When the Gospel gets personal

Martin Downes (TUESDAY Evening Acts 24 : v 24 - 27) EMW ABERYSTWYTH Wales 2010 from Evangelical Movement of Wales on Vimeo.

This summer I preached one evening at the Evangelical Movement of Wales Aberystwyth Conference.  The text is from Acts 24.  There were around 1 500 in the Great Hall that evening, hence the shifting camera angles as I look up to the galleries.

The preaching of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Over at the Church Matters blog there is a helpful summary of what Lady Catherwood recently said about her father's preaching:

1. The man deeply felt his conversion. Dr. Lloyd-Jones never got over the Lord’s mercy to him in saving him and this was clear in his preaching.

2. The underlining issue behind his preaching was the glory of God. Behind all of his preaching the main point and main issue was always that God be glorified and exalted. He never treated the Lord casually.

3. He had the presence of a man who dwelt with the Lord in prayer. When he preached, he sincerely preached as a man that had consistently lingered truly humbly before the Lord and had dwelt on the Truth of God in Scripture. He brought those meditations and that posture to the people.

The Preacher as a Theologian

On Saturday I spoke at Bethlehem, Sandfields, on "The Preacher as a Theologian" and "Preaching our Theology."

Someone sent me the following comment about the first address.

I heard a story a little while ago of two people visiting a cemetery and one noticing that the headstone on a particular grave had the words "Preacher and theologian" on it. This led him to say to his companion "There must be two people buried in this grave".

As soon as we speak of God, or speak to him, we disclose our thoughts about who he is and how we relate to him. When we stand before a group of people and speak of God we are engaged in a theological task. Who is this God? How may we know him? What is the connection between our words about him and the reality of who he is? By what authority may we speak of and about him?

Preacher as a theologian? It's a no brainer.

My outline for the talk, much of which was drawn from the pastoral epistles, was as follows (I may put the meat on these bones in some future posts):

1. We must pursue the goal of doxology

2. We must resolve to live with integrity

3. We must maintain a commitment to orthodoxy

4. We must guard against the entrance of heresy

Preach for eternity

When the great Thomas Chalmers was converted, even though he had been a minister for several years, it led to a seismic shift in his preaching. Gone were the days filled with mathematical and scientific studies, with but an hour or two on a Saturday evening given to sermon preparation.

In its place there was a "sense of seriousness unfelt before; and the world to come cast an aweful shadow over every sermon."

If this Sunday you are preaching the word, or listening to it, may this be your experience too.

Ligon Duncan on Covenant theology

I'd just like to recommend Ligon Duncan's two sessions on covenant theology over at Sermon Audio. Really helpful on lots of levels and a good place to start if covenant theology is somewhat new to you.