Sermons and Biblical Studies

When they want to get blessed, some people try getting worked up psychologically. There are some who, while they have not studied psychology, are master psychologists. They know how to manipulate audiences, knowing when to lower their voices and when to raise them, when to make them sound very sad and all the rest. They … Continue reading “PREACHING:
MANIPULATION”

I believe I had anticipated that it was going to be a pleasure to expound this beautiful and high-soaring Gospel of John. However, I must confess that in my preparation and study a sense of inadequacy has come over me—a feeling of inadequacy so stunning, so almost paralyzing that I am not at this juncture … Continue reading “PREACHING:
INADEQUACY FOR; JOHN: GOSPEL OF”

None of us can approach a serious study and consideration of the eternal nature and person of Jesus Christ without sensing and confessing our complete inadequacy in the face of the divine revelation.… What should we do, then? All we can hope to do is to toddle along on our short legs and gaze heavenward, … Continue reading “PREACHING:
INADEQUACY FOR”

Many of the stories brought forward to justify the ways of God to men actually prove nothing except the unsoundness of the speaker’s intellectual fiber. Yet if all chimney-corner Scripture and old wives’ tales were forbidden, many a preacher would have to get out of the ministry. It is a deep pity that the Christian … Continue reading “PREACHING:
ILLUSTRATIONS IN”

Sound Bible exposition is an imperative must in the Church of the Living God. Without it no church can be a New Testament church in any strict meaning of that term. But exposition may be carried on in such a way as to leave the hearers devoid of any true spiritual nourishment whatever. For it … Continue reading “PREACHING:
EXPERIENCING GOD; KNOWLEDGE OF GOD: PERSONAL, INTIMATE”

I insist that the effective preaching of Jesus Christ, rightly understood, will produce spiritual experience in Christian believers. Moreover, if Christian preaching does not produce spiritual experience and maturing in the believer, the preaching is not being faithful to the Christ revealed in the Scriptures! Let me say it again another way. The Christ of … Continue reading “PREACHING:
EXPERIENCING GOD; JESUS CHRIST: INTIMACY WITH”

I have never given more time and more pain and more prayer to any other series of sermons in my ministry. Because of their importance, I have literally felt Satan attemptg to thwart the purpose of God. I have felt I was in raw contact with hell. There are so many in the Church who … Continue reading “PREACHING:
AWESOME TASK; SPIRITUAL WARFARE; PASTORS: SATAN’S OPPOSITION”

Because we are the kind of persons we are and because we live in a world such as we do, the shepherd of souls is often forced to work at what would appear to be cross purposes with himself. For instance, he must encourage the timid and warn the self-confident; and these may at any … Continue reading “PREACHING:
AWESOME TASK; PASTORAL MINISTRY: CHALLENGE”

Thou, O Christ, who wert tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin, make us strong to overcome the desire to be wise and to be reputed wise by others as ignorant as ourselves. We turn from our wisdom as well as from our folly and flee to Thee, the wisdom of … Continue reading “PRAYERS;
PRIDE: SPIRITUAL; WISDOM”

Our Heavenly Father: Let us see Thy glory, if it must be from the shelter of the cleft rock and from beneath the protection of Thy covering hand. Whatever the cost to us in loss of friends or goods or length of days let us know Thee as Thou art, that we may adore Thee … Continue reading “PRAYERS;
KNOWLEDGE OF GOD: SUPREME VALUE OF”