by on 6.26.08

preachers of influence

I want to pick up on something I said in my last post. I was observing the influence of much admired and frequently listened to preachers on those who admire and listen to them. Here is a bit of what I said:

The preachers you listen to influence your own preaching. … I have spent hours listening to Mark Minnick. Mark was my Pulpit Speech teacher. I have intentionally tried to imitate his methods and something of his style. As I began listening to the Trinity messages this summer though (and most of them were Chuck Phelps), I caught myself a few times in the pulpit saying things in a way that sounded to me like the way Chuck would say it. I think Chuck has a certain cadence to his preaching that is a bit unique among preachers, and I was unconsciously (or semi-consciously) picking up on that.

Chuck himself mentioned this tendency among preacher boys in one of the messages I listened to today. He said that those who sat under Tom Malone often mimicked some of his habits as did those who sat under Dr Bob Sr. Of course, I have observed this with other admired preachers as well. I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing!

But it does mean preachers need to be careful who they admire, who they listen to, and who influences them. I think that subject is probably worth another post at some point.

The influence of one preacher on another is all well and good if the admired and followed preacher is a fully faithful member of the clergy. You may pick up mannerisms – that is one thing. But much more you should pick up philosophy, methodology, zeal, and ministry patterns. And you will, if you make a study of a particular preacher or preachers.

That means you must choose your models very, very carefully. Some young men today are making extremely unwise choices in this regard.

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Filed Under: Fundamentalism, Issues, Minnick, Personalities, Phelps, Preaching
by on 6.25.08

my excellent twelve hour Bible conference

I am on my way to the Western Canada Baptist Fellowship annual meeting, this year featuring the preaching of Mark Minnick. The meeting will be held in Calgary, AB, Thursday-Saturday (although I have to beat it out of town on Saturday to make it home for our own services).

On the way, I am going to spend a day with my parents in my quirky and beloved Alberta home town. I say quirky because my love for this town is mostly nostalgic. There is nothing special about the town per se, but there are excellent memories to be had on almost every street of the little burg… and it is on the prairies where you can see the sky. What more could one ask out of a home town?

I had intended to get an early ferry and make it home before I rested my weary head, but certain family responsibilities meant I had to catch a noon ferry. So here I am, twelve hours after disembarking, still a couple of hours from home, and ready to sack out. But before I do, a few comments on preaching…

When driving alone, I love nothing better than listening to sermons. With modern technology I do this with a PDA and an auxiliary plug in my CD player. In my twelve hours on the road, I managed to listen to 15 and a half sermons today! Kind of a soul-food pig-out session!

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Filed Under: Pastoral Theology, Preaching, Spiritual Life
by on 6.23.08

6.22.08 gbcvic sermons

We had a blessed day in the Lord today with a visit from the Christian parents of one of your young adults in our congregation. Here are the sermon summaries and something extra…

The Judgement of Sin (Rm 1.24-31)

We come now to the judgement God metes out for sin. When we read that God’s wrath is being poured out on the sins of mankind, we may think of things like disasters, illnesses, shortened lives, and a great judgement to come. Romans 1 reveals that the ongoing outpouring of God’s wrath against sin is more sin. God, responding to man’s refusal to glorify, to man’s ingratitude and pride, by removing restraint allows men to wallow in a morass of uncleanness, shameful passions and disapproved minds. But for all that, there is hope… men can put all their sin into the past tense and become faithful children of God, clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

The Creation of Satan

In which we consider the questions when and with what nature Satan was created. We look at Ezek 28 (among other passages) and consider whether it is only a description of a human king or whether indeed it also has application to the creation of Satan.

~~~

Our fellowship hall is under renovation and the work precluded our use of it for our church lunch this week. Instead, we invited our folks over to our house for lunch. After lunch we had a time of fellowship and testimonies, replacing our pm service.

We started with testimonials about Family Camp, but our hearts were blessed with many other good words about the good work of God among us. Though we live in troubling days, we serve a great God who preserves us in the midst of our wicked world.

You can find some pictures of the event at our church site, here.

~~~

Wherever you are serving God, I trust you also had a blessed day in partnership with saints around God’s word.

