Posts Tagged ‘John Piper’

Sermon: Does God Care? Part 2

Posted: May 17, 2013 in Sermons
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does_god_careNoël Piper, John Piper’s wife, tells this example of God’s providence:A young couple was snorkeling, for the first time ever, in the warm Caribbean bay, near a harbor where boats were coming and going. “The boat sounds seem very loud,” Mrs. Clausen said. Another woman nearby, who had snorkeled many times, said, “Whenever you hear a boat, look up! Don’t just assume that the boat is far away. Always look up to make sure.” She had no idea how important her words would be the very next day.

The next day, Mr. and Mrs. Clausen went snorkeling again, this time in a place where no boats are supposed to go. When Mrs. Clausen heard the sound of a boat, God reminded her of the warning, “Look up!” She looked up and saw a boat speeding straight toward her. There was no time to swim out of the way! Immediately, she dived straight down, hoping to get deep beneath the boat. The propeller of the motor hit her legs and cut them very severely.

If she had not heard the warning the day before, she would have ignored the boat. Then the injury would have been to her head or body, probably killing her. The warning that God had given her through the other woman saved Mrs. Clausen’s life.

What would happen now, though? She needed immediate medical attention, but this was a small island with no hospital and not much medical equipment. Usually, people who get injuries like hers get terrible infections. The infections can cause almost as much damage as the original injury.

God had prepared for this very moment in Mrs. Clausen’s life. A couple was vacationing next to the beach. When the man saw the accident, he ran to get his wife. His wife was a highly trained emergency room nurse. She knew exactly what to do to fight infection. She ordered the other vacationers, “Run straight to your cottages, and bring me glasses of water – lots of glasses of water!” Then she very carefully poured fresh water into and around and over every part of the wounded legs, cleaning away the bacteria-filled sea water.

Then the nurse rode with Mrs. Clausen to the clinic. Since she was there to help, the clinic doctor could concentrate on the most urgent medical needs.

It was a long time before Mrs. Clausen recovered completely, but today she is healthy and her legs are fine. When she remembers that terrifying moment of being hit, she says that there was only a split second to think about anything. The most important thing that flashed into her mind was, “I know God loves me.”

Not only is God’s eye on Mrs. Clausen and the sparrow, but His eye is on you.

1. God’s Eye is on the Sparrow’s Purpose (See Part 1)

2. God’s Eye is on the Sparrow’s Protection (See Part 1)

3. God’s Eye is on the Sparrow’s Provision 

This is the first example of birds that Jesus used in Matthew 6:25-26. The little birds works hard for their food, but they don’t worry. God feeds them. “He who feeds the sparrow will not starve His saints.”

If God feeds the little four-inch dully colored of little value sparrow will He not provide for you who are made in the image of God and made over in the image of Christ at conversion.

If God feeds the sparrow, which could be purchased with less than one penny, will He not give for you who were purchased with the precious blood of Christ. Then trust Him!

“Worry is like a thin stream of fear that trickles through the mind which if encouraged, will cut a channel so wide that all other thoughts will be drained out.”

4. God’s Eye is on the Sparrow’s Providence

Spurgeon preached a sermon on Matthew 10:29-30 entitled Providence. He said the doctrine of providence is the doctrine of the supervision and wise care of God.

A. God providently controls the small things. Not just the archangels, Michael and Gabriel, but the sparrows. Once an old farm rooster crowed and did God’s will reminding Peter of his denial of the Lord.

The writer of Proverbs writes, “The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord.” The President makes major national defense decision like going to war with Iran. Daniel writes that God puts down kings and raises up kings. I am concerned with Iran building a nuclear bomb. But God is going to protect His chosen people even if our nation does not. Like one preacher I heard recently say, when Jesus returns it will not be on a democrat donkey or a republican elephant, but on a white horse as King of kings. He is our only hope.

But God is also concerned with little things of our lives. An incident recorded in the book of Esther illustrated this truth. The very night the wicked, anti-Semite Haman built gallows on which to hang Mordecai, the Persian king could not sleep. The king asked his secretary to read to him out of the royal minutes, hoping that these business meeting minutes would put him to sleep. The servants read about Mordecai saving the king’s life by exposing a plot against him and also that Mordecai was never rewarded for his good deed.

God’s providence produced the king’s sleeplessness. God’s providence caused king to request the business meeting records to be read to cure his insomnia. God providence moved the secretary to read from the exact page that had noted Mordecai saving the king’s life. These were not happenstances but examples of God’s hand in the glove of our circumstances. God’s providence through a series of small events caused Haman to be executed on the gallows he built to hang to death Mordecai.

B. God providently controls the difficult things. “The very hairs of your head are all numbered.” This illustration was given in the context of persecution and death (10:16-28). Paul used the same example in one of the worst storms of his life in Acts 27:34. Paul used the illustration to encourage those in the storm that God would spare their lives.

This statement was common proverb. The people of Israel used this proverb in 1 Samuel 14:45 to defend Jonathan against his father Saul who wanted to kill him. The people in defense of Jonathan said, “There shall not one hair of this head fall to the ground.”

It is also used in Luke’s gospel on persecution in the future Tribulation Period which includes death (Luke 21:18). This proverbs teaches two truths about God’s providence, first, nothing will happen to you except what is God’s will and secondly, if it is God’s will for death to come, nothing can affect your eternal life.

If a sparrow drops to its death it is because the Father willed it.

Spurgeon attended a funeral of a friend and heard this parable told by the preacher. There was much weeping on account of the loss of a loved one, and the minister told this parable.

Suppose you are a gardener employed by the owner and master of the garden; it is not your garden but you are called upon to tend it, and you have your wages paid you. You have taken great care with a certain number of roses; you have trained them up, and there they are, blooming in their beauty. You pride yourself upon them.

You come one morning into the garden, and you find that the best rose has been taken away. You are angry; you go to your all your fellow employees, and charge them with having taken the rose. They will declare that they had nothing at all to do with it; and one says, ‘I saw the owner walking here this morning; I think he took it.’ Is the gardener angry then? No, at once he says, ‘I am happy that my rose should had been so fair as to attract the attention of the owner. It is his own; he has taken it; let him do what seems him good.’

Spurgeon added his comments: “It is even so with your friends. They wither not by chance; the grave is not filled by accident; men die according to God’s will. Your child is gone, but the Master took it; your husband is gone, your wife is buried,—the Master took them; thank Him that He let you have the pleasure of caring for them and tending them while they were here, and thank Him that as He gave, He Himself has taken away. If others had done it, you would have had cause to be angry; but the Lord has done it.”

