Our Scripture verse on preaching is 2 Timothy 3:16 which reads: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."
Our quote on preaching today is from Martin Luther. He said, "To preach Christ is to feed the soul, to justify it, to set it free, and to save it, if it believes the preaching."
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 Self-Watch, Part 4" from "Lectures to My Students" by Charles H. Spurgeon. He writes:
That a teacher of the gospel should first be a partaker of it is a simple truth, but at the same time a rule of the most weighty importance. We are not among those who accept the apostolical succession of young men simply because they assume it; if their college experience has been rather vivacious than spiritual, if their honors have been connected rather with athletic exercises than with labors for Christ, we demand evidence of another kind than they are able to present to us.
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Our second topic is titled "The Qualifications of the Preacher, Part 4" from "The Preacher and his Preaching" by Alfred P. Gibbs.
This section is titled: THE PREACHER MUST LOVE THE LORD JESUS
1. The love of Christ must be the constraining motive of all the preacher's service.
Paul wrote, “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if One died for all, then were all dead: and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them and rose again.” To preach from a sense of duty, while necessary, is not enough. Only as the love of Christ is the impelling motive shall one’s preaching be worth anything.
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Our third topic is titled "The Definition of Expository Preaching, Part 1" from "Biblical Preaching" by Haddon W. Robinson. He writes:
Attempting a definition becomes sticky business because what we define we sometimes destroy. The small boy who dissected a frog to find out what made it jump learned something about the parts in the process, but he killed the frog. Preaching is a living interaction involving God, the preacher, and the congregation, and no definition can pretend to capture that dynamic. But for the sake of clarity we must attempt a working definition anyway.
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