Think Theology

At certain times in my life, I’ve felt more “poor in spirit” than at other times. Perhaps you know that feeling. It’s the feeling of being helpless. It’s the feeling of being downtrodden. It’s the feeling of being discouraged. It’s the feeling of being unclean. It’s the feeling of spiritual poverty and bankruptcy. In reality, [...]

“There is a difference between preaching Christ and preaching about Christ. Preaching Christ is presenting him so clearly and directly that the people experience the sermon this way: “It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified” (Galatians 3:1). Preaching about Christ is presenting ideas related to him. It’s a good [...]

Pastoral preaching has been called “therapeutic preaching,” or “life-situation preaching,” or “invitational preaching.” I would suggest that pastoral preaching is concerned with pastoral care and, generally speaking, will address a specific theme that Christians face or have faced that they need care or preparation for. Actually, I think a lot of “pastoral preaching” is concerned [...]

This Sunday I’m going to continue the second part of a four week series called “Peace in the Valley.” I’m taking texts that address doubt, failure, disappointment, and loneliness in order to provide some “pastoral care” through the messages to people who I may not have a chance to meet with in a more intimate [...]

I’m preaching through the book of Haggai for the next four weeks. Today we started chapter 1 (audio here). We’re going to study each of the four prophetic messages that Haggai gave to Israel, but let’s talk background for a minute – the background for the book of Haggai, the tenth of the Minor Prophets. [...]

This fall I plan to begin teaching and preaching through the Gospel of John. I must confess that I’m really excited to get into the fourth gospel in our NT canon. I spent 2009 working through it during my devotionals and found my appreciation for John enriched beyond my wildest dreams. Actually, my love for [...]

Tim Chester provides some notes from a lecture that was given by Duncan Forbes (Part 1 and Part 2), who summarizes why we need to preach the sovereignty of God in deprived areas by stating that, 1. God is in charge 2. God is in control of both good and bad things 3. God has [...]

“The hermeneutical enterprise also has three levels… We begin with a third-person approach, asking “what it meant” (exegesis), then passing to a first-person approach, querying “what it means for me” (devotional), and finally taking a second-person approach, seeking “how to share with you what it means to me” (sermonic). When we try only one and [...]

Dr. John S. Bohannon’s latest book, Preaching and the Emerging Church, can be downloaded for free here. It’s an examination of Mark Driscoll, Brian McLaren, Dan Kimball, and Doug Pagitt and their preaching methods.

Andrée Seu writes the following: I can tell when I am hearing a sermon on a doctrine that the speaker hasn’t experienced firsthand. It’s not that he’s lying. He himself does not realize; he believes that when he lays out a homiletically top-rate teaching, he has done all there is to do. The sermon, as [...]

Yesterday morning I worked through 1 Cor. 1:18-2:5, which has Paul offering three insights concerning the folly of God. In fact, Paul provides three evidences of God’s “foolishness,” summarized as follows: (1) A Crucified Messiah (2) The Corinthian Believers (3) Paul’s Preaching I couldn’t help reflecting on the fact that Paul is writing to a [...]

Yesterday morning I preached through 2 Thessalonians 2:13-3:5 and spent a lot of time expounding upon my love for the grace of God (audio found here). The first part of our text is as follows: ” But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose [...]

I love preaching. No, read that again: I love preaching. It is one of the highlights of my week, along with spending time among family and friends. Actually, I love everything that goes along with preaching. I love digging into the text. I love searching my heart when considering the implications of the text. I [...]

Nearly two years ago I was sitting at a Christian bookstore and started flipping through Preaching the Cross, written by Dever, Duncan, Mohler, and Mahaney (with contributions from Sproul, MacArthur, and Piper). The book was fantastic. Every page dripped with the precious message of Christ crucified on behalf of the sins of His people. Unfortunately, [...]

Yes, we jumped into one of the main “rapture” passages of the NT – 1 Thess. 4:13-18. I made no qualms about my eschatological position (Historic Premillennial, i.e., post-tribber). Yet, I also made it clear that I do not believe that this passage can be used to determine the timing of the “rapture” (harpazo). So, [...]

Three days ago I preached one of the most difficult messages that I’ve ever tackled. It was not a difficult text, but a difficult subject. We are currently walking through Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians and we arrived at 4:1-12. This passage strongly addresses the subject of “sexual immorality.”

“For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy.” – 1 Thess. 2:19-20 What are the characteristics that we so often look for in our pastors? Think about that question for a moment. What kind [...]

So I’ve been pretty busy with everything this summer and my blogging has been on slow-roll. I apologize for those of you who check here daily. I don’t know what to tell you. Summer is busy! But while I’ve been busy with summer stuff, I’ve also been working my way through Paul’s 1st letter to [...]

This Sunday I’m beginning to teach through the Thessalonian letters, though I’ll obviously be taking a quick jump into the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24-25) throughout certain parts of the letters. I had considered just nailing down 1 Thess. 4-5 and 2 Thess. 2 in order to just “highlight” the main eschatological sections but recently decided against [...]

I’m thinking along the lines of the Lord’s disciples’ prayer. Yeah, Jesus didn’t sin so the model or pattern of Luke 11:1-4 is clearly a pattern that followers of Jesus should be praying and we should all stop referring to it as the “Lord’s Prayer.” Okay, sorry for the rant. You’ll hear more on Sunday. But I just [...]

For quite some time I’ve been reading various people’s thoughts on the contemporary use and non-use of pulpits. There are some interesting thoughts out there, from both sides of the issue. And while I’ve been reading, I’ve been thinking a lot about the issue myself. Are pulpits useful in today’s post-modern culture? Are preachers essentially “selling out” if [...]

A lot’s going on in my head right now. I just spent a bit of time reading some very interesting blogs on the subject of preaching, sermon notes, the differences between lectures and sermons, and some interesting technological additions to the pulpit. This is going to be a bit random, but perhaps you’ll be interested [...]

On Sunday morning I continued our series for May on Spiritual Formation. Last week we’d discussed bible study, and this week I was hoping to stir folks up to pray, pray, and pray some more. Why? Because your spiritual formation depends upon your diligence of prayer! . But why should we pray? Better yet, what [...]

“Preach the gospel, die and be forgotten. ” – Count Zinzendorf

For the past three weeks I’ve been speaking a lot on missional living. The term “missional” has become somewhat of a common slogan used by many simply to sound cool, but we’re trying to really embody the concept. And while it is true that we are responsible for our personal and individual relationship with God [...]