Our Scripture verse on preaching is 1 John 1:1-4 which reads: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full."
Our quote on preaching today is from Craig Groeschel. He said, "Be careful not to blame yourself if someone rejects Christ. If you do, you might be tempted to take credit when someone accepts him."
Our first topic is titled "The Call to the Ministry, Part 11" from "Lectures to My Students" by Charles H. Spurgeon.
Certain good men appeal to me who are distinguished by enormous vehemence and zeal, and a conspicuous absence of brains; brethren who would talk for ever and ever upon nothing–who would stamp and thump the Bible, and get nothing out of it all; earnest, awfully earnest, mountains in labor of the most painful kind; but nothing comes of it all, not even the ridiculous mus. There are zealots abroad who are not capable of conceiving or uttering five consecutive thoughts, whose capacity is most narrow and their conceit most broad, and these can hammer, and bawl, and rave, and tear, and rage, but the noise all arises from the hollowness of the drum. I conceive that these brethren will do quite as well without education as with it, and therefore I have usually declined their applications.
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Our second topic is titled "The Qualifications of the Preacher, Part 24" from "The Preacher and his Preaching" by Alfred P. Gibbs.
This section is titled: HE MUST BE FIT FOR THE WORK (PART 9)
The servant of the Lord should exercise reasonable precaution as to where he takes his body. It is hardly necessary to say that he should avoid questionable places of amusement, where his presence would bring reproach on the testimony of the Gospel. One sometimes hears a Christian use the expression, “I can take Christ with me everywhere I go.” Such a statement utterly fails to take into account our Lord’s own words, “When He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice.” A Christian is not at liberty to take his Lord anywhere he wishes, but he can safely follow Christ everywhere He leads.
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Our third topic is titled "Tools of the Trade, Part 8" from "Biblical Preaching" by Haddon W. Robinson.
--- Context, continued
Setting our passage within its wider framework, therefore, simply gives the Bible the same chance we give the author of a novel. We want to fit our paragraph into its wider unit of thought. We do not have to find this framework by ourselves. Introductions to the Old or the New Testament and introductory sections of commentaries usually discuss why a book was written and outline its contents. While commentators sometimes disagree on these matters, we can consider their frameworks as we read through the Scripture for ourselves.
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