:: weekly update 2 :: from Integrity Church on Vimeo.
For one, I personally would want a pastor that has to deal with preaching through difficult parts of Scripture. Not everything in Scripture has to be deep and hard to grasp. But, when dealing with the character of God (issues like the Trinity, pre-destination, the end times, the atonement, His wrath, etc.) things can get a little tricky. Since I am an imperfect being, I tend to want to avoid the hard parts of Scripture. Thankfully, preaching through books of the Bible forces me to deal with verses that I typically would want to steer away from. Recently, as a church, we were in chapter 5 of Galatians. In verse 12 Paul is using a massive amount of uncomfortable sarcasm... so much that he tells these Judiazers (who think they are spiritual because they are the "circumcised group") to emasculate themselves. Now, typically I would want to stay away from explaining passages like that but now I prayerfully and obediently study God's Word with hope to bring Him glory.
"One advantage in preaching through a book of the Bible... is that it compels us to face every single statement, come what may, and stand before it, and look at it, and allow it to speak to us. Indeed it is interesting to observe that not infrequently certain well-known Bible teachers never face certain Epistles at all in their expositions because there are difficulties which they are resolved to avoid."
I thank God that I have to wrestle with difficult texts of scripture.
God is Sovereign and in control of all things. Therefore, by preaching through a book, I am not waking up on Monday morning and thinking "our church is not giving properly... I should preach on stewardship". Rather, I am saying "okay, this is where we were last week and this is where we are now". I am putting the message in the hands of God. My prayer is "Lord, use your Word to speak to our people" and since He is in control of all things, the passage that we just happen to be working through is exactly what our people need to hear that morning. Thank God that He is in control and not me!
Rather than taking a topic and using a multitude of verses to support a theme I am using one passage in context. This allows the hearer to see Scripture as whole, rather than quick glances.
I would like to say that it is a sin to preach boring sermons, but I won't. We are expounding on the great truths of the One True God and God has designed me a certain way so that my personality can come out through my preaching. People ultimately need to see Jesus through the preaching but they also hear it from me. I can avoid being a boring preacher by being real when I preach. For some of younger preachers, we have a tendency to try to be the next John Piper, Mark Driscoll, or Matt Chandler. The truth is . . . MOST of us are not going to be those guys. Most of us are just going to be Joe Preacher. Now, this doesn't mean that our preaching needs to be average but it does mean that we need to be fine with being who we are. The sooner we realize that the better for us and the better for our congregations. Creative preaching comes from finding out who we are. It comes from us trying to figure out how God has uniquely created us so that we might be the preachers that God wants us to be. Boring sermons come from the preacher not being gripped by the Scriptures. How can we be gripped when we are trying to be someone that we are not!?
My hope is that my congregation can go home and study what we are working through on Sunday. They can read through and pray over questions, thoughts, applications, etc. They also know what is coming. They can look ahead and see what we are going to be hitting next. This gives them a chance to pray for their heart to be ready to hear more about a particular passage and they can pray for me as I prepare it and they will know specifically how to pray for that.
Since I am wrestling with the tough passages, our whole church is too! This creates an opportunity for our people to dialogue about the Scriptures, which builds a since of community and accountability in our church. It really is a fun thing to watch.
The following are resources on preaching that I have found helpful:
"Christ Centered Preaching" by Bryan Chapell
"The Supremacy of God in Preaching" by John Piper
"Him We Proclaim: Preaching Christ from All the Scriptures" by Dennis Johnson
-Ben
Another good thing about through-a-book expositional preaching is it keeps the pastor from preaching on his pet-peeves. It also prevents him from preaching on a certain sin that he knows one person in the congreagation is strugglin with; thereby, preaching at that person.
I think another reason we don't hear this type of preaching in many churches is because of the work that is involved. Exposing the meaning of a passage of scripture takes a lot of digging. Many pastors are busying themselves with tasks that need to be handed off to others in the body. I've worked along-side pastors who think they need to visit every shut-in and each person in the hospital while there are people in their church openly living in sin which he either ignores or is unaware of[I digress]. Expositional preaching takes more than a 2-3 hour rap session, with some buddies, to help brainstorm a sermon the day before it is preached or using a sermon from a can.
I encourage you to continue in the path you have chosen to preach. Your church will be the better for it.
Wow! The web-site looks great! Tyler saying, "Why are you looking at me?" Amazing pictures all the way around and the content is right on
Phillip
Everything on our planet has gone viral. There is facebook, twitter, and it seems everyone has a blog. In today's culture you can keep track of everyone, check your bank account and even take a virtual tour of a one million dollar home in Monaco, all from your phone.
Blog's have taken over the internet. I think the remaining five people who don't have a blog tightly cling to that fact as an award. What I mean to say is: those people have rejected the idea of doing a blog, do so based on the fact that they don't want to get caught up in cultural trends. Their is something gratifying about rejecting mainstream trends and views just for the sake of being different. In addition, I think people tend to fear the fact that blogs are on the internet. The "Internet" tends to be feared because it could be used as a type of virtual window for a peeping-tom prying into their private life. The benefits of blogging tend to far and away overcome any possible negative. To be honest, this blog will probably become more beneficial to those who write it than to those who read it. Regardless, a blog is beneficial.
John Piper wrote an article on why Pastor's should blog which I think expresses the heart behind this blog. That is to have Pastor Ben and others within our church body use this blog to: write, teach, recommend, interact, develop an eye for what is meaningful, and to be known.
1. to write: 'if we strive to write well, we will also strive to think well'.
2. to teach: a blog provides an excellent place to communicate truth's in scripture in a more bite-sized format. not every truth needs to take an hour sermon on Sunday.
3. to recommend: blog's are great places to recommend things like books, movies, restaurants, ideas, . . . etc. .
4. to interact: blog's become great places to hear from others and dialogue on what has been written.
5. to develop an eye for what is meaningful: blog's "nurture the habit of looking for wisdom and insight and value in every situation, no matter how mundane."
6. to be known: a blog provides a way for people to know you. everyone wears different hats like husband, father, son, business owner, rock climber . . . etc. we all have different layers to us. it's good to share life with one another.
How will a 'church blog' work?
Our hope is to have Pastor Ben and others from our church body write entries. These entries will vary in focus. Some may simply be about a hilarious trip to Wal-Mart {be known}. Others may be about what they have been learning in scripture to answering challenging questions in scripture {teach and interact}. Some may be simple reviews of films or books {recommend}. Or, an entry could be about how we see God in the simple things of life {develop an eye for what is meaningful}. We want this to be a living and active journal of what's happening in our hearts and lives as a church body. Enjoy!
- Craig {the blog-master}
I love the way your site is shaping up. The photos are awesome and I can tell immediately you have a vision for your church and this site. Keep working towards both. I wish you great luck and I will pray for your success. I'm so proud of each of you that I could just bust.
(07.08.09)Great insight on 'why a blog'. I can understand better what the vision is for this. Thanks for sharing!
(07.15.09)
Nice addition to the website! Cool painting on the wall.
(09.18.09)