Archive for the 'Preaching' Category

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Review of last week’s sermon notes

Published on April 3, 2011 in Doctrine, Preaching, Romans and Soteriology. 0 Comments

Last Sunday, I stressed that a goal for our pulpit is to consider how sound doctrine shapes how we see life.  It’s worth glancing at the sermon notes again to recall not only some of the definitions I gave so we could digest the passage, but also how this doctrine would shape our approach to different situations in life.

Always Be Connecting Sound Doctrine with Life and Experience, Pastor Chris Brauns, Romans 5:6-11, 3/27/11

But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine (Titus 2:1). It’s not enough to teach sound doctrine.  We must demonstrate how that doctrine fits with life.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.  I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching (2 Timothy 3:16-4:2). Scripture is good for something!  It is profitable.

Terms: We cannot digest Romans 5:6-11 apart from reflecting on these terms.

Lostness / total depravity – Without Christ, all people are radically corrupted at the core of our being.  We are dead in our transgressions (Eph 2:1-3, Titus 3:3, John 6:65).  This does not mean all people are as bad as they could be.  It does mean that we are completely and utterly unable to save ourselves.  We need to be born again.

Blood – “The blood of Christ is the clear outward evidence that his life blood was poured out when he died a sacrificial death to pay for our redemption (Grudem, Larger Systematic, 579).”  Grudem also quotes Leon Morris, “the blood of Christ means his death in its saving aspects.”  See 1 Peter 1:18-19.

Justified- This is a legal term that means being declared righteous in Christ (Romans 5:1, 8:1).

Reconciled – To be brought back into fellowship with God through Christ (See 2 Corinthians 5:11-21).

Substitutionary atonement – The truth that Christ stood in the place of Christians and took upon himself the punishment we deserve.

Wrath of God – It is an oft repeated truth in the Bible that God will punish sin.  John 3:36 stresses that whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.  Ephesians 2:3 says that, apart from Christ, we are “children of wrath.”

So how would this doctrine affect our approach to:

Parenting a small child – Our children are not born as blank moral slates . . .

Parenting an elementary age child – Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.  We cannot just be “behavorists” as parents who raise well behaved children.  We must evangelize them.

Being the victim of an horrific offense with an unrepentant offender–We can trust a just God for justice.

A major fight in your marriage- We ought to graciously forgive one another even as God forgave us.

Worship – “I will sing of my redeemer and his wondrous love for me, on the cruel cross he suffered, from the curse, to set me free.”

Facing the possibility of cancer -Whatever our lot, thou hast taught us to say, “It is well with my soul.:

The Cumulative Influence of Preaching

Published on February 20, 2011 in Preaching. 1 Comment

Even though you may not remember the points of last week’s sermon, that doesn’t mean that God is not using the preaching of the Word to nourish your soul.

Trevin Wax:

“Making a hospital visit to a suffering family makes more of an impact than the three points you made in your message on Sunday.”

Occasionally, I hear statements like this at pastors’ conferences and preaching seminars. The idea? Pastoral presence is more important than a pastor’s preaching. The implication? It’s better to spend less time worrying about your preaching and more time engaging people at a personal level.

Sounds good. But it’s shortsighted. And ultimately unhelpful.

Read the rest here.

On Evaluating Sermons

Published on February 16, 2011 in Pastoral Search Committees and Preaching. 0 Comments

One of our dreams for the “Bricks” in Stillman Valley is that they will be like the Bereans who received the Word eagerly, but also examined the Scriptures for themselves to see if these things were so (Acts 17:11).

At our church, we aren’t looking for people who blindly accept whatever they hear – - but, rather who humbly listen with their Bibles in front of them.

Today the Gospel Coalition published an article I wrote which summarizes in more depth what to look for in biblical preaching.  Consistent with my recent book,When the Word Leads Your Pastoral Search: Biblical Principles and Practices to Guide Your Search, the article speaks to pastoral search committees.  But what is good for the pastoral candidate is good for this pastor as well – - -I encourage our people to consider if my sermons, “Fire a biblical bullet at the life of the listener.”  But, you’ll have to read the article to understand what I mean by that phrase. . . and I admit going in that some sermons are better bullets than others.

Here to read the article.

More resources for churches looking for a pastor are available at pastoralsearchresources.com.

Don’t Spit in Your Friend’s Sunday Dinner

Published on February 2, 2011 in Preaching. 0 Comments

The central means through which God feeds His people in the age of the Church is through the preaching of the Word (Ephesians 4:11, 2 Timothy 3:16-4:1, Titus 2:1).  If you speak irresponsibly to someone about his or her pastor, you are spitting in their Sunday dinner.

There are some people who will eat their Sunday meal, even after after you spit. But you understand that their dining experience just won’t be the same.

Likewise, if someone starts spitting in your food, it is perfectly reasonable to kindly ask them to stop.

Thankfully, the positive is also true.  When you pray for your pastor and the preaching of the Word, and when you affirm your pastor, then you season and garnish the Sunday meal for all in your sphere of influence and even some beyond.

I am thankful to serve in a church where God’s people largely support me as pastor, thereby “seasoning” the Sunday meal.

Where Spurgeon says the fight is won or lost

Published on January 16, 2011 in Preaching. 0 Comments

This post should help us know how to pray for our pastors.

C. H. Spurgeon, as recorded in Lectures to My Students: Second Series (London: Passmore and Alabaster, 1877), page 146:

The pulpit is the Thermopylae of Christendom: there the fight will be lost or won.

