Preachers and their preaching – J.A. Broadus

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John Albert Broadus (1827-1895) was both a celebrated preacher and a teacher of preaching.  His Treatise on the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons was for decades the most widely-used and influential manual on preaching.

Hershael York claims:

‘Nearly everything written on expository preaching is derivative of Broadus’s Treatise to some extent, often massively so.’

Broadus espoused, in the face of incipient modernism and liberalism, theological orthodoxy allied to a firm belief in the infallibility of the Bible.…

Narrative preaching

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The essence of narrative preaching is that the sermon is in the form of a story.

1. Types of narrative sermon

(a) In a ‘pure’ narrative sermon,

‘the story is in no sense explained to the hearer, or commented on, outside the bounds of the narrative. In such a sermon, no introduction or conclusion outside of the story is used. The story’s introduction is the sermon’s introduction; the story’s conclusion is the sermon’s conclusion.’

(b) In a frame narrative the preacher provides some kind of introduction which sits outside the story itself. …

Machen: how important is the Virgin Birth?

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In 1930, the redoubtable scholar and apologist J. Gresham Machen published his 400-page defence of The Virgin Birth of Christ.

Towards the end of his book, Machen deals with the question of the importance of this doctrine.  Helpfully, he steers a path between saying, on the one hand, that belief in the Virgin Birth is essential to salvation, and, on the other hand, saying that it is of relatively little significance.

Machen maintained that belief in the Virgin Birth is not simply a matter of private judgement, but is, rather ‘essential to the corporate witness of the Church.’…

Mt 8:28-34; Mk 5:1-17; Lk 8:26-37 – Of pigs and demons

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Mark 5:11 There on the hillside, a great herd of pigs was feeding. 5:12 And the demonic spirits begged him, “Send us into the pigs. Let us enter them.” 5:13 Jesus gave them permission. So the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs. Then the herd rushed down the steep slope into the lake, and about two thousand were drowned in the lake.

Why did Jesus allow the demons to enter (and then destroy) the pigs, when he could have destroyed the demons there and then? …

Acts 11:19-30; 13:1-3 – Five marks of a missional church (sermon notes)

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Text: Acts 11:19-30; 13:1-3

1. Suffering, 11:19

The gospel reached Antioch as a result of the persecution that arose in connection with the stoning of Stephen.

We might suppose that premature death of Stephen was a waste.  So also with other notable Christians who died at an early age: David Brainerd, Robert Murray McCheyne, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Nabeel Qureshi.

Remember: for the Christian, no suffering is ever pointless or wasted.

2. Telling, v19-21

Well-known words attributed to St.…

Matthew 2:13-18 – ‘Out of Egypt’

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Matthew 2:13 After [the magi] had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to look for the child to kill him.” 2:14 Then he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and went to Egypt. 2:15 He stayed there until Herod died.…

Matthew 2:16 – The Slaughter of the Innocents

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Mt 2:16 – ‘When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged. He sent men to kill all the children in Bethlehem and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under, according to the time he had learned from the wise men.’

Critics such as Ehrman (Jesus, Interrupted) cast doubt on the historicity of this cruel incident because it lacks clear independent support from contemporary historical accounts.…

The nativity: a sceptic’s doubts

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In the interest of paying attention to what those on the ‘other side’ think about the narratives of Jesus’ birth as found in Matthew and Luke, I note the following from Jonathan Pearce.  Some of the objections are trivial.  Others merit more careful consideration.

The only general point that needs to be made here is that no-one is required to be able to answer all possible objections before an event can be considered historical.

Anyway, here’s what Jonathan Pearce writes:

‘In order for the Christian who believes that both accounts are factually true to uphold that faithful decree, the following steps must take place.…

The Holy Spirit creates evangelistic opportunities

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Tim Chester writes:

‘I remember hearing the story of a Christian couple in Iran. They were making a long journey, so they committed to share the gospel with someone each day. Towards the end of one day they went to buy petrol, and at the petrol station there was a man with a full beard and a gun, a sign that he was a radical Muslim. The wife said, ‘I think you should tell that man the gospel.’

…

Ten symptoms of legalism

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Peter Mead suggests that a spirit of legalism manifest itself in a number of ways:

  1. Negative attitude toward pleasing God – it is duty rather than delight (I feel like a slave not a son)
  2. Competitive attitude toward others – they don’t live up to my standard (biting and devouring one another)
  3. Prideful attitude towards self – it may be self-despising at times when I fail, but it is a self-evaluation that registers somewhere on the pride scale.
…