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Ten Commandments for Preaching
Ten Commandments for Preaching ➔ Thou shalt not put words in God’s mouth.
Thou shalt prepare and preach every message as though it were thy last.
Thou shalt not present the Word of God in a boring and non-compelling manner.
Thou always shalt point to Christ in thy message.
Thou shalt edify thy hearers to faith and obedience. Thou shalt not be one kind of person and another kind of preacher.
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Pure Religion
Religio munda et inmaculata apud Deum et Patrem haec est visitare pupillos et viduas in tribulatione eorum inmaculatum se custodire ab hoc saeculo.
-James 1:27, Vulgate
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Needing Control
The more control you seek, the less influence you will have. And the more influence you have, the less control you need.
-Dick Gregory (via Mijah)
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Overcoming Objections
Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must be first overcome.
-Samuel Johnson, sound bites with caution
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Theological Reasons for Wordiness
Theological Reasons for Wordiness ➔ Regarding (tedious) repetition in Scripture, specifically in Numbers 7.
Efficiency is not always the highest value. Slow, long, repetitions are sometimes the best way to make an impact.
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The Tinker's Ability
Could I posses the tinker’s ability for preaching, please your majesty, I would gladly relinquish all my learning.
—Peter Toon, God’s Statesman: Life and Work of John Owen, 162
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A Head Regardless
Obedience and disobedience on the part of a husband does not make him a head or not a head. He is a head regardless, but he can be an obedient head or disobedient head. He can be a head who tells the truth about Christ in his sacrificial love, or he can be a head who lies about Him through selfishness, but silence is not an option.
~Doug Wilson, For a Glory and a Covering, 58
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The Oxygen of Church Politics
Hypocrisy is the oxygen of church politics.
—Rick Holland, 2010 Shepherds’ Conference message
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Marching in the Dark
Continue with double earnestness to serve your Lord when no visible result is before you. Any simpleton can follow the narrow path in the light; faith’s rare wisdom enables a man to march on in the dark with infallible accuracy.
—Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, 155
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Ministers Learning Sympathy
It is of need that we are sometimes in heaviness. Good men are promised tribulation in this world, and ministers may expect a larger share than others, that they may learn sympathy with the Lord’s suffering people, and so may be fitting shepherds of an ailing flock.
—Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, 155
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PEBCAK Errors and OCSO Sheep
A friend of mine in the retail business shared an acronym used among his fellow-employees. Having regular interaction with confused computer customers, geniuses often identify PEBCAK Errors: Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard. I’ve sat in the middle of a few of those myself.
That same friend and I, along with a couple other youth staff leaders, were conversing about small groups. One leader remarked that we regularly run into a certain sort of sheep, and another acronym was born.
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Living Sacrifices
It is our duty and our privilege to exhaust our lives for Jesus. We are not to be living specimens of men in fine preservation, but living sacrifices, whose lot is to be consumed.
—Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, 157
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The Critical Spirit
It is not possible to sit this one out.
—Doug Wilson, The Critical Spirit. Brief but fantastic article on the differences between a critical spirit and a discerning spirit, with a reminder that we will have one or the other.
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Five Sentences
five.sentenc.es ➔ This isn’t a rule I force myself to follow, but it is a principle I practice when appropriate.
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The Atonement-Real or Potential
The Atonement: Real or Potential? ➔ In case there was any question about Dr. MacArthur’s (current) position on the extent of the atonement, take a listen to this sermon.
UPDATE [11:53AM March 12]: The transcript is now available.
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Technological Change
Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change ➔ Article by Neil Postman. His own summary:
First, that we always pay a price for technology; the greater the technology, the greater the price.
Second, that there are always winners and losers, and that the winners always try to persuade the losers that they are really winners.
Third, that there is embedded in every great technology an epistemological, political or social prejudice.
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To Be Precious
Jesus came and died and rose again not mainly to be useful, but to be precious.
—John Piper, written here, from his message at Angola Prison
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Don't Flatten the Gospels
Don’t Flatten Out the Gospels! ➔ Matt’s point about Gospel Harmonies also applies to epistle parallels.
If you’re preaching a passage from one of the Gospels and you blend into your sermon all the information found in the parallel passages, oftentimes the end result is a flattening out of all the Gospel accounts so that each of them is made to say exactly the same thing as all the others.
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Commitment Comes First
No one can go into a marriage relationship to find out what it would be like to be married to this person without being married to them already. This means that with the scriptural system of courtship, the commitment comes first, and true intimate knowledge of the spouse comes second.
—Doug Wilson, Her Hand in Marriage, 89
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Like His Teacher
God continues to give me the merciful privilege of speaking with young men who believe that God is calling them to pastoral ministry. I am one of those guys myself, though I started down the shepherd’s road over 19 years ago. The most common and critical question is, Where should I go for training?
Not only is that a ridiculously consequential question, but there are too many ingredients that defy a canned response.
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Out of Tune
Going through proper Christian motions with unconfessed sin is like using the correct fingering on a guitar with all strings out of tune.
—Doug Wilson, status