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“God loves these people!”

September 23, 2019
23 Sep 2019

Dear Sovereign Redeemer and other friends,

Though known as “the Prince of Preachers,” Charles Spurgeon would famously say to himself “I believe in the Holy Spirit” as he mounted each step into the pulpit of Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. He knew the feeling of inadequacy that a preacher often feels of doing justice to the glorious Bible truths to be handled that day, and desperately wanted the Holy Spirit to come and do a supernatural work in and through his preaching.

A different thought comes into my mind almost every time I enter the pulpit: “God loves these people!”

I am no stranger to realizing I am inadequate to do justice to the the Scripture text for the day, but almost every week I am given confidence, comforted, calmed by the unshakable knowledge that God so loves His blood-bought people that it is unthinkable that He would let my inadequacies prevent them from being well fed on His day.

That knowledge almost always banishes my butterflies and makes me happy.

Your brother,

Jason

in Preaching /by

Then Why Study?

August 6, 2019
06 Aug 2019

Dear Sovereign Redeemer and other friends,

I am finishing up “The Passionate Preaching of Martyn Lloyd-Jones” by Steve Lawson, and Lawson addresses the relationship between the essential help of the Holy Spirit in preaching and the great need for the preacher to exert himself in preparation. In other words, if the preacher will be helped by the Holy Spirit, why study? Lawson writes:

“He [Lloyd-Jones] believed the Spirit is personally involved in the preacher’s study just as He is when the preacher stands in the pulpit. Lloyd-Jones added, ‘The right way to look upon the unction of the Spirit is to think of it as that which comes upon the preparation [of the sermon]… Careful preparation, and the unction of the Holy Spirit, must never be regarded as alternatives but as complementary to each other.’ The Spirit who authored the Scripture is the Spirit who must illumine the preacher’s understanding of it. At the same time, the Spirit must enable the expositor to deliver these truths in the act of preaching. The Spirit must be present in each aspect of preaching, from the study to the pulpit… Lloyd-Jones believed God chooses to bless solid sermon preparation, not the lack of it.” (pgs 164/165)

Helpful. As I have said many times, “Pray for the preacher. A prayer for the preacher is a prayer for yourself!”

Your brother,

Jason

in Preaching /by

Worship With Us

Consider joining us some Sunday for our corporate worship service at Hill Ridge Farms. We meet from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m., and we share a meal every week after the service. Our hope is that visitors will stay and get to know us, so we always bring plenty of food. You will be more than welcome. Directions.