Here's something to pray for, and into your pastors and teachers, on how they (we) can better handle the word of God and teach it with spiritual authority:
- Think yourself empty. Survey a passage of Scripture in the proper spirit of unlearnedness. Avoid the proud assumption that you initially know what everything means.
- Read yourself full. Read widely and regularly.
- Write yourself clear. Aside from the essential empowering of the Spirit, freedom of delivery in the pulpit depends on careful organization in the study.
- Pray yourself hot. Without personal prayer and communion with God during the preparation stages, the pulpit will be cold.
- Be yourself, but don't preach yourself. There is nothing quite so ridiculous as the affected tone and adopted posture of the preacher who wishes he were someone else. Also, a good teacher clears the way, declares the way, and then gets out of the way.
Thank you Alistair Begg for sharing these with us.
Blessings,
Pastor Ed
The Truth in Living Color
Pastor Ed, Wow! This eNote encouraged me and was an answer to a very specific prayer. This morning I was really seeking God about showing me what 'power' really was. Was it something physical, or something like a metaphor? I know it was something I needed to understand, so I prayed with faith, knowing that a prayer like that would be answered. A prayer for wisdom concerning the power of the blood, how to appropriate it, and how to appreciate it. Then God answered my prayer...right to my inbox! Hallelujah! The power in the blood is the power to raise a life from the dead, the power to change a heart, the power to bring a lost person to Jesus! I KNOW that I KNOW, this answer is from God. Thank you for posting.
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