospel of Christ."
In this podcast, we are using as our texts, the following three books: "Lectures to My Students" by Charles H. Spurgeon; "The Preacher and his Preaching" by Alfred P. Gibbs; and "Biblical Preaching" by Haddon W. Robinson. And, I want to remind you to take advantage of our special offer. If you enjoy this podcast, please feel free to purchase any one of these books for your personal library from the resources page on our website -- ProclaimPodcast.com.
Our first topic is titled "The Minister's Piety Must be Vigorous, Part 5" from "Lectures to My Students" by Charles H. Spurgeon. He writes:
Holiness in a minister is at once his chief necessity and his goodliest ornament. Mere moral excellence is not enough, there must be the higher virtue; a consistent character there must be, but this must be anointed with the sacred consecrating oil, or that which makes us most fragrant to God and man will be wanting. Old John Stoughton, in his treatise entitled "The Preacher's Dignity and Duty," insists upon the minister's holiness in sentences full of weight "If Uzzah must die but for touching the ark of God, and that to stay it when it was like to fall; if the men of Beth-shemesh for looking into it; if the very beasts that do but come near the holy mount be threatened; then what manner of persons ought they to be who shall be admitted to talk with God familiarly, to stand before him,' as the angels do, and behold his face continually;' to bear the ark upon their shoulders,' to bear his name before the Gentiles;' in a word, to be his ambassadors? Holiness becometh thy house, O Lord;' and were it not a ridiculous thing to imagine, that the vessels must be holy, the vestures must be holy, all must be holy, but only he upon whose very garments must be written holiness to the Lord,' might be unholy; that the bells of the horses should have an inscription of holiness upon them, in Zechariah, and the saints' bells, the bells of Aaron, should be unhallowed? No, they must be burning and shining lights,' or else their influence will dart some malignant quality; they must chew the cud and divide the hoof,' or else they are unclean; they must divide the word aright,' and walk uprightly in their life, and so join life to learning.
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Our second topic is titled "The Qualifications of the Preacher, Part 12" from "The Preacher and his Preaching" by Alfred P. Gibbs.
This section is titled: HE MUST BE CLEAN IN LIFE (PART 1)
The world's adage, "Cleanliness is next to godliness," should be altered to read, "Cleanliness is godliness," as far as the believer is concerned.
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Our third topic is titled "What's the Big Idea?, Part 3" from "Biblical Preaching" by Haddon W. Robinson. He writes:
The Importance of a Single Idea (Continued)
A novice may dismiss the importance of a central idea as the ploy of homiletics professors determined to press young preachers into their mold. It should be noted, therefore, that this basic fact of communication also claims sturdy biblical support. In the Old Testament the sermons of the prophets are called "the burden of the Lord." These proclamations were not a few "appropriate remarks" delivered because the prophet was expected to say something. Instead the prophet addressed his countrymen because he had something to say. He preached a message, complete and entire, to persuade his hearers to return to God. As a result the sermons of the prophets possessed both form and purpose. Each embodied a single theme directed toward a particular audience in order to elicit a specific response
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Our Scripture verse on preaching is Mark 1:14-15 which reads: "Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel."
Our quote on preaching today is from E.M. Bounds. He said, "A prepared heart is much better than a prepared sermon. A prepared heart will make a prepared sermon."
In this podcast, we are using as our texts, the following three books: "Lectures to My Students" by Charles H. Spurgeon; "The Preacher and his Preaching" by Alfred P. Gibbs; and "Biblical Preaching" by Haddon W. Robinson.
Our first topic is titled "The Minister's Piety Must be Vigorous, Part 4" from "Lectures to My Students" by Charles H. Spurgeon. He writes:
Thirdly, let the minister take care THAT HIS PERSONAL CHARACTER AGREES IN ALL RESPECTS WITH HIS MINISTRY.
We have all heard the story of the man who preached so well and lived so badly, that when he was in the pulpit everybody said he ought never to come out again, and when he was out of it they all declared he never ought to enter it again. From the imitation of such a Janus may the Lord deliver us. May we never be priests of God at the altar, and sons of Belial outside the tabernacle door; but on the contrary, may we, as Nazianzen says of Basil, "thunder in our doctrine, and lighten in our conversation." We do not trust those persons who have two faces, nor will men believe in those whose verbal and practical testimonies are contradictory. As actions, according to the proverb, speak louder than words, so an ill life will effectually drown the voice of the most eloquent ministry. After all, our truest building must be performed with our hands; our characters must be more persuasive than our speech. Here I would not alone warn you of sins of commission, but of sins of omission. Too many preachers forget to serve God when they are out of the pulpit, their lives are negatively inconsistent.
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Our second topic is titled "The Qualifications of the Preacher, Part 11" from "The Preacher and his Preaching" by Alfred P. Gibbs.
This section is titled: HE MUST BE A MAN OF PRAYER (PART 2)
2. Our encouragement in prayer.
The Word of God is united in its testimony to the necessity for and the great value of prayer. Every believer is both urged and encouraged to pray. Each Christian should therefore be prayerful:
(1) Regarding every detail of his life. Nothing is too insignificant as a subject for prayer. Our heavenly Father “knoweth that we have need of all these things,” and has promised to supply them “according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus”.
In fact we are told to “Be careful [full of cares, anxious] for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, that passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus". An old saying has it that “prayer changes things”; but it does more than this: it changes Christians!
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Our third topic is titled "What’s the Big Idea?, Part 2" from "Biblical Preaching" by Haddon W. Robinson. He writes:
The Importance of a Single Idea
Students of public speaking and preaching have argued for centuries that effective communication demands a single theme. Rhetoricians hold to this so strongly that virtually every textbook devotes some space to a treatment of the principle. Terminology may vary— central idea, proposition, theme, thesis statement, main thought— but the concept is the same: an effective speech “centers on one specific thing, a central idea.” This thought is so axiomatic to speech communication that some authors, such as Lester Thonssen and A. Craig Baird, take it for granted:
"Little need be said here about the emergence of the central theme. It is assumed that the speech possesses a clearly defined and easily determined thesis or purpose: that this thesis is unencumbered by collateral theses which interfere with the clear perception of the principal one; and that the development is of such a character as to provide for the easy and unmistakable emergence of the thesis through the unfolding of the contents of the speech."
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