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,

Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,

When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He:

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me; 

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;

Resources:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Awesome Influence of Mothers and Grandmothers, Part 2

Posted: May 10, 2013 in Sermon on Mother's Day
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A Mother's Influence

A prayer a son remembered that his mother prayed for him when he was a child almost everyday, “God help me if you ever do that again.”

1) Our mothers gave us physical life at great risk of their own lives through the child-birth process. They, first of all carried us nine months with much discomforts and dangers such as high blood pressure. They stayed up with us all night when we were sick and cooled our fevered brow. They rushed us to emergency rooms. They have made great physical sacrifices for us.

2) Our mothers, also, have made great emotional sacrifices for us. When we hurt they hurt. Our disappointments are their disappointments. When children do wrong and hurt because of their wrong, their godly mothers hurt worse.

3) Our mothers have made great finanical sacrifices for us. They supported us when we were home and still helped after we left until we got our feet on the ground.

First, There is the Spiritual Influence of a Mentor (2 Timothy 1:2) See Part 1

Next, There is the Spiritual Influence of a Mother and Grandmother (2 Timothy 1:5) See Part 1

A. Mothers protects us spiritually

Paul commends the saving faith that was in Timothy but also says that saving faith was first in his mother Lois. Paul adds that the way Timothy’s mother influenced him to have saving faith in Christ was through exposing him to the Word (2 Timothy 3).

1. In chapter 3, Paul is describing the dangerous last days in which you and I are living (3:1-13). Paul lists 19 characteristics of the spiritually dangerous last days in which we live for God.

2. The remedy for living in the spiritually dangerous last days is the Word of God. Timothy’s mom exposed Timothy to the Word from his childhood (3:14-17).

My Mom exposed me to the Word of God when I was growing up. When I was younger I did not appreciate it. I even resented it at times. I had to go to Sunday school, youth meetings, and all of the services. On top of all that, she persisted in reading God’s Word to us boys at night. I will never forget her reading the story of Oliver B. Greene’s conversion. All that exposure prepared me for my conversion.

B. Mothers prepare us for the gospel 

In Acts 14, Paul on his first missionary journey went to a small town called Lystra where Timothy lived and most likely was very bored as a teenager. In Lystra were not the required ten Jewish families to establish a synagogue. Paul healed a man who had been unable to walk since birth. That miracle must have gotten the attention of the entire small town including Timothy. Then later the fickle crowd dragged Paul outside of town, stoned him and left him for dead. Timothy saw Paul get back up and go back into town and fearlessly preach the gospel again to his would be murders. This is most likely when Timothy got saved and became Paul’s son in the faith. Two chapters and five years later Paul goes back to Lystra in Acts 16 on his second missionary journey. Timothy has grown so much that Paul added him to their missionary team.

Timothy got saved, later joined a missionary team, and even later pastored churches having come from a less than ideal home less. His dad was most likely unsaved according to Acts 16:1-3. The unsaved dad would not allow his son to be circumcised. Our backgrounds do not have to hinder us from being saved or serving the Lord with all of our hearts. When we stand before God, we will not give an account of our less than perfect parents but of personal responsibility to God.

Because Mom exposed me to the Word, when my pastor preached, God used His Word in my life. And then when we had revival services with evangelist Bill Stafford, I got saved. Most of the credit should go to Mom who faithfully exposed me to God’s Word. She planted the seed of God’s Word, others watered but God gave the increase.

Isaiah 66:13 says that God created mothers like himself: “As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you.”

1. Just like God our mothers gave us life. Our mothers gave us physical life; God gave us spiritual life when we trusted Christ as our Savior.

2. Just like God our mothers love us. Our mothers loved when we were unlovable and unlovely. When we were disobedient and disrespectful. God loved us unconditionally when we were His enemy.

3. Just like God our mothers sacrificed for us. Our mothers have made physical, emotional and finanical sacrifices for us. God has made the ultimate sacrifice for us when He sacrificed His sinless Son for us on the cross. When He made him sin who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God.

4. Just like God our mothers deserve our praise. Today we praise God for our mothers who have been used by God to bring us to Him self.

Resources for Mother’s Day

Sermons by Stephen Davey: Portraits of Mom

Ten Tips for Mother’s Day Service by Mark Driscoll

No Perfect Moms, Part 1

No Perfect Moms,  Part 2

John MacArthur’s articles on Mothers

Sermons by John Piper on Mothers

Mother’s Day Sermon: The Awesome Influence of Mothers and Grandmothers, Part 1

Posted: May 9, 2013 in Mother's Day Sermon
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A Mother's InfluenceErma Louise Bombeck was a mother of three children. She was also an American humorist, a popular newspaper columnist, and a best selling author. She wrote over 4,000 newspaper columns in 900 newspapers about the ordinary lives of suburban housewives and mothers. By the 1970s, her columns were read by thirty million readers. Bombeck published 15 books, most of which became a best-seller. For example, she wrote, If Life is a Bowl of Cherries; Why Am I in the Pits and The Grass is Greener Over the Septic Tank.

Here are some of her quotes:

“Insanity is hereditary. You can catch it from your kids.”

“My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first one being hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint.”

“There’s nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child.”

In one of her columns, she wrote of God in the act of creating mothers.

She says that on the day God created mothers He had already worked long overtime. And an angel said to Him, “Lord, you sure are spending a lot of time on this one.”

The Lord turned and said, “Have you read the specs on this model? She is supposed to be completely washable, but not plastic. She is to have 180 moving parts, all of them replaceable. She is to have a kiss that will heal everything from a broken leg to a broken heart. She is to have a lap that will disappear whenever she stands up. She is to be able to function on black coffee & leftovers. And she is supposed to have six pairs of hands.”

“Six pairs of hands,” said the angel, “that’s impossible.” “It’s not the six pairs of hands that bother Me.” said the Lord, “It’s the three pairs of eyes. She is supposed to have one pair that sees through closed doors so that whenever she says, `What are you kids doing in there?’ she already knows what they’re doing in there.”

“She has another pair in the back of her head to see all the things she is not supposed to see but must see. And then she has one pair right in front that can look at a child that just goofed and communicate love and understanding without saying a word.”

