Preaching

Last updated: 13 Jan 2012

I used to maintain a series of pages with resources for preaching at the church I used to attend. They’re still there, but no longer being updated, so I thought that I would replicate them here and continue to add to them as I discover helpful resources online and offline. It will take me a good few months to get everything in place, but I hope to have the initial resources transferred by Spring 2012. In the meantime, rather than wait until I had everything completed, I’ve linked back to the Gilnahirk Baptist Church site while I slot the task in with the day job. As sections are moved onto this site they will start to be updated with further resources that I’ve discovered.

Preaching (general): How to …, Languages, Preachers, The Preacher and …

Preaching on:

OT: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteromony, Joshua,  Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Malachi

NT: Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, 1 Timothy, James, Revelation

Literature & Genres:  ApocalypticNarrative & StoriesParablesPoetryProphecy

Themes & Doctrines: Eschatology, Holy Spirit, Law, Promise

 

Some helpful sites

The Northern Ireland Ministry Assembly site has details of local preaching conferences and seminars. There are also free mp3 downloads of the 2008 and 2009 conferences with Peter Adam, Melvin Tinker, Voddie Baucham and Hugh Palmer.

The Proclamation Trust provides a range of resouces for preachers, including some that can be downloaded free of charge. Their blog on preaching—The Proclaimer—is well worth reading. I’ll be including regular links to postings. The Cornhill course is now available in Belfast. Details from their Web site.

Biblical Preaching is a blog devoted to anything to do with preaching written by Peter Mead, a minister-at-large with Operation Mobilisation, based in London, and Mike Roth, pastor at Pearl Church in Portland, OR, USA.

Expository Thoughts is a blog “dedicated to preachers and preaching” written by a group of American pastors. Apart from their helpful reflections and studies, there are links to many other good sites with helpful material for preaching.

Expositionalogistix is a new blog devoted to ‘Recovering the Centrality of Expositional Preaching in Christian Worship’. It’s written by Matthew R. Perry, pastor of Boones Creek Baptist Church, Lexington, Kentucky, and has some useful book reviews and other challenging posts.

Unashamed Workman is a blog written by Colin Adams, pastor at Ballymoney Baptist Church, N Ireland (formerly Assistant Pastor at Charlotte Baptist Chapel in Edinburgh).

 

Snippets

What has exceedingly hurt you in time past, nay, and I fear, to this day, is want of reading. I scarce ever knew a preacher who read so little. And perhaps, by neglecting it, you have lost the taste for it. Hence your talent in preaching does not increase. It is just the same as it was seven years ago. It is lively, but not deep; there is little variety; there is no compass of thought. Reading only can supply this, with meditation and daily prayer. You wrong yourself greatly by omitting this. You can never be a deep preacher without it, any more than a thorough Christian. Oh begin! Fix some part of every day for private exercises. You may acquire the taste which you have not; what is tedious at first will afterwards be pleasant. Whether you like it or no, read and pray daily. It is for your life; there is no other way; else you will be a trifler all your days, and a pretty, superficial preacher. Do justice to your own soul; give it time and means to grow. Do not starve yourself any longer. Take up your cross and be a Christian altogether. Then will all the children of God rejoice (not grieve) over you; and in particular yours.

John Wesley, writing to a young preacher, quoted in D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge, Letters Along The Way, page 169.
HT: Ray Ortlund

Luther’s Advice to Preachers: Watch, Study, Attend to Reading

In truth you cannot read too much in Scriptures;
and what you read you cannot read too carefully,
and what you read carefully you cannot understand too well,
and what you understand well you cannot teach too well,
and what you teach well you cannot live too well.

–Martin Luther, WA 53, 218; emphasis by JT. HT Justin Taylor

Don’t Waste Your Pulpit

Classic Piper on video clip, and so true. HT: Jay Wingard, Reformed Brethren

Douglas Wilson’s (he of Blog and Mablog) Blenheim Lectures (2008) are available for free download from Canon Press, with an introduction by David Field. The 5 lectures are entitled:

  1. The Gospel and Your Church
  2. The Gospel and Your Family
  3. The Gospel and Your Government
  4. A Ministerial Biography (Part 1)
  5. A Ministerial Biography (Part 2)

Derek Thomas reported some “bombshells” Mark Dever dropped at RTS Jackson in a series of lectures on preaching (Nov 2007). Timeless reminders of things we know, but often forget.

How Important is it to Understand the People You Preach to?
Watch Mark Discoll (Mars Hill Church, Seattle, Washington, USA)
in a brief clip on the subject. Resurgence have 15 other short video clips on YouTube

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