Expository Preaching and the Recovery of Worship

Al Mohler, blogged on the place of preaching in the church...
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

"Lacking reverence for the word of God, many congregations are caught in a frantic quest for significance in worship. Christians leave worship services asking each other, "Did you get anything out of that?" Churches produce surveys to measure expectations for worship. Would you like more music? What kind? How about drama? Is our preacher sufficiently creative?

Expository preaching demands a very different set of questions. Will I obey the word of God? How must my thinking be realigned by Scripture? How must I change my behavior to be fully obedient to the word? These questions reveal submission to the authority of God and reverence for the Bible as his word."

Did you ever wonder...

Peter Bogert wonders...

Systematic Theology vs Biblical Theology?

Kevin Bauder shares his thoughts

I recall thinking about this a while back in relation to Peter Jensen's The Revelation of God... concluding that it is a great example of Biblical Theology and Systematic Theology.

On another note, we're making some good progress behind the scenes to database the site and make the whole thing much easier to use. In honesty it'll be a few months before you can feel the benefit of that but we're on the case.

On the gospel...

Milton Stanley highlights Adrian Warnock's thoughts on what the gospel is...

"1. Someone can be saved on the merest snippet of truth then spend a lifetime making sense of it.
2. The gospel actually includes the entire teaching of the bible and thus cannot be adequately contained in any system."

Criticism

The Cross and Criticism (HT: Dan Cruver)

"“In light of God’s judgment and justification of the sinner in the cross of Christ, we can begin to discover how to deal with any and all criticism. By agreeing with God’s criticism of me in Christ’s cross, I can face any criticism man may lay against me. In other words, no one can criticize me more than the cross has. And the most devastating criticism turns out to be the finest mercy. If you thus know yourself as having been crucified with Christ, then you can respond to any criticism, even mistaken or hostile criticism, without bitterness, defensiveness, or blame shifting. Such responses typically exacerbate and intensify conflict, and lead to the rupture of relationships. You can learn to hear criticism as constructive and not condemnatory because God has justified you.”

God is the Gospel

Read John Piper's new book God is the Gospel online.

School of Preaching: Preaching Christ from the Old Testament

Preaching Christ from the Old Testament

"Professor Sidney Greidanus, at Oak Hill on Wednesday 28th September 2005



Professor Greidanus argues the need both to preach Christ in every sermon and to preach regularly from the Old Testament. In this day conference, he will demonstrate and apply a Christocentric method that helps preachers to do both simultaneously. The four sessions during the day are as follows:

1. The Christocentric Method
2. Preaching Christ from Old Testament Narrative (Genesis 12:1-9)
3. Preaching Christ from Old Testament Law (Leviticus 17:10-14)
4. Preaching Christ from Old Testament Wisdom (Ecclesiastes 12:1-8)

Sidney Greidanus is Professor of Preaching at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is the author of Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method, and The Modern Preacher and the Ancient Text: Interpreting and Preaching Biblical Literature. Both are published by Eerdmans."

Book Online, £25 per person.