“That’s too much.” said the angel, “You can’t put that much in one model. Why don’t you rest for a while and resume your creating tomorrow?”

“No, I can’t,” said the Lord. “I’m close to creating someone very much like myself. I’ve already come up with a model who can heal herself when she is sick – who can feed a family of six with one pound of hamburger and who can persuade a nine year old to take a shower.”

Then the angel looked at the model of motherhood a little more closely and said, “She’s too soft.” “Oh, but she is tough,” said the Lord. “You’d be surprised at how much this mother can do.”

“Can she think?” asked the angel. “Not only can she think,” said the Lord, “but she can reason and compromise and persuade.”

Then the angel reached over and touched her cheek. “This one has a leak,” he said. “I told you that you couldn’t put that much in one model.” “That’s not a leak,” said the Lord. “That’s a tear.”

“What’s a tear for?” asked the angel. “Well it’s for joy, for sadness, for sorrow, for disappointment, for pride.”

Today on Mother’s Day let’s join Erma Bombeck and practice Proverbs 31:28-31 and praise our mothers. If your mother is living you can praise her verbally or if she has deceased you can bless her memory. In Proverbs 31:28-31, the children praise their mother, the husband praises his wife, and the public praises the mothers.

Paul praises Timothy’s mother and grandmother in 2 Timothy. He gets specific; he names them. Lois is the grandmother and Eunice is the mother.

2nd Timothy is Paul’s last letter before his martyrdom for preaching the gospel. He writes and warns Timothy of the coming persecution. Just as Paul is facing danger so is the church. For example, in 3:12, Paul forecasts: “All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Paul instructs Timothy how to live in days of apostasy.

So what is Paul’s point in mentioning mothers? Mothers can help us face the hard times.

First, There is the Spiritual Influence of a Mentor (2 Timothy 1:2)

Paul was, of course, Timothy’s spiritual father who must have been very proud of Timothy because he refers to him as his son over and over again (1 Timothy 1:2, 18; 6:20; 2 Timothy 1:2; 2:1; 1 Corinthians 4:17; Philippians 2:21). At some time in the past, Paul had led Timothy to Christ.

Next, There is the Spiritual Influence of a Mother and Grandmother (2 Timothy 1:5)

Apparently both of these ladies had somehow contributed significantly to Timothy’s conversion.

A. My grandmother Bare protected me physically when I was growing up.

She had TB and all I can remember was her walking on crutches or wheeling around in a wheeling chair. She reminded me of Moses’ mother who protected him from physical harm by placing him in a little ark and hiding him in the Nile.

My grandmother at least on one occasion saved my life. I was playing in my grandfather’s barn and got hot and sweaty. I saw a half empty coke bottle on a shelf and took a drink. I found out latter that it was paint thinner. It immediately took away my breath. I ran to the house and my grandmother saw I was not breathing and smelled my breath. She said, “You’ve been drinking again, haven’t you?” Not really, she moved into her EMT mode and wheeled around in the kitchen and pulled out a can of Crisco Shortening. Pulled the led off. Ran two fingers down into the white lard and got a gob of Crisco Shortening and poked it in my mouth. She pinched my nose and held my month closed so that I had to swallow the lard. As a result, I vomited up the paint thinner and started breathing. God used my country grandmother who raised eleven children in the Depression to spare my life so later I could get saved. She also saved my younger brother’s life when he swallowed a marble. She turned him upside down, held him by the ankles, and popped him on the back and the marble shot out across the living room floor.

In Part 2, we see the spiritual influence of a mother and grandmother.

Resources for Mother’s Day

Ten Tips for Mother’s Day Service by Mark Driscoll

No Perfect Moms, Part 1

No Perfect Moms,  Part 2

John MacArthur’s articles on Mothers

Sermons by John Piper on Mothers

Mother’s Day Sermon: No Perfect Moms, Part 2

Posted: May 9, 2013 in Mother's Day Sermon
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woman-pulling-her-hair-280x280I read of a young mother whose life has been totally devastated. The husband of this mother of young children admitted he was a homosexual and then walked away. Before he abandoned his family, he confessed to having a homosexual relationship with her own father, a closeted homosexual. Both the homosexual husband and father-in-law were involved in full-time ministry.

This mother reminded me of some of the mothers in Matthew 1 that God used in spite of their horrific families.

1. Tamar the Mistreated Mother (Matthew 1:3) (See Part One)

2. Rahab the Prostitute (Matthew 1:5)

Whereas Tamar was a prostitute for a day, Rahab was a career prostitute. In Joshua 2, Rahab runs a brothel in Jericho. Joshua sends the two spies to check out Jericho before they conquer the city. Rahab along with all the other Jerichoites had heard how Israel’s God had delivered Israel out of Egypt and had defeated the Amorites. She requests that when Israel invades and defeats the city that she and her family be spared.

God honored her faith and did spare her and her family. This former prostitute is mentioned twice in the New Testament because of her faith. She is mentioned in Hebrews 11, the hero of faith chapter, along side of Abraham, Moses, and Joshua. “By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace” (11:31). James mentions Rahab as one of his two examples of faith, that if genuine, works in James 2:24-26.

Rahab the harlot became Rahab the heroine of faith. Rahab who once exerted bad influence became a godly influence and was used of God to save her family.

Thank God for every mom who has trusted Christ and is seeking to win her children and grandchildren. If you have such a mother you should rise up and call her blessed.

The next mother in Jesus’ family tree was not a prostitute but she had them in her past relatives.

3. Ruth the Victim (Matthew 1:5)

Ruth was born with all kinds of baggage that was not her fought. She was a Moabite. The nation of Moab came about because the two daughters of Lot got him drunk and committed incest with their own dad. The older daughter gave birth to the nation of Moab and the younger to the nation of Ammon. The Moabites became enemies of Israel and were forbidden from entering the congregation of Israel (Dt. 23:3). Ruth was born into this family.

When Ruth the Moabite was exposed to the true God by Naomi who came to Moab to escape hard times in Israel, Ruth believed in the one true God as her own words testify in Ruth 1:16-17. When Naomi whose husband died, along with her two sons who were married to Ruth and Orpah, Naomi decided to go back to Israel. She told her two Moabite daughter-in-laws to stay in Moab and remarry, but Ruth refused because she now also was a believer.

Ruth did not allow her wicked relatives before her to influence her. Just because parents are drunkards or perverts doesn’t mean we have to be. Some children live their entire adult lives blaming their parents. Some children live in bitterness. Every person has overcome issues whether it be parents or other Christians that have disappointed us, etc.