To us ministers the maintenance of our power in the pulpit should be our great concern, we must occupy that spiritual watch-tower with our hearts and minds awake and in full vigor. It will not avail us to be laborious pastors if we are not earnest preachers.

We shall be forgiven a great many sins in the matter of pastoral visitation if the people’s souls are really fed on the Sabbath-day; but fed they must be, and nothing else will make up for it.

The failures of most ministers who drift down the stream may be traced to inefficiency in the pulpit. The chief business of a captain is to know how to handle his vessel, nothing can compensate for deficiency there, and so our pulpits must be our main care, or all will go awry.

HT: Tony Reinke

Excited to preach on forgiveness in the Great State of Iowa

Published on December 31, 2010 in Forgiveness and Preaching. 0 Comments

In a fallen world, conflict is never far away.  This is reality.  This being the case, it is imperative that we know how to unpack forgiveness.  Only Christ and His Word can show us how to unpack forgiveness on our own.  The wounds are too deep and the questions are too complicated for us to do it on our own.

It is a special privilege to preach three expository sermons on forgiveness  this Sunday at Grandview Park Baptist Church (Des Moines) in the GSOI.

  • 9:00 AM – Should I just get over it?  How do we decide when we should confront someone and when we should let it go?
  • 10:00 AM – What if they’re not sorry?  What does a person who has been deeply injured and the offender takes no ownership?
  • 6:00 PM – How can I stop thinking about it?

A question and answer period will follow the evening service.

In my absence, Brian Hanson of Morningstar Baptist Church, will preach in our church.

Interview of Billy Graham

Published on December 23, 2010 in Preaching. 0 Comments

After watching this interview, I am challenged to spend my day differently tomorrow in anticipation of our Christmas Eve services and Sunday.


HT: Trevin Wax

Sermon notes or not?

Published on November 12, 2010 in Preaching. 9 Comments

By sermon notes, I mean distributing an outline of the sermon that may or may not allow the listener to fill in the blank.

The matter of whether or not to use sermon notes raises from very foundational questions.

For most in the pews, the answer to the question seems obvious.  Let’s do sermon notes.  Some may use them, others won’t.  At least make them available. 

But, amongst preachers the matter is debated.  My homiletical mentor, Haddon Robinson, one of the most respected voices on expository preaching in the world, thinks sermon notes are not a great idea.  Warren Wiersbe, as I recall, was not a fan of them at all.

What do you think?  Sermon notes: yes or no?  Fill in the blank: yes or no?

Before answering, I recommend that you read this post by our neighbor to the north, Dashing Darryl Dash.  How you come down on that post, may inform whether or not you think sermon notes should be issued.

I’ll share more of my thinking in a few days.  But, I would be curious about your reasons for or against sermon notes.  If you answer, maybe share whether or not you preach in a regular way.  It would be great to hear from both preachers and people in the pew.

Is preaching simply one alternative method for proclaiming truth?

Published on November 1, 2010 in Preaching. 3 Comments

Suppose someone were to ask you, “Why do you have preaching in your church?”  What would you say?  It might benefit you to form an answer to that question and then take five minutes to read what I have written below.*

When I first began serving in our current church, one of our members sent me an email encouraging me that preaching need not be a central activity at church each week. She was very affirming about my preaching, and the email was sweet in tone, but her thought was that we could use our Sunday morning worship service for other activities on certain weeks. She was thinking specifically of prayer and the children singing.

Rather than feeling defensive about her suggestion, I began asking our people why we preach the Word on Sunday morning. I asked this in a couple of different settings. The answers were all very similar. They responded that we need preaching in order to grow, to be taught, to learn God’s Word. Some stressed evangelism. Others brought up the ongoing growth of believers.

The answers they gave were not bad answers. God does use preaching to accomplish these things. But, there was a glaring absence in the responses. None of these people, some who have been believers for many years, really got to the heart of the matter. Why do we have preaching on Sunday morning? The bottom line answer is that preaching is God’s specifically appointed means for the proclamation of His Word. God does not tell Timothy or Titus, preach the Word, have plenty of music, and by all means get the children involved. He does not say that drama should be rotated in with preaching. I am not categorically opposed to drama. But, Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, stresses that the center of what pastors are called to do is preach the Word, in season and out of season, week in, and week out.

If Sunday is only about imparting content, then this could be accomplished through preaching but also through other means. If the reason that we have preaching on Sunday mornings is simply so that God’s people can grow, then we might set up interactive computer programs and have people work through guided learning. We might provide reading assignments or do drama exclusively. The fact is that God specifically tells pastors to preach the Word. While we may choose at times to do other activities, they cannot replace preaching. Nothing can.

Where pastors are concerned, no other activity in the New Testament receives near the emphasis of preaching the Word. Different church strategies, different fads, will come and go. Adult Bible Fellowships may work well during one generation. The next may focus on small groups. A church may choose to do a bus ministry or start a Christian school. These different eras or trends in church life are fine and even necessary. But, until Christ comes back, local churches are called to feature a clear and powerful proclamation of the Word of God.

*This material is adapted from my doctoral thesis.

An amazing wealth of resources on the Internet

Published on September 29, 2010 in Preaching. 0 Comments

If you have access to the Internet, then there is so much how there to be blessed by.  Consider for instance this post by Justin Taylor (Click here).

I have NOT watched them, but I’ll bet they’re good.  Why not give up television for a night to watch one?