Archive for the ‘Blog Post’ Category

This past week, I reflected on the first sermon I ever preached and suggested eight tips for the beginning preacher. I wish someone had given me those eight tips years ago—my beginner sermons would have gone infinitely better.

That first sermon was nearly 20 years ago. Now, I find myself at a different stage of life and ministry, with a different set of concerns and observations. Today, as a more veteran preacher, I keep these eight tips in the back of my mind: Read more

Peter most earnestly exhorted the scattered saints to love each other “with a pure heart fervently” and he wisely fetched his argument, not from the law, from nature, or from philosophy, but from that high and divine nature which God hath implanted in his people. Just as some judicious tutor of princes might labour to beget and foster in them a kingly spirit and dignified behaviour, finding arguments in their position and descent, so, looking upon God’s people as heirs of glory, princes of the blood royal, descendants of the King of kings, earth’s truest and oldest aristocracy, Peter saith to them, “See that ye love one another, because of your noble birth, being born of incorruptible seed; because of your pedigree, being descended from God, the Creator of all things; and because of your immortal destiny, for you shall never pass away, though the glory of the flesh shall fade, and even its existence shall cease.” Read more

In hindsight, my first sermon was an absolute train wreck. Even now, I pray it was not recorded and that it does not someday surface in my life. My feeble attempt to preach was earnest, but the finished product was no doubt laughable.

Looking back, there are a few tips I wish I had been given as a beginning preacher. Let me share eight of them with you: Read more

In every era, Christians are called “to contend earnestly for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints.”[1] Some struggles recur in every generation. Battles such as the veracity of Scripture or the person and work of Christ are perennial ones. The church, again and again, has to articulate and defend these doctrines.

Yet, the church and truth enjoy a symbiotic relationship. The church is called to proclaim and practice the truth. After all, the Apostle Paul designates the church as “the pillar and support of the truth.”[2] Read more

How does a pastor most healthily balance ministerial service with family time? This tension is felt by all who serve the church, and resides just under the surface in many congregations. Sadly, many men leave the ministry due to erring one way or the other in what is often a delicate balance. Read more