Even though Ruth was a victim, she did not have the victim mentality. Ruth had a beautiful marriage with Boaz even though she had a terrible background of incest.

She refuses to think of herself as a victim. She is moving ahead with her life and service to the Lord.

The last imperfect mother spotlighted is Bathsheba.

4. Bathsheba the Adulteress (Matthew 1:6)

Matthew doesn’t even mention her by name perhaps to stress she was the wife of Uriah who was a Hittite or another Gentile woman in Jesus’ Jewish family tree. Bathsheba was David’s neighbor who had some indiscreet outdoor bathing habits. She was also the willing accomplice in David’s great sin of adultery in 2 Samuel 11-12. There is no sign that she was forced or raped by David. She willingly sinned with him.

She, however, evidently became a positive influence in David’s life and Solomon her son. In first Kings 1, when David is old and inattentive to the affairs of his kingdom. David’s son Adonijah, attempts to become the next king when Solomon was David’s and God’s choice. Bathsheba goes into the king’s presence to tell him of the attempted coup of Adonijah. David acts swiftly, thanks to Bathsheba, and Solomon is made king.

God uses Bathsheba to keep the line through which Jesus will descend. Matthew 1:6 says that Solomon was the link to David through whom Jesus was born. Not Adonijah!

Imperfect people are all the people with whom God has to work. There is not one model family in Scripture to my knowledge. Was Adam and Eve’s family exemplary? Their older son murdered his younger son out of jealousy. What about Abraham and Sara? Abraham was a chronic liar. Isaac was deceived by his son Jacob because of his fleshly appetite. Jacob was a deceiver. Noah got drunk. David’s sins are common knowledge. Even Jesus’ brothers and sisters rejected Him until after they were grown.

What is the Message of these Imperfect Mothers?

1. Jesus can save and forgive any sinner. As a matter of fact, every time Jesus saves and forgives a person, He saves and forgives a sinner because all of us are sinners. He can save a Tamar or a Rahab or a Ruth or a Bathsheba.

2. Jesus uses imperfect people who are forgiven. God does not condone our sin, He forgives our sins and changes us and delivers us from our sin and uses us to help others in sin.

3. Jesus uses people who come from imperfect homes or tragic backgrounds who have been abused, mistreated, or neglected.

Mothers here this morning, you are a blessing and we thank God for you. If your mother is passed you can still give God thanks for her. Everyone of us can be used of God.

Elisa Morgan is the former president of MOPS International (Mothers of Preschoolers). While she was president, MOPS expanded from 350 to over 4,000 groups in the USA plus 30 more groups in other countries around the world. MOPs impacts 100,000 mothers each year. You might be thinking, Elias Morgan must have come from a strong Christian home to carry out all that. Right? Wrong!

She writes,

I’m probably the least likely person to head a mothering organization that impacts thousands of mother’s lives for the gospel. I grew up in a broken home. My parents were divorced when I was five. My older sister, younger brother, and I were raised by my alcoholic mother. While my mother meant well, most of my memories are of my mothering her, rather than her mothering me. Alcohol altered her love. I remember her weaving down the hall of our ranch home in Houston, Texas, glass of scotch in hand. I would wake her at seven each morning to try to get her off to work.

Ten years ago, when I was asked to consider leading MOPS International, a vital ministry that nurtures mothers, I went straight to my knees. How could God use me – who had never been mothered – to nurture other mothers? The answer came, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” (II Corinthians 12:9) God would take my deficits and make them my offering to Him – and find His grace to be sufficient in my weakness.

Resources:

Arian Warnock’s sermon on Mother’s Day

Sermons on Mothers at The Gospel Coalition

Sermons on Mothers by John Piper

Sermon on Mothers by John MacArthur

Sermon: A Tribute to Moms by Stephen Davey

Garbage In Garbage Out, Part 1

Posted: May 3, 2013 in Personal Growth
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Garbage In

Dr. Walter Cavert reported a survey on worry that indicated that only 8 percent of the things people worry about were legitimate matters of concern. The other 92 % were either imaginary, never happened, or involved matters over which the people had no control.What are you worrying about now? What did worry about recently that did not materialize?

If worry is your problem, Paul gives us a three-fold remedy if you are plagued with worry:

1. Pray instead of worry (Philippians 4:6-7)

Paul simply instructs us to stop worrying about the problems of life and start praying about them. Practically, you can fulfill this verse by making a Worry List and write down the problems you are worrying about at this time. Then take your pen and mark through the word Worry and write above it Prayer. I challenge you now to convert your Worry List into a Prayer List.

Worry is not the same as concern. We should be concerned for others as Paul described Timothy in Philippians 2:19-20. Paul said concern for others should characterize the Body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12:25: “the members should have the same care or concern one for another.” Worry is selfish which hinders us from ministering to others.

Worry in self-concern. This is what Paul is condemning. This is what Jesus forbade in Matthew 6:25-33: “Stop worrying about your life, what you eat, what you wear. But seek first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you.” Worry is selfish which hinders us from laboring for the kingdom of God.

You might say, “Well I’m just a worry wart. My mother was a worry wart.” Does that give us the right to disobey God’s Word? What if your mother had been an alcoholic?

2. Feed the Mind Properly (Philippians 4:8)

The average American is bombarded everyday with at least 1500 advertisements from all the media outlets: Internet, TV, newspapers, magazines, and billboards. Each advertisement is trying to control our thinking. If they can control our thinking, they can control our actions and ultimately our pocketbooks.

MacDonalds has convinced millions of 3 and 4 year olds it is more fun to eat a Happy Meal than a Kid’s Meal at Burger King. MacDonalds beats Burger King four to one. Four kids persuade parents to drive past Burger King and pull in MacDonalds and buy a Happy Meal.

Not only has the media succeeded in controlling our minds about their products but also about morality and religion. Homosexuality is no longer sodomy but an acceptable alternative lifestyle. As a result the younger generation has a totally different view of homosexuality. Perhaps our legalistic churches who have ridiculed them as “qreers” from the pulpits have also aided and abetted the secular media.

For example, you can view the YouTube of pastor Charles L. Worley of Providence Road Baptist Church who preached for the concentration of homosexuals behind electric fences and the ultimate death of “queers and homosexual.” It is no surprise our young people are turned off by churches. God hates the sin of homosexuality but His Son died for them just as He died for every sinner. Why not corral all adulterers, drunkards, or thieves behind electric fences and not just homosexuals?

