I helped to officiate a funeral this weekend.  My role, besides giving the invocation and reading the obituary, was to share a few words at the graveside.

I shared the verse, Psalm 116:15.  It says,

“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.”

I asked the question, “Why is it precious to God when a Christian passes through this life to the next?”  In an attempt to both encourage the family as well as faithfully bear witness to the gospel I answered this question as it relates to three different persons or groups of persons: the individual who passed away, the Christians affected by his death, and the non-Christians affected by his death.

So why is it precious to the Lord when his faithful pass?  Because its a homecoming, an encouragement, and a challenge.

1. Homecoming—for the deceased

→The deceased believer is at home with Jesus.  They were not made for this world with its sin, suffering, and shame.  They were made for God and now they are with him and enjoying him and worshipping in a more fully realized sense than ever before.

2. Encouragement—for the believing bereaved

→ This is not the end.  Your loved one is not lost and gone forever.  They are merely on the other side.  They are with God.  And one day we will be there with them.

3. Challenge—to the unbelieving bereaved

→ May this occasion be an opportunity for you to be challenged by considering the brevity of life, your need for a savior, and the invitation of the gospel.

Have you ever had some close to you pass away?  What words were shared with you that were helpful as you tried to endure the grieving process?

John MacArthur’s got a three-part series of articles on how to endure in the ministry.  Very beneficial stuff…and better still, very practical stuff.  Here’s are his 10 practical thoughts on an enduring ministry:

1. Don’t arrive unless you plan to stay.
2. Learn to be patient.
3. Don’t be afraid to change.
4. Study to know God, not just to make sermons.
5. Be thankful and be humble.
6. Don’t lose sight of the priority.
7. Expect to work hard.
8. Trust the Word to do its work.
9. Always depend on the Lord.
10. Don’t just leave to leave.

Some points on this list may seem a little ambiguous.  I’ll let MacArthur explain himself.  Find these ten points with additional commentary here:

• Practical Thoughts on an Enduring Ministry—Part 1
• Practical Thoughts on an Enduring Ministry— Part 2
• Practical Thoughts on an Enduring Ministry—Part 3

In case I’ve never mentioned it before on this site, John MacArthur is the man.  I listen to at least one of his sermons nearly every week.  In fact, I’m always looking for new places to find resources and new preachers to listen to.

What preachers or ministries help you most often?

Leave a comment and let us all know who’s online resources help you.  If possible, give a link to their website or online sermon archives.  Thanks!

Pastor Gumball, by Naked Pastor

This artwork from Naked Pastor is disturbing.  (Don’t be worried by his name, though.  I can assure you everything in this post is fully clothed.)

It’s disturbing because its true.  How many pulpits in churches around the globe are more like contemporary Christian candy stores than platforms from which the great and deep truths of God’s Word are passionately and consistently expounded?  I’m afraid the answer is a simple but scary, “Too many.”

Preachers, let’s make sure that we don’t, as Naked Pastor put it, “Trivialize the truth for the sake of popularity.”

What truths do you think are trivialized and turned into “gumballs” most often?

Steve Burchett, writing for the Christian Communicators blog, outlines 10 pieces of help for aspiring preachers.

1. Take advantage of less formal teaching opportunities.
2. Meditate on your text far longer than commentaries.
3. Teach one thing, not a bunch of things.
4. Amplify your comments with colorful words and helpful illustrations.
5. Practice out loud what you will say, as you will say it.
6. If you use notes, don’t constantly look at them.
7. Avoid imitating your favorite preacher’s style.
8. Care for the people you will teach before you teach them something.
9. Pray.
10. Try again.

It’s a helpful list.

Steve offers a paragraph or so of explanation under each piece of advice on this outline.  Make sure to head over his way and read the entire article—“First Sermon Jitters: Help for Aspiring Preachers”

One Last Thing:

If you’ve got any recommendations on the subject of preaching—be it links to online content,  printed  works, sermons, talks, etc.—I’d be interested to check them out.  Please help me out in the comments section.  Thanks.

This post is part of a series.  Make sure to check out each part for related content.

• How Not to Stink (Part 1)
• How Not to Stink (Part 2)
• How Not to Stink (Part 3)

I added four new sermons this week to the Sermon page.

We (”we” being me and the church I pastor, Eastwood Baptist Church) did a topical Christmas sermon based on a few character traits of faith observed in the lives of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus:

• “Thoughtful, Humble Obedience in the Christmas Story”

We also finished up our church’s verse-by-verse study through the Letter of James.  I added three new sermons there:

• “Fighting in the Church” (James 4:1-10)
• “The Serious Sin of ‘Speaking Evil’” (James 4:11-12)
• “James’ Closing Admonitions” (James 5:1-12)

Enjoy and be blessed.

