Friday, March 1, 2013

John Piper on Preaching... 'Nuff Said...

John Piper recently posted an excellent article on the importance of  preaching:


John Piper: Preach the Word

"No other pastoral duty should be treated as solemnly and forcefully as this one simple exhortation from the Apostle Paul: Preach the Word."
I am more honored and more happy to be in this role right now than most people can know. I am honored because what we are about here is more important than the installation of a mayor or governor. You will see why in a few minutes. I am happy because I love to be involved in the most important things in the world...

You can read the rest of the article  Here....

Thursday, February 28, 2013

5 Places to Find Great Illustrations (Part 3)

Up to this point we have covered two of the five places to find great illustrations:
1.  Your own life.
2.  Media

Up next we have...

3.  The Bible.

No surprise there, right? Think again. You would be surprised at the number of Christian youth speakers/preachers/youth pastors who do not use the Bible. Many will pull a verse out of context here or there to "backup" the life-principle they are trying to teach, but few will actually exegete scripture or illustrate Biblical principles with Bible stories or illustrations.

Jesus himself was the greatest youth communicator ever. He taught the Old Testament law, history, poetry and prophets as the Holy-Spirit-inspired-and-filled Son of God. He was The Word of God. As he spoke to children, teenagers, young adults and religious leaders, He was faithful to the text and intent of the Old Testament authors; moreover, while doing so, He used current stories, parables, and illustrations to help His listeners understand.

Why would we, as we communicate the Word of God to young people, do anything less.

Recently, while speaking on relationships, I used the story of Isaac and Rebekah to illustrate how God is both interested and concerned with who we decide to marry. While it was important for me to share my own experience and story of meeting my wife, it was crucial for the students to see how even in Genesis, God was at work behind the scenes in bringing two people together. Also, any time we can allow the Holy Spirit to use the Scriptures to speak, there is significantly greater power and effectiveness in our preaching.

Be sure to remember to use the Bible when illustrating your messages. If Jesus did it, so should we!

For parts 4 & 5 click here...

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Are you teaching the Gospel or Moralism/Motivationalism

Wow.

I ran across this guest post by David Hertweck on Doug Fields' blog the other day.

All I can say is that it is a timely word for the American church.

Click here.