A much more Biblical approach on is Matt Chandler’s message on YouTube “Jesus wants the rose.”

What are We to Think About? 

Someone called this list “The briefest biography of Christ.” Paul fires off a quick catalogue of worthy objects. The Word of God is the best source of what to think about. Paul’s list of what could be a list of Christ’s attributes is like David’s description of the Word in Psalm 19:7-9. Look up these two references and see the similarities between the attributes in Paul’s list and David’s list.

In computer science the principle is GIGO or “Garbage In, Garbage Out.” A computer processes the information it is given. The expression “Garbage in, garbage out” became famous when used by the defense lawyer Johnnie Cochran in the O. J. Simpson murder trial. Cochram argued that sloppy technicians and racist police tainted the mountain of blood evidence and the evidence was contaminated.

Same is true with human computers or our minds. Paul’s next point tells us how not to feed our minds garbage (Part 2)

Resources:

Stephen Davey’s sermonWorry: When Your Hope’s in the Bank

The Gospel Coalition sermons

John Piper’s Don’t be Anxious about Your Life

David Jeremiah: Slaying the Giants in Your Life: Worry

John MacArthur’s A Worried Christian

You Can Love The Jerks in Your Life!

Posted: May 2, 2013 in Sermon on Fruit of the Spirit, Sermons
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LoveYourEnemies

A young woman came to her pastor desperate and despondent. She said, “There is a man who says he loves me so much he will kill himself if I don’t marry him. What should I do?” “Do nothing,” her pastor replied. “That man doesn’t love you, he loves himself. Such a threat isn’t love, it is pure selfishness” (John MacArthur, 1st Corinthians, page 329).

True love is the opposite of this selfish suicide. Authentic love is giving, sharing, sacrificing for the spiritual benefit of another person. This is how God loves.

God is Love

1st John 4:8-10 says, “God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

God sent His Son to propitiate or satisfy His own wrath and anger at sin. God dispatched His Son to punish Him for our crimes to vindicate His justice as the righteous Judge of the Universe who cannot be bribed.

God sacrificed His Son for our benefit. This is John 3:16 love. Was the world of sinners that Jesus died for deserving of His love? No! Do all the people in our lives merit our love? No! But if we are like God we will love them. One church member recently criticized his church on Facebook because of their music. Does this slanderer deserve your unconditional love? Jesus loved Judas to the end.

This God like love is not optional for believers. Jesus commanded, ”Love your enemies bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Not only do we not love our enemies we do not love people we do not like. God sent His Son to die for those who hated Him. Jesus died for those who hated Him.

God Equips Us With His Love

How can we love people who are jerks? Only with God’s love which He supplied us with at salvation (Romans 5:5). God commands us to love Him and our neighbors in Matthew 22:37-39. But then God endows us with His love to fulfill this commandment.

The Holy Spirit Produces in Us The Fruit of the Spirit of Love

In Galatians 5, Paul contrasts the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21) with the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Like salvation, the fruit of the Spirit is “not of works less any man should boast.”

As we yield to the Spirit or as Paul states it in Galatians 5:16, “walk in the Spirit” God creates this fruit in us. It is not our responsibility to work up this fruit of love. As we yield to the Spirit, He grows this fruit in our lives.

“The Christian life, the fruit of the Spirit, is a constant reckoning of the flesh as dead and a constant relying on the present Spirit of Christ to produce love, joy, and peace within.” John Piper 

The fruit of the Spirit operative in a believer produces other fruit. MacArthur calls the fruit of the Spirit, attitude fruit. If we have attitude fruit we can produce action fruit:

1. Praise to the Lord (Hebrew 13:15)

2. Winning souls (1 Corinthians 16:15)

3. Godly works (Colossians 1:10)

Just as the works of the flesh evidence no salvation (Galatians 5:19-21) the fruit of the Spirit indicates salvation. Jesus made this truth clear in Matthew 7:16-18:

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit; neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

The Fruit of the Spirit Empowers us to Love God

The fruit of the Spirit empowers us to love God. We love God because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). Jesus said, we love God by keeping His commandments (John 14:15). This is not rocket science. Am I obeying God’s Word? Yea or Nay?

The Fruit of the Spirit Enables us to Love Believers

The fruit of the Spirit enables us to love believers in very practical ways (1 John 3:16-18). Again, don’t make this to complicated.

Stephen Davey shared how some children defined true love.

Rebecca, age 8, said, “When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend down to paint her toenails anymore, so my grandfather does it for her – that’s love.”

Danny, age 7, said, “When my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him to make sure the taste is okay – that’s love.”

Chris, age 7, said, “Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he’s handsome.”

Elaine, age 5, said, “Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.”

Karl does not get it. He said, “Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.”

Lauren said, “I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.” She will catch on later.

Let me give one more.

Jessica, age 8, delivered a profound truth when she said, “You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot, because people forget.”

To love others we must give to others (1 John 3:18). A soldier boy wrote letters to his sweetheart but never came home to see her. She married the mailman. Words are cheap.

God can help us to love others abundantly. Paul exhorted us this way in 1 Thessalonians 3:12: “The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you.” We don’t have to be lukewarm, uncaring believers.

“Genuine Christian love … is the one thing in the Christian life which cannot be carried to excess” (Hiebert, The Thessalonian Epistles, p. 155).

When Warren W. Wiersbe counsels young couples in preparation for marriage, he often asks the man: “If your wife became paralyzed three weeks after you were married, do you love her enough to stay with her and care for her?”

Resources:

The Gospel Coalition has sermons on the Fruit of the Spirit from Martin Lloyd Jones, Mark Dever, Tim Keller, Kent Hughes, etc.

J. Oswald Sanders’ The Holy Spirit and His Gifts

Mark Driscoll What is the Fruit of the Spirit?

Lehman Strauss’ Be Filled with the Spirit

Religious But Lost, Part 1

Posted: April 29, 2013 in Sermons
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I had a deacon who did ministry with me once a week. One week we were visiting in a couples’ home. I witnessed the gospel to them. A few Sundays later at the invitation in our church my deacon came forward and trusted Christ as his Savior. I told him after the  service that I thought he already was a believer. He said the evening I was sharing the gospel with the unsaved couple I was really witnessing to him.

