By James Scott
Minister, clinical pastoral counselor, life and business coach,
certified personal trainer, writer, leader, businessman James Scott has
done a few things over the years, but being a servant of Jesus Christ is
why he exists, and the greatest passion of his life is to help people
better understand, and apply, God's Word to their lives.
Trying to live a life informed by scripture will likely end in a disappointing wreck.
Wait! Don’t many of us--preachers of varying stripes--teach that our thinking and decisions should be informed by scripture?
Yes, and it's a not-quite-accurate picture of what we need to pursue.
For many, to be "informed" by scripture is to have the Word of God be
yet another external source from which we are "informed." That's
certainly not God's idea, nor the intent of scripture that we see
described in the Bible. The Apostle Paul gave definition to the goal
when writing to the Galatians:
"Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for
you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in
your lives," Galatians 4:19.
The goal Paul gives isn't one of a person simply being "informed" by
scripture; a little information does not result in a life's
transformation. Rather, it's of one where the Living Word of God (Jesus)
fully envelops the life, and is fully formed within the believer, or as
Paul put it . "... until Christ is fully developed in your lives."
To be "informed" by the Word of God is to have some knowledge which we
may --- or may not --- use, or use correctly; but to have the Living
Word of God fully "formed" within us is to experience transformation.
We need to do more than simply be informed by the Word, but to be formed and transformed by it.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
8 Vital Elements of an Easter Sermon
By Josh Reich
Josh Reich is the lead pastor of Revolution Church in Tucson, AZ, which is trying to live out the rhythms of Jesus. The church's dream is to "help people find their way back to God."
Easter is a big day for every preacher. It is called the super bowl of the Christian calendar. And for good reason. Most churches will see their highest attendance of the year this weekend. Pastors across America are sweating about this weekend, the details, their sermon, trying to come up with something fresh to not miss an opportunity.
The way we preach on Easter, though, should be the way we preach every weekend. Here are some things we should know and do every Easter (and every other weekend) in our sermons:
Those are just a few truths for you to keep in mind this week as you prep to stand before your church and open God’s Word. It is an unbelievable responsibility and a great honor.
Josh Reich is the lead pastor of Revolution Church in Tucson, AZ, which is trying to live out the rhythms of Jesus. The church's dream is to "help people find their way back to God."
Easter is a big day for every preacher. It is called the super bowl of the Christian calendar. And for good reason. Most churches will see their highest attendance of the year this weekend. Pastors across America are sweating about this weekend, the details, their sermon, trying to come up with something fresh to not miss an opportunity.
The way we preach on Easter, though, should be the way we preach every weekend. Here are some things we should know and do every Easter (and every other weekend) in our sermons:
1. Point people to Jesus.
This seems obvious, but it isn’t. On Easter, we talk about Jesus, point people to Him, and talk about how He is the hero of the story and not us, how He is the answer we are looking for. Do this the other 51 sermons you will preach this year as well.2. Preach with boldness.
I have sat through too many sermons, and sadly, preached too many sermons as if I or the preacher weren’t sure about what they were saying. Pastors, do your homework, be prayed up, confessed up, and then stand up and say, “This is what the Bible says, and this is why you need to listen.” Then say it and sit down and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.3. Be clear.
Whatever you ask people to do after your message, be clear. Have one or two next steps, that’s it. Be clear. Say, “If you want to respond tonight, here is how to respond _______________.” Leave no doubt as to what they should do next.4. The Holy Spirit likes to show up when we talk about Jesus.
That’s true, and I don’t know what else to say about it, but it is true.5. Know that everyone is cheering you on.
On Easter, people in your church will bring someone with them. This might be the first time they've brought someone to your church. While this brings added pressure to every preacher, this is also a comfort. Everyone in your church who brings someone this week or any other week is your biggest fan. They are praying for you, cheering you on, hoping that you will give it your all. They are sitting in that seat next to their friend asking God to move through you for their friend's sake. Always remember, preaching is a team sport.6. You don’t need to hit a home run.
This seems counterintuitive for Easter, but follow me. The goal every week is to get on base, not to hit a home run. Home runs are great, but home run hitters tend to have a low batting average. Get on base. Each week when you preach, the goal is to help people take one more step in their spiritual journey; that might mean salvation, but it may also mean they just come back next week. Both are a win.7. Eternities and lives hang in the balance.