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Filed Under: Sermon Summaries
by on 6.18.08

listening to sermons on my way to camp

and blogging about them out of doors, with the sounds of my family enjoying themselves and me obsessively reading the latest in the unending fundi-neo wars…

A friend of mine asked me to listen to two messages preached recently by two men of similar age and relatively similar standing in the world. So my son and I listened to them on the way to camp. Here is our take:

  • One preacher knows what worldliness is; one thinks its very complicated.
  • One is clear; one is vague.
  • One is proud of his heritage; one isn’t so sure.
  • One is determined not to allow corruption any possibility of infiltration; one thinks we need to think it over oh so carefully.

One wonders what kind of impact these differences will have on the Christian church in the next few years.

~~~

I’ve also noticed another preacher taking potshots at this space. I’ll not name the preacher, or where it was done, but it is typical of the individual involved. May God help him.

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Filed Under: Issues, Preaching, Separation, Worldliness
by on 6.15.08

do conservative ‘e’s separate?

Mark Dever asks, I think, for fundamentalists to clearly and consistently spell out what separation means to them. I could be wrong, and am willing to stand corrected, but I think he is asking the same question that I thought was unanswered in the Minnick interview (see previous posts).

Here is my initial answer to Dever’s questions as posted in the comment section of the 9marks blog (I add a bit more below my quoted answer):

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Filed Under: Dever, Fundamentalism, Issues, New Evangelicalism, Personalities
by on 6.15.08

6.15.08 gbcvic sermons

The weekly update on our preaching ministry at Grace Baptist Church of Victoria. We were a little down in attendance this week … last week’s visitors did not return, but usually new visitors take time to ‘take hold’. We are praying for their return and embracing of a biblical church ministry. One young lady, newly moved in to the area dropped in for our first service. She did not stay long afterwards… not always a good sign.

In any case, we continue to press on in the work of the gospel. Here are the summaries.

How Sin Begins (Rm 1.21)

On further reflection concerning our passage last week, I decided to return to it and emphasize the beginning point of sin: resentment of God and ingratitude to God. No matter our circumstances, God’s plan and way for our lives is best. We fall into sin, even as believers, by doubting God’s sovereign disposal in our lives and failing to be grateful for his dealing with us, both by favourable and unfavourable circumstances. The end result of our murmurings can be a darkening of our hearts and a futility of our reasoning (to some extent), distancing us from God. May God find us submissive, grateful, and glorifying him!

The Reality of Satan

In which we begin a look at the teaching of the Bible concerning Satan. This is not a topic we enter because we are so much relishing it, but one we enter because it is under attack from Bible deniers and it is part of teaching the whole counsel of God. The first point: Satan is real, personal, and powerful.

A Prayer of Witness (Jn 11.41-42)

In our series following the chronological teachings and examples of our Lord on prayer, we come to the prayer uttered just before the resurrection of Lazarus. The prayer is intended to communicate God’s truth concerning our Lord to ‘the crowd’ – our public prayers should emulate our Lord’s public prayers as  much as possible.

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Filed Under: Sermon Summaries
by on 6.14.08

is there an answer here?

On another blog, a discussion is ongoing regarding the Mark Dever – Mark Minnick interview. I, along with some others, contend that our friend Mark Minnick didn’t answer the last question Dever asked. Others say that he did answer. I have taken the trouble to transcribe the last six or seven minutes of the interview, hopefully accurately, so that you can analyze what was said and come to your own conclusions.

Here is the transcript, beginning at about 1:01:35 of the interview:

1:01:35 Dever: “What would we have to do to change for you to be free to preach here?”

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Filed Under: Dever, Fundamentalism, Issues, Minnick, New Evangelicalism, Personalities, Separation
by on 6.8.08

6.8.08 gbcvic sermons

Our latest messages. We had a good group out today, including a young family just moved into town. They are apparently believers, have two young daughters, show signs of some spiritual maturity… just the sort of family every pastor covets, in a godly sort of way, of course. We would greatly desire the Lord to lead this young couple to join with us in the work of the Lord in our ministry. May the Lord’s will be done! (I know what my will is in the matter!)

Here are our sermon summaries from today:

The Expression of Human Religion (Rm 1.21-23)