I had a pastor friend who was very effective in ministry. He confessed to me that he was not a believer and that he had been living a lie. He received the Christ he had been preaching to others. I baptized him in his own church.

Charles Templeton was an evangelists and friend of Billy Graham. They sometimes preached together. Templeton eventually left the faith and became an agnostic. He wrote a book entitled, Farewell to God. In his book he presents arguments against Christianity. Lee Strobel interviewed Charles Templeton before his death, who said, “I miss Jesus.”

Judas Iscariot tragically also said “Farewell to God.” Charles Templeton preached with Billy Graham all over Europe. Judas Iscariot preached with Jesus all over Palestine.

Every time Judas Iscariot’s name is mentioned in the New Testament, this description is added, “who also betrayed him” or “who was the traitor”.

When people hear our name, what mental description pops into their thinking? I trust it is not the epitaph of Judas Iscariot. The infamous biography of Judas is dispersed through out the gospels. We will begin in Matthew 10.

1. A Good Beginning in Life is not Enough (Matthew 10:1-7)

Judas was once an honorable name. Judas is the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew Judah. Judah was one of leading tribes of Israel. Judas means, God leads. Probably, his believing parents named him with great hope that their new baby boy would grow up and always follow the Lord. Now, however, no parent would name his or her child Judas.

Luke adds that Jesus chose His disciples after praying all night (6:12-16). Did Jesus know Judas was lost when He chose him? Yes!

One year before Judas public betrayal, Jesus publically acknowledged that one of the chosen12 was a hypocrite in John 6:66-71.

During the last week before Jesus’ death, in John 13:18, Jesus informs His disciples that He chose His betrayer according to Scripture in Psalm 41:9. So while Judas had all his co-laborers in the gospel deceived, he did not have the omniscient Son of God conned. Jesus knows the heart of each of us this very moment. Listen to John’s description of Jesus omniscience in 2:23-24. He can see through our veneer of religiosity.

2. No One Hears the Gospel and Remains the Same

A. Judas stole money

Judas had apparently had a good beginning in life with believing parents. But Judas hardened under the constant exposure to the gospel. We learn from John 12:1-8, that Judas was a “thief.” Judas judged any money given to the Lord or the Lord’s work a waste. Here are Judas’ first recorded words in Scripture. Contrast Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:19-21. Judas was in the audience when Jesus spoke this warning using the word “thieves” twice. I’m sure those words stung even Judas’ calloused heart. Perhaps the reason Jesus preached more on the subject of money than any other theme is because Judas, the money lover, was in audience.

If that sounds incredible, just think of the scandalous behavior of so-called Christian leaders today who use ministry gifts to buy $39,000 worth of clothes at one store in a year, and send their kids on a $29,000 trip to the Bahamas, and drive a white Lexus and a red Mercedes. As Judas sat beside Jesus with his pious, religious face and went out and cast out demons in Jesus’ name, he was not a righteous lover of Jesus. He loved money. He loved the power and pleasures that money could buy (John Piper)

B. Judas sold Christ

Matthew documents the gradual desensitizing of the religious but lost in Matthew 26:14-16. No one hears the gospel and remains unchanged.

A preacher once preached a sermon entitled, “Be sure your sins will find you out.” He told of Leonardo Da Vinci painting his famous “The Last Supper.” He said that Da Vinci labored several years on this masterpiece, carefully selecting models for the portraits of the disciples and Christ. Finally, it was all done except for the face of Judas. The famous painter searched everywhere but could not find just the right face. He visited the brothels and the slums. He talked to bums and derelicts, but was not satisfied.

Years passed and Da Vinci left his hometown and traveled to other cities of Europe combing the streets and alleys to find his face. Disappointed, he returned home, discouraged of ever finding the perfect model. Then one day while sitting outside the stairs of his downtown studio he saw, staggering down the sidewalk, a man whose countenance embodied exactly what he wanted for the face of Judas. Da Vinci impelled him to pose for him, and for days he excitedly painted in the last face of his masterpiece. When it was completed, the man asked, “May I see the painting?” Da Vince stepped aside as his model gazed upon the work. He seemed transfixed. Finally he spoke, “You still don’t remember me!”

“Remember you?” cried the artist. “I’ve never seen you before.”

“Oh, yes you have,” replied the man. “Seven years ago you painted me—there,” and with a trembling finger, he pointed to the face of Jesus!

Resources:

John MacArthur’s Common Men, Uncommon Call: Judas Iscariot, Part 1

Stephen Davey’s sermon “Living a Lie.”

John Piper’s Judas Iscariot

Assurance of Salvation

Posted: April 17, 2013 in Salvation
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Tony Evans says, “A great spiritual malady permeates the church of Jesus Christ today” (Totally Saved, page 145). Evans calls this spiritual disease ADD: Assurance Deficit Disorder. Many good people lack assurance of salvation.

When someone comes to me who is not sure about his/her salvation, I respond in one of two ways:

1. If I don’t think the person is saved, I tell him how to be saved and help lead him to Christ.

2. If I think the doubting person is saved but is lacking assurance, I ask him to read 1st John over and over again. John wrote his first Epistle to help believers with assurance according to 5:13. John uses the word “know” 39 times in First John. The word “know”  is found over 700 times in Scripture but the word “guess” is not found once.

Theologians teach the doctrine of preservation of the saints. More commonly it is called “Eternal Security.” The Bible, however, calls this truth “Eternal life” as in 5:10-11.

But there is a Difference between Eternal Security and Assurance of Salvation

The Gospel of John was written so sinners would believe Jesus is the eternal Son of God and possess eternal life (20:31). John wrote his First Epistle so believers who are already eternally saved would also enjoy assurance of their eternal life (5:13).

A. It is possible, therefore, for a believer to enjoy eternal life and but not assurance of salvation. Tim Challies quotes Don Whitney’s six examples of doubts with which Christians struggle.

There are many examples:

1) John the Baptist in prison sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one that should come or do we look for another” (Matthew 11:2-3).

2) Doubting Thomas on resurrection Sunday said, “except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25).

3) G. C. Morgan quit preaching for two years because of doubts.

4) Believers who suffer ill-health or nervous disorders. Sometimes women going through the change of life and men going through mid-life crisis doubt their salvation.

5) Believers who had no great emotional experience at conversion. I had a very emotional conversion but one of teachers at BJU, Dr. Robert Bell saved at age 3 did not. But he was just as much saved as I was because salvation is not based on feelings but faith.