Over the last month or two I’ve come across several blog entries featuring the advice of Tim Keller on preaching.  Keller is the Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Manhattan, NY.

He’s offered some very practical, down-to-earth ways to become a better preacher.  The following eight tips are given with further commentary over at a site called Theonomy.

1. Prepare the preacher before preparing the sermon.
2. Read magazines across the spectrum.
3. Read book reviews rather than books.
4. Read church history.
5. Listen to shed loads of sermons.
6. Movies, plays, and novels are windows into our culture.
7. Don’t write people off just because you don’t agree with them on everything.
8. Read rapidly through the Bible.

Elsewhere on the web as of late, Keller has said that, “Preacher-Onlys Aren’t Good Preachers,” that it takes preaching roughly 200 sermons to get good at preaching, and that every seminarian should consider solo-pastoring a small country church in order to best grow in skill and wisdom as a pastor.

Related Posts:

• Some Preaching Advice: How Not to Stink (Part 1)
• Some Preaching Advice: How Not to Stink (Part 2)

Over the course of his thirty years as pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church, John Piper has had plenty of opportunities to observe the end of one year dissolve into the beginning of another.

Often he has used this occasion to address his church with a sort of ‘New Year’s Eve Meditation.

Here are a few of those meditations.

• Dec. 28, 1980—“I Have Kept the Faith”
  

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• Dec. 29, 1985—“God Glorified in Good Resolves”
  

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• Dec. 31, 1989—“All the Promises of God are Yes in Christ”
  

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• Dec. 27, 1992—“A Year-End Look at Jesus Christ”
  

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• Dec. 31, 2008—“A New Year’s Eve Meditation”
  

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In his book, Why Johnny Can’t Preach, T. David Gordon asks the question,

“How has the movement from language-based media to image-based and electronic media altered our sensibilities, and how, in turn, has this change in sensibility shaped today’s preachers?” (p. 16)

His answer is rather direct and gives no reason for celebration.  He confesses that,

“Less than 30 percent of those who are ordained to the Christian ministry can preach an even mediocre sermon.” (p. 11)

Gordon offers help by way of reference.  He points his readers to Robert Lewis Dabney’s book on homiletics, Lectures on Sacred Rhetoric.  There Dabney constructs “The Seven Cardinal Requisites of Preaching.”

For the purpose of brevity I’ll only list the seven requisites with Gordon’s test questions.  The questions are to be asked for the sake of determining whether a given sermon contains that requisite.  Very helpful stuff.

1. Textual Fidelity
   Test: Does the significant point of the sermon arise out of the significant point of the text?
2. Unity
   Test: If ten people are asked after the sermon what the sermon was about, will at least eight of them give the same (or a similar) answer?
3. Evangelical Tone
   Test: Does the sermon press the hearer to consider the hopelessness of his condition apart from Christ, and the utter competence of Christ to rescue the penitent sinner?
4. Instructiveness
   Test: Does the sermon significantly engage the mind, or  is the sermon full of commonplace cliches, slogans, and general truths?
5. Movement
   Test: Do the earlier parts of the sermon  contribute to the latter parts’ full effect?
6. Point
   Test: Is the effect of the sermon, on those who believe it, similar?
7. Order
   Test: Could the hearers compare notes and reproduce the outline of the sermon?

All of us preachers would do well to strive to contain each of these elements in our every sermon.  Gordon’s book was excellent.  I recommend every preacher get their own copy.  You can do so for only $10 or less through the link below.

Most of us are familiar with the little phrase, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.”  In my experience that has not proven to be true.  I suggest that the person who came up with it probably didn’t have a very balanced view of things. Either they never had anything negative said about them at all, or they had so many hurtful things said about them that they went into some sort of state of denial.

Compare the meaning of that phrase with what the wisdom writer of Proverbs had to say about the power of words: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Prov. 18:21).

As part of our ongoing series through the Letter of James I preached out of James 3:1-12 this weekend at my church.  Perhaps more than any other passage in the Bible these 12 verses describe the devastating power of the sinful words and ways in which we speak.  My message was titled, “The Power of the Tongue.”  Give it a listen.

• Here’s the sermon audio for this message.  Just click the ‘Play’ button (the little triangle pointing right) to listen now.

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• Or you can download the sermon and listen to it later via mp3 player or burnt CD by visiting my Sermon Download Page, finding the word “Download,” right-clicking on it, and choosing the ‘Save As’ option.

