Our Scripture verse on preaching is Exodus 4:10-12 which reads: "And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say."
Our quote on preaching today is from Richard Baxter. He said, "I preached as though I wasn't sure I would preach again, and as a dying man to dying men."
Our first topic is titled "The Minister's Self-Watch, Part 2" from "Lectures to My Students" by Charles H. Spurgeon. He writes:
We are, in a certain sense, our own tools, and therefore must keep ourselves in order. If I want to preach the gospel, I can only use my own voice; therefore I must train my vocal powers. I can only think with my own brains, and feel with my own heart, and therefore I must educate my intellectual and emotional faculties. I can only weep and agonize for souls in my own renewed nature, therefore must I watchfully maintain the tenderness which was in Christ Jesus.
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Our second topic is titled "The Qualifications of the Preacher, Part 2" from "The Preacher and his Preaching" by Alfred P. Gibbs. He writes:
To many, the statement that a preacher should be born from above may seem self-evident. The fact remains, however, that there are literally hundreds of preachers who have never experienced the regenerating power of the Spirit of God. They know nothing of what it means to be saved by the grace of God through personal faith in Christ.
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Our third topic is titled "The Case for Preaching" from "Biblical Preaching" by Haddon W. Robinson. He writes:
In spite of the "bad-mouthing" of preaching and preachers, no one who takes the Bible seriously should count preaching out. To the New Testament writers, preaching stood as the event through which God works. Peter, for example, reminded his readers that they had "been born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God." How had this word come to affect their lives? "That word," Peter explained, "is the good news which was preached to you." Through preaching God had redeemed them....