Our first evening session was American Steven J Lawson on 1 Timothy 4:13-16.
After speaking about the church in Ephesus adn the probllems it seems to have had with unqualified elders, unqualified deacons, aggressive women, passive men, etc. and the discouraged state Timothy seems to have been in. (There are no easy churches. Wherever we go there will be challenges) he made these six alliterative points.
1. The priority of biblical preaching.
Preaching is central. Theology must drive practice. It defines everyting. Everything good and godly comes from the primacy of God's Word. Job number one for the pastor is to preach. No church will rise any higher than its preaching. The first century church was a preaching church.
2. The pattern of biblical preaching
All three elements highlighted in verse 13 (Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching) must be present in our ministries.
They provide a grid or template for us. They are essential, non-negotiable.
Public reading. The need to centre on the word.
Exhortation. This is what separates preaching from lecturing. There should be urging, pleading, consoling, warning, challenging, applying, motivating, etc. Preaching must address the whole person - the mind, affections and will. Devotional speakers, lecturers or mere manipulators are not what we need. We need preachers who address all three, all you are. He quoted Jonathan Edwards
3. The perseverance of biblical preaching
Verse 14 Do not neglect your gift .... . There is a danger of watering down the message. There is generally too little preaching today. No wonder churches are growing weaker. It is being displaced by so many other things. To play the violin well you need more not less practice. The more we preach the better we preach.
4. The pervasiveness of biblical preaching
Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them.... Great effort is needed in preaching. Be immersed in it, saturated by it.
5. The progress of biblical preaching
That should be obvious to all. ... so that everyone may see your progress.
6. The purifying of biblical preaching
At the very least preaching will have good effect on us.
He closed with a favourite Spurgeon quotation
They provide a grid or template for us. They are essential, non-negotiable.
Public reading. The need to centre on the word.
Exhortation. This is what separates preaching from lecturing. There should be urging, pleading, consoling, warning, challenging, applying, motivating, etc. Preaching must address the whole person - the mind, affections and will. Devotional speakers, lecturers or mere manipulators are not what we need. We need preachers who address all three, all you are. He quoted Jonathan Edwards
I should think myself in the way of my duty, to raise the affections of my hearers as high as possibly I can, provided that they are affected with nothing but truth, and with affections that are not disagreeable to the nature of the subject.Teaching. We need to learn how to extract the doctrine out of the passage of Scripture
3. The perseverance of biblical preaching
Verse 14 Do not neglect your gift .... . There is a danger of watering down the message. There is generally too little preaching today. No wonder churches are growing weaker. It is being displaced by so many other things. To play the violin well you need more not less practice. The more we preach the better we preach.
4. The pervasiveness of biblical preaching
Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them.... Great effort is needed in preaching. Be immersed in it, saturated by it.
5. The progress of biblical preaching
That should be obvious to all. ... so that everyone may see your progress.
6. The purifying of biblical preaching
At the very least preaching will have good effect on us.
He closed with a favourite Spurgeon quotation
We want again Luthers, Calvins, Bunyans, Whitefields, men fit to mark eras, whose names breathe terror in our foemen’s ears. We have dire need of such. Whence will they come to us? They are the gifts of Jesus Christ to the Church, and will come in due time. He has power to give us back again a golden age of preachers, and when the good old truth is once more preached by men whose lips are touched as with a live coal from off the altar, this shall be the instrument in the hand of the Spirit for bringing about a great and thorough revival of religion in the land.… I do not look for any other means of converting men beyond the simple preaching of the gospel and the opening of men’s ears to hear it. The moment the Church of God shall despise the pulpit, God will despise her. It has been through the ministry that the Lord has always been pleased to revive and bless His Churches.
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