Unfortunately I was not able to record the second half of this sermon.  Due to time constraints it was broken into two parts and the second half took place during our Sunday PM worship service which is not recorded.

In case anyone’s interested, here’s the outline I preached from.  I’m always interested to see how others put their thoughts together.

A prayer to remember this morning as we go to the house of the Lord:

We are going to the house of prayer

pour upon us the spirit of grace and supplication;

We are going to the house of praise,

awaken in us every grateful and cheerful emotion;

We are going to the house of instruction,

give testimony to the Word preached,

and glorify it in the hearts of all who hear;

may it enlighten the ignorant,

awaken the careless, reclaim the wandering,

establish the weak, comfort the feeble-minded,

make ready a people for their Lord.

—Taken from the, “First Day Morning: Worship” in The Valley of Vision

I was ordained by my church  last weekend.  I was given a gift to spend on books/supplies/whatever would help me in my ministry of preaching.  Needless to say for anyone who knows me, I spent every dime of it on books!

I do hope to post about what a wonderful, sobering, and worshipful experience it was being ordained, but for now I’ll share how I spent the ordination gift money.  I considered using it to buy a set of NT commentaries, but I’ve already got several complete sets that are great (Calvin, Expositor’s, MacArthur, Henry, Barnes, et al).  Instead I went through and worked on my Amazon Wish List.  With the monies given I was able to buy twenty different titles and still manage to have a few bucks leftover.  Yes!

Here are the books that are in the mail and on their way to my house right now. If you’re tantalized by any of these works, feel free to click through the links and buy your own copy. None of them were too expensive, and they all came highly recommend to me through various friends, acquaintances, or other related books.

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Writing for the IX Marks’ Church Matters blog, Kevin DeYoung articulates a view toward ministers learning to be themselves when they speak.

He writes,

“One of the hardest things for any preacher to learn, especially young preachers, is to simply be yourself….But your congregation needs to hear you on Sunday, not an impression of the preacher you wish you were.”

These are needed words.  Read the rest of his post here.

Approaching the halfway mark through Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck’s, Why We Love the Church.  Really liking this one.  Almost as a side note DeYoung addresses the subject of pastors handling criticism of their preaching.

He writes,

“Every preacher has to learn to handle criticism.  In addition to a lot of encouraging comments, I’ve been told my sermons are too long, too boring, too light, too heavy, too Reformed, not Reformed enough, too focused on application, and too light on application.” (p. 74-75)

Sound familiar?  I’ve definitely gotten the “Your-sermons-are-too-long” one before.  What’s your version?

DeYoung goes on to explain,

“I haven’t fully figured out how to handle criticism, but first I try to listen and understand  what my critics are saying.  Then I consider the source—their attitude, their track record, their motives.  Finally, I ask the Lord for wisdom to know if I should pay attention or forget about the conversation.” (p. 75)

That’s a good word.  Let’s take it to heart.

While I was looking for a picture to display in this post I came across these little gems from a religious cartoon blog, Indiscriminate Ink.  Funny stuff.  He’s got more.  Check ‘em out.

I recently watched this really funny video clip of a little kid practice-swinging during a t-ball game.  It was his turn to hit and he was standing at home plate half-swinging his little bat right up to the ball that was placed on the tee.  He wasn’t swinging to hit it yet, though.  He was only trying to get everything lined up.

He did this four or five times.  Slowly, steadily, and with great concentration he mimicked the motion and path that a real swing would take.  Only he wouldn’t go through with it.  He had to make sure that his form and aim was just right.

Finally, after at least five of these practice swings, he leaned back and put all of his weight into it.  He swung that bat with all of his might.  And he missed.  He missed bad too—didn’t hit the ball or the tee.  Instead, the force of his swing spun him around and he was left just standing there looking puzzled.

As I watched this short clip, it was hard not to laugh.  It was only funny because he put so much effort into preparing for the swing and then he missed.  I watched this clip on a Monday.

The previous Sunday I preached a sermon on James 2:1-13.  I guess it went well.  After I finished, though, I felt like I imagine that little boy must have after he worked so hard at getting his swing right and then he missed.  I had studied and prepared and read and took notes and was completely ready to preach.  Then I preached and it was a swing and a miss.  Anyone else ever had one of those?

I was a little discouraged about it for the better part of Sunday afternoon.  God was quick to remind me, however, of his grace and that it wasn’t my swing-and-a-miss or a homerun that counted for anything.  If God’s Word affects souls for the kingdom its his doing and his alone.

I was grateful for the opportunity to try again.  Sunday night’s sermon went much better.  And right now I’m practice-swinging for this upcoming Sunday’s at-bat.  Hopefully I’ll knock it out of the park.