There is a weight to preaching that is hard to describe and understand unless you do it. One pastor described it as reaching onto the road to hell and pulling people back. Not theologically accurate, but it is how it feels. When I preach, I think of that guy sitting in the back row who showed up this weekend telling God, “You have one last chance; either move in my life tonight, or I’m not coming back.” There are couples there who are ready to throw in the towel, students who are ready to stop living a life of purity, men and women looking for hope and answers. What you say when you open God’s Word matters.8. Give them hope.
That is the message of Jesus: hope. We are broken, sinful people who can’t fix ourselves. Trying hard won’t do it. Our only hope is to follow the Man who already completed it.Those are just a few truths for you to keep in mind this week as you prep to stand before your church and open God’s Word. It is an unbelievable responsibility and a great honor.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Why Expository Preaching?
Three noted preachers and trainers of preachers discuss the importance
and practice of delivering expository messages from God's Word. Video
features three council members of The Gospel Coalition: Mike Bullmore,
senior pastor, CrossWay Community Church in Bristol, Wisconsin; Bryan
Chapell, president, Covenant Theological Seminary, St. Louis; and David
Helm, pastor, Holy Trinity Church, Chicago.
W. A. Criswell's Last Sermon: "The Old Time Religion"
The Old Time Religion" the last sermon preached by Dr. W. A. Criswell
(1909-2002). He preached it at the 1998 Pastor's Conference at the First
Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Florida on Feburary 3rd, 1998. He was
almost 90 years old. He recounts his salvation experiance and early
years of preaching, including a time when he doubted his salvation and
how that was resolved. Sermon is uploaded in 4 parts. Dr. Criswell was a Southern
Baptist Preacher and Pastor who was twice elected President of the
Southern Baptist Convention (1968 and 1969) and pastored the First
Baptist Church of Dallas Texas for 50 years (1944-1994). For More
Information you can see: http://www.wacriswell.com/
Monday, April 2, 2012
Good Friday: 4 Preaching Points to Remember
By Ray Hollenbach
Ray Hollenbach, a Chicagoan, writes about faith and culture. He currently lives in central Kentucky, which is filled with faith and culture. You can check out his work at Students of Jesus
As followers of Jesus, we need to embrace Good Friday, which is a little bit like saying we need to embrace torture.
From that time on, Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"
Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God but the things of men."
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it."
Matthew 16: 21–25
Here are four preaching points for Good Friday:
Friday is the Road to Sunday:
Good Friday is the day we remember the crucifixion of Jesus, but there’s more to it than remembering; our task as preachers is to call people to the Cross. We want to embrace the resurrection, but Jesus calls us to the Cross, too. The famous sermon says, "It's Friday, but Sunday's coming!" More properly, the point of the story is that Friday is the road to Sunday. There's no Easter Sunday without Good Friday. There is no resurrection without the Cross. Our job as pastors is to tell the truth to His people: there's a Good Friday for all of us.
Everyone Has a Problem with the Cross:
The very idea of Good Friday causes us concern. The problem is that both his power and wisdom led him to the Cross, a brutal denial of everything he had done before. Those who had seen his power wondered why he seemed powerless at his greatest need. Those who saw his intelligence wondered how someone so smart could miscalculate so badly. Both sides missed what Jesus and his Father were saying: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone, but if it dies, it produces many.” (John 12:24) Not just his words, his very life is a parable.
It wasn’t just the people of Jesus’ day who had a problem with the Cross. The people we speak to week after week have a problem with the Cross. Religious-minded people want miracles and power. Intellectually-minded people want wisdom and truth. What God offers us all is first the Cross. The earliest believers called the Cross “the wisdom of God and power of God.” (I Corinthians 1:23–24) This is a stumbling block for us to consider today: that both his power and wisdom led him to the Cross. People prefer not to dwell on such things. After all, who respects suffering? When is the last time you spoke to your people about suffering?
You want to tell a story worth telling? Try this one: things are always darkest just before they go pitch black. And then, in the blackness of the truth—the truth that our own power or smarts are never enough, we discover that we need to rely solely on the promise of the Father.
Friday Means the Beginning of Change:
Good Friday provides the opportunity to proclaim, "Once you’ve been to the Cross, everything changes." Stumbling blocks and foolishness turn into power and wisdom. The Cross changes everything. If something’s pursuing you, then perhaps the event that will change everything for you is the Cross. If nothing is changing, maybe you haven’t been to the Cross.
Easter is indeed about the empty tomb. But first, it’s about the Cross. Why are we in such a hurry to rush Jesus up to heaven? Is it because the Cross doesn’t fit into our picture of how things ought to be? It didn’t fit into anyone’s picture back then, either. Friday is the road to Sunday. It was the road for Jesus; it is the road for us.