6) Believers brought up in false teachings find it difficult not to let that false teaching cause doubts. John addresses false teaching in 3:7 and 4:1. Some teach that if you sin you lose salvation.You can be saved today and lost tomorrow, they say. One day you are a Peter and the next day you are a Judas. Read John in 1:8-9. What about those who were raised in church and once believed the truth but now disavowed the truth? John says they were never believers to begin with in 2:19. Also in 2:15, if they forsake God for the world they were never believers. Paul would have agreed with John when he wrote, “Demas has forsaken me having loved this present world.”

7) Believers living out of fellowship with God. John writes about fellowship in 1:7. But if we are out of fellowship our sins are not cleansed and our communion is broken and it is like being unsaved as far as the blessings of God in our life are concerned. For example, our prayers are not answered just like the unsaved do not have their prayers answered (Psalm 66:18). About the carnal Corinthians, Paul said, “are you not carnal, and walk like men (unsaved men) (1 Corinthians 3:3). Bill Slick has a great article at CARM on assurance of salvation and he discusses this point.

B. It is also possible for people to have assurance (a false assurance) of salvation but not eternal life. John Piper addresses this issue in The Agonizing Problem of Assurance of Salvation. 

It was this possibility that caused Jesus to rebuke the religious people of His day (John 5:39-40). They are like the foolish man who built his house on the sand. Some church members have built their lives on the sinking sands of church membership and good works.

Charles Spurgeon heard a preacher spiritualize the text in Leviticus 11:16. He was preaching truth just from the wrong passage: “The owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind.” The preacher said that the owl is a very small bird when plucked; he only looks big because he wears so many feathers, so many professors are all feathers, and if you could take away their boastful professions there would be very little left of them” (Lectures to My Students, page 107).

There are Three Tests or Evidences in First John for Assurance of Salvation

1. The Moral Test: Do I obey Christ and live righteously (2:3-6)?

2. The Social Test: Do I love one another because I love God (2:7-11)?

3. The Doctrinal Test: Do I believe Jesus is God’s Son (2:18-27)?

John repeats these three tests, but this time he expands on them.

1. Moral Test: Do I obey Christ and live righteously (2:28-3:10)?

2. Social Test: Do I love one another because I love God (3:11-18)?

3. Doctrinal Test: Do I believe Jesus is God’s Son (4:1-6)?

The last repetition of the three evidences give the order in which they occur in ours.

1. The Doctrinal Test: Do I believe Jesus is God’s Son (5:1a)?

We must believe that Christ was incarnate (4:1-3). We must believe that Christ is God (4:15). We know this because we know God’s Word (5:13).

In 5:1, John says faith Christ produces the irreversible new birth. That should give us assurance. Just as physical birth is irreversible so is spiritual birth. Nicodemus asked Jesus, “How can a man when he is old be born again? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born? Jesus replied, “No, that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Bill Maher, the atheist comedian, was debating Bill O’Reilly about Christianity and they both got it wrong. Bill Maher said he could not believe in a God who put people to death for working on Sunday in the Old Testament. The Law dealt with the Sabbath not Sunday(Exodus 31:14). Bill O’Reilly said most of the Old Testament was not literal. Have we studied God’s Word so that we could answer these men?

George Whitfield, the great British evangelist, was speaking to a man about his salvation. He asked him, “Sir, what do you believe? “I believe what my church believes” the man replied. “And what does your church believe?” “The same thing I believe.” “And what do both of you believe?” the preacher inquired again. “We both believe the same thing” was the only replied he could get.

2. The Social Test: Do I love one another because I love God (5:1b-2a)?

A. Love for God is the first evidence of salvation (5:1a).

When someone makes a profession of faith, I don’t ask them, “Do you feel saved?” but “Do you love the Lord now?” Before salvation we feared the thought of standing before God at the judgment. Look at the change salvation brings according to 4:17-18. Now with Fanny Crosby we can sing “I want to see Him and look upon His face and sing the story ‘Saved by Grace.’”

B. Love for God results in love for God’s people or family (5:1b-2a).

Do you love Christians (3:14)? Would you rather be with believers or sinners (2:19)? Every church service is like a family reunion.

 3. The Moral Test: Do I obey Christ and live righteously (5:2c-3)?

Believers do not live in sin because they love God (5:2c-3). This gives us assurance.

In John’s first statement of the Moral test in 2:3-6, he said Christ life on earth at His first coming was our example: “He that says he abides in him ought himself also so to walk even as He walked” (2:6).

In John’s expanded second statement of the Moral test in 2:28-3:10, he said Christ’s second coming should motivate us to live holy lives. There are two potential responses to Christ’s future return in 2:28-29: confidence if we have passed the Moral test or shame if we have not passed the moral test. The coming of Christ should encourage us to live righteously (3:1-3).

In 1937, the famous Golden Gate bridge was completed. At that time it was the world’s longest suspension bridge. The entire project cost the U. S. government $77,000,000. During the process of constructing the first section of the bridge, very few safety devices were used, resulting in 23 accident as workers fell helplessly into the waters far below. The toll was so significant, something had to done before the second section was built. An ingenious plan was arranged. The largest safety net in the world (it alone cost $100,000) was made out os stout manila cordage and stretched out beneath the work crews. It prove to be an excellent investment in view of the fact that it saved the lives of a least ten men who fell into it without injury. Furthermore, the work went 25 percent faster, since the workers were relieved from the fear of falling to their deaths. God has stretched out beneath the believer His everlasting arms (Chuck Swindoll).

Do you have these evidences of salvation in your life? If so, take these proofs of salvation and help someone else who is struggling.

Kevin Bauder Examines Conservative Evangelicals

Posted: April 2, 2013 in Church Ministries
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Kevin Bauder, President of Central Baptist Theological Seminary, writes in his In The Nick of Time, about the separation issue today being fought between some Fundamentalists and Conservative Evangelicals. This is a current aspect of separation being discussed by concerned fundamentalists at Fundamentally Reformed.

Who are some leading conservative evangelicals according to Bauder?

John Piper, Mark Dever, John MacArthur, Charles Ryrie, Bruce Ware, Bryan Chapell, Wayne Grudem, D. A. Carson, Al Mohler, Tim Keller, John D. Hannah, Ed Welch, Ligon Duncan, Tom Nettles, C. J. Mahaney, Norman Geisler, and R. C. Sproul.

