"The unfolding of your words gives light ..." (Psalm 119:130a)

Month: September 2012

How Long to Make a Sermon?

“Preaching is not the performance of an hour. It is the outflow of a life. It takes twenty years to make a sermon, because it takes twenty years to make the man. The true sermon is a thing of life. The sermon grows because the man grows. The sermon is forceful because the man is forceful. The sermon is holy because the man is holy. The sermon is full of the divine unction because the man is full of the divine unction.” (E.M. Bounds, Power Through Prayer, p.8)

The Ready Tongue

“The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.” (Isaiah 50:4)

“The tongue filled with the appropriate word for ministry is the product of the ear filled with the word of God … The morning by morning appointment is not a special provision or demand related to the perfect Servant but is the standard curriculum for all disciples.” (J. Alec Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah, p.399)

Embracing Every Friend

“Those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son …” (Romans 8:29a)

Several great principles emerge from this, speaking volumes into the details of my life:

  • The only goal that matters ultimately is Christlikeness. (2 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 4:24)
  • When Christlikeness is my ultimate goal I move with God, in the sweep of His power and with the confidence of eventually arriving at His designed end. (Phil. 3:21; 1 John 3:2)
  • If Christlikeness is my ultimate goal, then even the deepest hole and darkest night can become my friend. (Rom. 8:18; 2 Cor. 4:16-17)

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