Preaching Christ

In the first two parts in this series ( here and here ), we discussed the truth that eloquence can only glorify God when it takes the role of servant rather than the master. We also so that eloquence starts from the heart of the preacher and primary depends on the unction of the Spirit. However, we...

George Schmidt, Magdalena, and the Bible Beneath the Pear Tree When the Moravian missionary George Schmidt left South Africa in 1744, he left behind a few converts, a copy of the Dutch New Testament, and a few trees he had planted, including a pear tree that had grown to provide some shade to his...

“How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks ” (Matt. 12:34) In the first part, we saw how eloquence can have a place in Biblical preaching only when it takes the role of servant not master. The master is the Bible. Any form of eloquence that...

Introduction “Moses said to the Lord, ‘ Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent…I am slow of speech and of tongue .’ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Who has made man’s mouth? … Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak…’” (Ex. 4:10-12, cf. Jer. 1:6-9) “For Christ did not...

If we fail to see to see the glory of Christ predicted in the Old Testament and then unveiled in the New Testament, we have failed to truly understand God’s Word. The Bible is replete with proclamations of the glory of Jesus Christ, and even the minor prophetic books declare the majesty of this...

The Book of Zephaniah unfolds during the days of Josiah. Who can forget those days? The pro-Assyrian party likely put this eight-year-old boy on the throne to placate the ruling nation at that time. However, the pro-Assyrian party in Judah did not factor God into the equation. Why would they? How...

Many people suppose that “true believers are able to fall through their own fault into shameful and atrocious deeds, to persevere and to die in them; and therefore finally to fall and to perish.” [i] This opinion seems to be supported by Scriptural warnings against falling away, and examples in the...

At our once-rural (now-suburban) church, we have two weekly prayer meetings. On Wednesday nights, we gather to pray for an hour, structuring our time around praise, confession of sin, and supplication. On Lord’s Day afternoons, we gather for just twenty minutes to pray for the extension of Christ’s...

Of all the Minor Prophets, perhaps Jonah is the most read and beloved, and certainly not for its brevity but for its extraordinary story – a story of a prophet running from God, of being thrown overboard in the midst of a storm, of being swallowed alive by a whale of a fish, and upon being spit out...

Perhaps you’ve passed over Obadiah more times when flipping through your Bible than any other book in Scripture. It’s a third of the way through the Minor Prophets and it’s only one chapter consisting of only 21 verses. But if you have not read it, pause now and read through it before continuing...