Jesus Demonstrated Faith over Circumstances:
Can we be honest with our congregations? Can we say, "God promises never to forsake you," but it doesn’t always feel that way, right? Here are two of the phrases Jesus uttered on the Cross: “Why have you forsaken me?” and “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” How can those two go together? Even at his death, Jesus showed us how to trust the Father beyond the circumstances.
Jesus predicted his death and resurrection. It's one thing to predict the future. It's quite another to go to the Cross willingly. At least three times, Jesus shared his destiny with the disciples. They didn’t understand. More challenging still is the fact that Jesus embraced this destiny by faith. He knew the Father’s promise of resurrection, but death still lay ahead of him. And death was still death, even for Jesus. It was his trust in the Father’s promise that caused him to wager everything he had, his very life. As a man, Jesus modeled how to trust the Father.
Ray Hollenbach, a Chicagoan, writes about faith and culture. He currently lives in central Kentucky, which is filled with faith and culture. You can check out his work at Students of Jesus
As followers of Jesus, we need to embrace Good Friday, which is a little bit like saying we need to embrace torture.
From that time on, Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"
Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God but the things of men."
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it."
Matthew 16: 21–25
Here are four preaching points for Good Friday:
Friday is the Road to Sunday:
Good Friday is the day we remember the crucifixion of Jesus, but there’s more to it than remembering; our task as preachers is to call people to the Cross. We want to embrace the resurrection, but Jesus calls us to the Cross, too. The famous sermon says, "It's Friday, but Sunday's coming!" More properly, the point of the story is that Friday is the road to Sunday. There's no Easter Sunday without Good Friday. There is no resurrection without the Cross. Our job as pastors is to tell the truth to His people: there's a Good Friday for all of us.
Everyone Has a Problem with the Cross:
The very idea of Good Friday causes us concern. The problem is that both his power and wisdom led him to the Cross, a brutal denial of everything he had done before. Those who had seen his power wondered why he seemed powerless at his greatest need. Those who saw his intelligence wondered how someone so smart could miscalculate so badly. Both sides missed what Jesus and his Father were saying: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone, but if it dies, it produces many.” (John 12:24) Not just his words, his very life is a parable.
It wasn’t just the people of Jesus’ day who had a problem with the Cross. The people we speak to week after week have a problem with the Cross. Religious-minded people want miracles and power. Intellectually-minded people want wisdom and truth. What God offers us all is first the Cross. The earliest believers called the Cross “the wisdom of God and power of God.” (I Corinthians 1:23–24) This is a stumbling block for us to consider today: that both his power and wisdom led him to the Cross. People prefer not to dwell on such things. After all, who respects suffering? When is the last time you spoke to your people about suffering?
You want to tell a story worth telling? Try this one: things are always darkest just before they go pitch black. And then, in the blackness of the truth—the truth that our own power or smarts are never enough, we discover that we need to rely solely on the promise of the Father.
Friday Means the Beginning of Change:
Good Friday provides the opportunity to proclaim, "Once you’ve been to the Cross, everything changes." Stumbling blocks and foolishness turn into power and wisdom. The Cross changes everything. If something’s pursuing you, then perhaps the event that will change everything for you is the Cross. If nothing is changing, maybe you haven’t been to the Cross.
Easter is indeed about the empty tomb. But first, it’s about the Cross. Why are we in such a hurry to rush Jesus up to heaven? Is it because the Cross doesn’t fit into our picture of how things ought to be? It didn’t fit into anyone’s picture back then, either. Friday is the road to Sunday. It was the road for Jesus; it is the road for us.
Jesus Demonstrated Faith over Circumstances:
Can we be honest with our congregations? Can we say, "God promises never to forsake you," but it doesn’t always feel that way, right? Here are two of the phrases Jesus uttered on the Cross: “Why have you forsaken me?” and “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” How can those two go together? Even at his death, Jesus showed us how to trust the Father beyond the circumstances.
Jesus predicted his death and resurrection. It's one thing to predict the future. It's quite another to go to the Cross willingly. At least three times, Jesus shared his destiny with the disciples. They didn’t understand. More challenging still is the fact that Jesus embraced this destiny by faith. He knew the Father’s promise of resurrection, but death still lay ahead of him. And death was still death, even for Jesus. It was his trust in the Father’s promise that caused him to wager everything he had, his very life. As a man, Jesus modeled how to trust the Father.
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