Some of the CE organizations are: Together for the Gospel, the Gospel Coalition, the Master’s Seminary, the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, The National Association of Nouthetic Counselors, and Ligonier Ministries.

What do these men have in common?

Their commitment to defend the gospel. This is where Historic Fundamentalism started in the 1920s and 30s in the Modernist/Fundamentalist Controversy.

What are some of the differences between Fundamentalists and Conservative Evangelicals?

1. Conservative evangelicals are anti-dispensational. Bauder says CE is less vitriolic than the anti-Calvinism of some Fundamentalists. There is, however, plenty of vitriolism on both sides. Some CE doubt if dispensationalists are believers.

2. CE is tolerate of Third-Wave charismatic theology.

3. CE accommodate a more contemporary version of popular culture. The weakness of some Fundamentalists is to separate so from far from culture to never impact the people for whom Jesus died.

4. CE disagree about what to do with Christian leaders who make common cause with apostates.

Right wing Fundamentalists declare that CE are new evangelicals. New evangelicals, however, are committed to a policy of re-infiltrating ecclesiastical organizations captured by apostates. Chuck Colson with his leadership in producing Evangelicals and Catholics Together and The Manhatten Declaration represents new evangelicalism. CE reject this positions and attitude.

CE defend a different set of doctrines than the some Fundamentalists. The right wing Fundamentalists fight over the King James Version and anti-Calvinism. Right wing Fundamentalists are battling over versions, dress, and music. CE battle Open Theism, evangelical feminism, opponents of inerrancy, the New Perspective of Paul and the Emergent Church.

Some Fundamentalists insist that CE are the enemy.

More and more Fundamentalists are not entering into full cooperation with CE but they are working together in certain targeted areas. Bauder documents:

One seminary recently hosted John D. Hannah for a lecture series, and another hosted Ed Welch. A Fundamentalist mission agency brought in John Piper to challenge its missionaries. A leader who is a Fundamentalist pastor and seminary president has written for a conservative evangelical periodical. A very straight-laced Bible college sent its students to T4G. One elder statesman of Fundamentalism chose to preach in the chapel of a conservative evangelical seminary. Other Fundamentalist schools are slated to host Michael Vlach from Master’s Seminary and Mark Dever from Capital Hill Baptist Church. These steps are being taken, not by disaffected young Fundamentalists, but by the older generation of leadership within the mainstream of the Fundamentalist movement.

Bauder adds: These leaders are neither abandoning Fundamentalism nor embracing conservative evangelicalism. They are simply recognizing that the Fundamentalist label is no guarantee of doctrinal fidelity. They are aware that historic, mainstream Fundamentalism has more in common with conservative evangelicals than it does with many who wear the Fundamentalist label.

The group, Bauder calls the hyper-fundamentalist Right, reject these associations as compromise.

What is Kevin Bauder’s position?

We Fundamentalists may not wish to identify with everything that conservative evangelicals say and do. To name these men as neo-evangelicals, nonetheless, is entirely unwarranted. To treat them like enemies or even opponents is to demonize the very people who are the foremost defenders of the gospel today. We do not have to agree in every detail to recognize the value of what they do.

If we did not have conservative evangelicals to guard the borders, the real enemy would have invaded our camp long ago. Fundamentalism has exhibited a remarkable freedom from Open Theism, evangelical feminism, New Perspective theology, and other present-day threats to the gospel. The reason is not that Fundamentalists have kept the enemy at bay. The reason is that other thinkers—mainly conservative evangelicals—have carried the battle to the enemy. Conservative evangelicals are the heavy artillery, under the shelter of whose barrage Fundamentalists have been able to find some measure of theological safety.

So let’s get clear on this.

Conservative evangelicals are not our enemies. They are not our opponents. Conservative evangelicals have proven themselves to be allies and even leaders in the defense of the faith.

If we attack conservative evangelicals, then we attack the defense of the faith. We attack indirectly the thing that we hold most dear, namely, the gospel itself, for that is what they are defending. We should not wish these brothers to falter or to grow feeble, but rather to flourish. We must do nothing to weaken their hand in the face of the enemies of the gospel.

What is your position in this left to right spectrum? Admittedly there is overlap in Bauder’s labels. Most people do not fit neatly into a single category.

Book Review of Andy Stanley’s Communicating for a Change (Lesson Two) Pick a Point

Posted: December 5, 2012 in Book Review of Communicating for a Change, Book Reviews
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This is what Andy Stanley calls “a one point message” in his book Communicating for a Change. If a sermon has multiple points, Stanley says, this is like trying to drink from a fire hydrant: “You’ll drown yourself before you ever manage to swallow.” Stanley makes another accusation that in my opinion does not have to be true: “If life change is your goal, point by point preaching is not the most effective approach.” Wow! Does mean that all the preachers in the past and in the present who preach with points have been or are ineffective in maturing the saints? What about points preachers like Adrian Rogers, John Piper, John MacArthur, etc.

When Stanley says one point message, he means “every message should have one central idea, application, insight, or principle.” One problem, Stanley is trying to solve is too much information in sermons unloaded on our listeners. “One of my favorite communicators told me that on several occasions his wife has turned to him after a message and said, ‘I really enjoyed the sermons.’”

There are three steps in developing a one point message.

1. Dig until you find it.

What Stanley calls a one point message, is called propositional preaching by others. The two, however, are not exactly the same. The one point in a propositional sermon is the proposition or the sermon reduced to a sentence. The difference is finding how many developmental truths are in the text about the one proposition. Each developmental truth (point) is then explained, argued theologically, illustrated, and applied. But still there is just one point or proposition.

2. Build everything around it (the one point).

A helpful contribution here is this question every preacher needs to ask himself: “Does this really facilitate the journey or is this just something that will get a laugh or fill time?” If it is not pertinent to the main point or text, leave it on the cutting room floor.

3. Make it stick.

“Take time to reduce your one point to one sticky statement.”

Stanley says the one point of the sermon is what his dad, Charles Stanley, calls the preacher’s “burden.” “You can tell when a communicator is carrying a burden versus when he is simply dispensing information.” Stanley says, “At some point in the preparation process, you must stop and ask yourself, ‘What is the one thing I must communicate? What is it that people have to know?’”

So, the one proposition from the text must become the burden of the preacher. “The sermons that have put you to sleep were delivered by men with information but no burden. A burden brings passion to preaching.”

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