Communicating conviction

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Kevin Miller asks:-

Why is it that sometimes we as preachers feel a message so deeply, yet our listeners don’t feel that? Why is something that’s so intensely meaningful to us not always communicated in a way that grips the congregation as intensely?

Four factors are at work here:-

The personality factor.  Some preachers’ sermons are intense because the preachers themselves are intense.  They are high-energy, in-your-face people.  Others of us are quieter, more reflective.  We love the Lord, his word, his gospel and his people.  …

Unhappy birthday

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I am reminded by this post by Justin Taylor that it is 50 years ago today – Tuesday, October 18, 1966 – that an event took place that shook British evangelicalism to the core.  The after-shocks can still be felt today.

That event was a meeting of the National Assembly of Evangelicals, held at Westminster Central Hall, London.  At that meeting, Martyn Lloyd-Jones was understood by many to be appealing for evangelicals to secede from doctrinally mixed denominations, and should come together in a ‘fellowship, or an association, of evangelical churches’.…

On and on

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As far as I can remember, I have only ever been criticised once for preaching too short a sermon.  And that was the occasion, many years ago, when I actually forgot one third of my message (I had foolishly tried to memorise the whole lot, and I’ve never repeated that particular form of idiocy).

It’s generally a silent tussle between the preacher and his congregation.  He wants them to have more, whereas they would quite happy with a little less.…

Ex 5 – From bad to worse – sermon notes

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Exodus 5

‘Things are going from bad to worse’

…mutterered the teenager as he reflected first on the coffee stain he had just made on his parent’s new carpet, and then on the results of pouring bleach over it.

…moaned the England football fans as they contemplated first their team’s embarrassing display in the European Cup and then on the manager’s equally embarrassing departure from his role.

…sighed the young woman struggling single-handedly to raise her two young children, who then was told that she must undergo prolonged and painful medical treatment.…

Eph 2:1-10 – Before and after – sermon notes (v2)

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Ephesians 2:1-10

Transformations.  DIY SOS, Restorations, Homes Under The Hammer, House Doctors, Grand Designs, Tattoo Fixers, Embarrassing Bodies.

But none of them attempts: the transformation from death to life.

V5 ‘God made us alive even when we were dead.’

1. Before, 1-3

A threefold tyranny: –

The tyranny of the world: v2 ‘You followed the ways of this world’.  ‘Those places, persons, pleasures and pursuits where God is left out.’  Those without Christ are slaves to secularism, materialism, peer pressure, religious fads, and the dubious role models of celebrities.…

Time for God?

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It’s about time…

We make, time, spend time, save time, give time, waste time, call time, buy time, keep time, and kill time.

The one thing we cannot do is defy time.  All the time, time moves steadily forward.  Or is it that we move forward through time?  Either way, you can’t stop it.

Some people are good time-keepers.  Victor Borge once told a friend that he could tell the time by his piano.  He demonstrated this by pounding out a loud march.  …

Exodus – Who hardened Pharaoh’s heart?

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The account of the ten plagues of Egypt frequently refers to the ‘hardening’ of Pharaoh’s heart.  Because ‘hardness of heart’ suggests to us something to do with the emotions, Goldingay prefers to think of this as ‘the closing of Pharaoh’s mind’.  There are four aspects to this:-

  • Yahweh will close Pharaoh’s mind: Exodus 4:21; 7:3; 14:4
  • Pharaoh’s mind was closed: Exodus 7:13, 14, 22; 8:19; 9:7, 35
  • Pharaoh closed his mind: Exodus 8:15, 32; 9:34
  • Yahweh closed Pharaoh’s mind: Exodus 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:8

Alexander refers to the ‘strengthening’ of Pharaoh’s heart. …

Does typology imply fiction?

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It is a well-known fact that the New Testament writers often present Jesus as the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies, or as having come in the spirit or tradition of certain Old Testament personages.  It is often inferred from this that stories about who Jesus was and what he did were fictitious accounts, with their sources not in history at all, but in those Old Testament passages.  According to New Testament scholar and historian Dale C.…

How can I turn conversations to Christ?

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Many of us are good at chatting, but have little idea of how we can move the conversation on to the point where we can share our faith with the other person.

Rebecca Manley Pippert suggests that good questioning skills are key to this.  She outlines four stages in moving a conversation on to deeper and perhaps spiritual – issues.

General interest questions

What do you do?  Do you have a family?  Where are you from?…

Ex 2:11-25 – What is God up to? – sermon notes

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Exodus 2:11-25

“Why do I bother to keep forgiving him?” shrugs the woman, after her husband has abused her yet again.

“Why do I bother being honest?” complains the employee, who has been hauled over the coals once again for refusing his bosses’ orders to fiddle the books.

“Why do we bother to keep bailing him out of trouble?” mutter mum and dad, after their wayward son let’s them down yet again.

Do you known that feeling?…