Saturday, February 20, 2010

dual authorship of scripture


Wayne Grudem:


In cases where the ordinary human personality and writing style of the author were prominently involved, as seems the case with the major part of Scripture, all that we are able to say is that God’s providential oversight and direction of the life of each author was such that their personalities, their backgrounds and training, their abilities to evaluate events in the world around them, their access to historical data, their judgment with regard to the accuracy of information, and their individual circumstances when they wrote, were all exactly what God wanted them to be, so that when they actually came to the point of putting pen to paper, the words were fully their own words but also fully the words that God wanted them to write, words that God would also claim as his own.


Norman Geisler:


Judging by the various vocabulary, grammar, styles, figures of speech, and human interests of the various authors, God did not disregard the personality and culture of the biblical writers when He providentially guided them to be the vehicles through which He revealed His written Word to humankind. On the contrary, the Bible is a thoroughly human book in every respect, except that it is without error. Regardless of the mystery surrounding how God was able to make His word certain without the destroying the freedom and personality of the authors, several things are clear. The human authors of Scripture were not mere secretaries taking dictation; their freedom was not suspended or negated, and they were not automatons. What they wrote is what they desired to write in the style that they were accustomed to using. God in His providence engaged in a divine concurrence between their words and His so that what they said, He said.


John MacArthur:


God formed the personality of the writer. God made [him] into the man He wanted him to be. God controlled his heredity and his environment. When the writer reached the point that God intended, God directed and controlled the free choice of the man so that he wrote down the very words of God. God literally selected the words of each author’s own life, out of his personality, his vocabulary, and his emotions. The words were man’s words, but that man’s life had been so framed by God that they were God’s words as well.

reposted from expositorythoughts.wordpress.com

preacher or leader?

here is an interesting article about the "false dichotomy" between preaching and leading. the writer, Jeff Purswell, argues that for a pastor, preaching is the most effective form of leadership. he writes:

"There is no more powerful or fundamental expression of a pastor’s leadership than the preaching of the Word. At its core, that’s what biblical leadership is: setting forth for our people a biblical vision of God and his purposes, and then calling them to give their lives to it and live in light of it (and outside the pulpit, modeling for them what it looks like)."

i think that's spot on. the question though for every multi-site church that uses video teaching is what then is the role of the campus pastor? i think he answers that in his address to pastors who have "a specialized sphere of ministry" i.e. non-teaching. he says we should be "thinking about how the Sunday preaching can be applied in the life of the church in your sphere."

[click here] to read the full article.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

power in preaching

"Power in preaching comes from intimacy with God not from trying to impress people with how much you know about the text."

- Rick Warren

Friday, February 12, 2010

Friday, February 5, 2010

credibility

a great quote from Mark Batterson, lead pastor of National Community Church:

"credibility is NOT a byproduct of perfection. credibility is a byproduct of authenticity."

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Expectation and Preaching

Here's an amazing thought from Alistair Begg about the role of prayerful expectation in preaching. He says this in the context of explaining that effectiveness in preaching comes from the Word itself in the power of the Holy Spirit rather than from the preacher's delivery.

"Do you understand that I can preach the same sermons if you would pray harder and they will be ten times more effective? Because for a meaningful preaching event, you need an expectant praying preacher and you need an expectant praying congregation and when the expectations meet at the throne of grace whereby both preacher and listeners are looking to God rather than to one another then suddenly there's a divine chemistry that takes place there."

- Alistair Begg, sermon called "Four Marks of a Healthy Church"