In Rm 1.18, God’s wrath is seen being revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold back or suppress the truth in unrighteousness. There are two means of suppression of the truth: the first, by the Suppression of Natural Religion [man’s natural response to the clear revelation of God’s power and nature in creation] (last week’s message) and the second, by the Expression of Human Religion [man’s proud, ungrateful, profane exchange of the glory of the uncorruptible God from the fertile ground of his futile reasonings, darkened heart and moronic mind]. No matter how much revelation a man has, whether only by nature or also by special revelation though God’s word, the tendency of his heart is to push God out of his thoughts by both these means.

May God keep us from any hint of reducing his importance in our lives by following the natural tendencies of our hearts.

The Organization and Ministry of Angels

In which we continue our discussion of the organization of angels [from last week’s lesson] by noting the distinctions of certain angels in the bible. We also concluded our discussion of angels entirely by covering the various ways in which angels serve in relation to God, to history, to Christ, to sinners, and to saints.

Prayers of Discipline (Mt 18.19-20)

Our passage is one often taken out of context, but in context give us a powerful lesson concerning the authority given to the local church and its officers. The prayer passage is in the midst of the famous discipline passage and assure God’s people of God’s eternal approval and authorization for taking action against sin by leading members of the church to repentance or by expelling the unrepentant from the assembly. These actions are sealed by the prayers of the church, authorized and solemnized by the presence of our Lord.

Read the notes while you listen.

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Filed Under: Sermon Summaries
by on 6.6.08

ye must be born again

I am not going to link to outside commentaries on this one, though references abound, particularly in some quarters. My subject is the negative rap placed on ‘revivalism’ and ‘decisionism’ by some. And of course, I’d like to take a contrarian position.

First, let me acknowledge that I oppose the “I prayed a prayer” approach to assurance. A great deal of damage has been done by giving people the misconception that if they say the right words to God, they will magically be born again.

Salvation isn’t a matter of getting the words right in your prayer!

Salvation isn’t a matter of getting the words right in your prayer! It isn’t a matter of crying the appropriate number of tears, walking an aisle, being baptized, or any other such matter of external activity.

Salvation is a matter of living faith in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Now, is salvation a one-time decision, or not? What does it mean to be born again? And is it right for Christian ministers to call for a decision for Christ?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Pastoral Theology, Preaching, Revival, Spiritual Life
by on 6.6.08

the importance of the Old Testament

My brother returned from a family vacation to Italy and the British Isles with a book for me. In exchange, I took care of his alleged dog. The book made it worth it!

The book he brought home for me is Adolph Saphir’s Christ & The Scriptures. In the first chapter, I find this eloquent quote:

From the Jewish Scriptures we must learn what is meant by his being the Son of David and the Son of Abraham; what the words ‘Son of Man’ imply, and the word ‘Anointed,’ ‘Messiah,’of whom Moses and the prophets spake. For the history of Jesus does not begin with his birth in Bethlehem. The first verse of Matthew sums up the Old Testament history; nor can the sequel of the Gospels, Epistles, and Apocalypse be understood without it. His goings forth are from of old. He who understands not the election of Abram, the exodus of Israel, the Angel of Jehovah, the types of the Tabernacle, the High Priest, and the Sacrifice, the meaning of the shepherd-king, the son of Jesse, and of the sure mercies of David, must find insuperable difficulties in the life of Christ. All attempts to understand Jesus Christ, separate from the Old Testament, are most unphilosophical, and can tend to no satisfactory result. For Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of Moses and the prophets. He is not the Christ of history, but of a special history – the divine history of Israel. True, He is the Light of the World, He is the Desire of all Nations, He is the Centre and Life of Humanity; but He is all this because He is the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, for salvation is of the Jews. The Gospel narrative is like a high table land, but we cannot be spared the ascent from Genesis to Malachi.

How much value do you put on the Old Testament? If you are a preacher, how much of the Old Testament have you taught?

I would encourage you to make understanding the Old Testament with its promises, figures, and prophecies a matter of deepest concern. As Saphir says, ‘All attempts to understand Jesus Christ, separate from the Old Testament, are most unphilosophical, and can tend to no satisfactory result.’

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Filed Under: Quotables
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