All posts tagged Preaching

How to preach about idols

by Hugh on October 11, 2009 in Books, Faith with 1 Comment

tkwayWell you could use the TK way… that’s the “Tim Keller Way”… who tends to be quite insightful on the subject of preaching and idols…

Here’s a little video about his latest book:

Keller on Preaching and Idols

by Hugh on September 30, 2009 in Books, Faith with 1 Comment

kelleroakhillAt Cornhill we’re doing some stuff about the theory of preaching. Much of the latter stuff on application comes from Tim Keller’s stuff on ‘Preaching to the heart‘ from his lectures at Oak Hill last year.

The good news is that this teaching is also going to be made available in book form as the guys at Cornhill get going on some editing for it. I’ll let you know if and when this book comes to be published, should be a good resource.

Also, there’s another Tim Keller book coming out now called ‘Counterfeit Gods’ all about the false promises of idols. It’s available from Amazon, hardback for less than £9 – pretty good deal me thinks.

Matt Chandler FAQ

by Hugh on June 3, 2009 in Faith with No comments

Matt ChandlerI’m a bit of a Matt Chandler ‘fan’… his teaching via podcast has often been a great encouragement to me. The good news is that he’s still preaching through Luke (part 39), although he’s been doing some thematic stuff on the Church and repentance… on the subject of thematic preaching Matt has a classic quote:

“I’ve got no problem with thematic preaching, as long as it’s done exegetically!”

I’m always intrigued by what makes people like Matt Chandler tick, below I copy Matt’s FAQ page from the Village Church…

Also, check out his blog…

What books have been most influential in your life and thoughts?
  1. The Bible
  2. Desiring God and Pleasures of God by John Piper
  3. Chosen by God by R.C. Sproul
  4. Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin
  5. Anything by C.S. Lewis but especially The Weight of Glory
  6. Anything by Jonathan Edwards but specifically Religious Affections
  7. Anything by John Owen but especially The Mortification of Sin
What ideas have strongly influenced you?
  1. Christian Hedonism - The idea that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him has absolutely ruined me. It shook me out of trying to be good and created in me the questions: “Does this stir up my affections for Christ?” and “Does this rob me of my affection for Christ?”
  2. Missional living - The idea of intentional living and contextualizing the Gospel for this generation and culture as well as engaging the world instead of isolating ourselves from it have shaped my preaching and living.
What books do you recommend for Pastors?
  1. The Bible - I understand the need for books on leadership, theology and history. My hope is that you would feast on the scriptures, feel the angst and awe and be overwhelmed by the Gospel of our great God and King. This book is life changing and sufficient.
What books are you currently reading?
  1. The Divine Commodity by Skye Jethani
  2. God, Marriage, and Family by Andreas Kostenberger
  3. Total Church by Tim Chester
  4. The Study of Evangelism by Paul Wesley Chilcote
  5. The Gospel and Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever
  6. Hearts and Minds by Kenneth Boa and John Alan Turner
What books have you read recently?
  1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels By Craig Blomberg
  2. In My Place Condemned He Stood by J.I. Packer
  3. Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity by Mark Noll
  4. Culture-Making: Recovering our Creative Calling by Andy Crouch
  5. Till We Have Built Jerusalem by Philip Bess
  6. Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright
  7. The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like Minded America is Tearing us Apart By Bill Bishop
  8. Who’s Your City? by Richard Florida
  9. Approaching the Heart of Prophecy by Graham Cooke

Serve/Win, Run/Win

by Hugh on March 23, 2009 in Faith, Talks with No comments

Last night I had the privilege to preach my first ‘proper’ sermon… when I say ‘proper’ I mean at a main church service – the 8am communions with a congregation of 10 is a little bit different. I got to speak on 1 Corinthians 9, but choose to just look at verses 19-27. I put a shirt on for the occasion, but kept my un-ironed jeans and dirty trainers on… it’s all about becoming all things to all men… to the people who wear scruffy jeans I became like one who wears scruffy jeans!

I titled the sermon ‘Freed to Serve’… but have since changed it to ‘Serve/Win, Run/Win’… because I can.

You can listen to the audio here…

…and my preaching notes – maybe Josh Harris could add it to his preachers notes series… maybe not

Two points:

  1. Serve to Win
  2. Run to Win

Q: How do we live as Christians in Brighton & Hove?

A: We run, and we do everything we can to win others on the way!

Preaching 2009

by Hugh on December 30, 2008 in Life, Talks with No comments

Here’s some passages that I’ll be preaching on in the coming months of 2009:

11th January  -  Matthew 18:1-11

1st February  -  Matthew 18:21-35

22nd March  -  1 Corinthians 9:19-27

10th May  -  Psalm 122

14th June  -  Matthew 21:18-22

These are all Sunday services at church, I’m guessing there’ll be more in the second half of the year not to mention the inevitable stuff that will come from Midweek services, Global Cafe talks, kids talks, leading Explorers, midweek youth groups, student groups, devotions at international college… CU’s – waiting for an invitation from the Carve! So that should keep me pretty busy.

Chappo on Personal Evangelism

by Hugh on December 13, 2008 in Faith with 1 Comment

The other month John Chapman came to Sussex, Crowborough to be precise… he did a couple of talks on how pastors go about doing personal evangelism under the title “Still Fishing?”.

He’s pretty old, but he’s still got the passion, and still got the balls just to say it as it is… so they were pretty good talks, download below:

Chappo – part 1

Chappo – part 2

Driscoll: Provocative Preaching

by Hugh on September 11, 2008 in Faith with 1 Comment

From Desiring God.

Desiring God conference – ‘The Power of Words and the Wonder of God’ – begins 26th September

Listening to Sermons

by Hugh on August 25, 2008 in Faith, Talks with 2 Comments

In the summer edition of The Briefing, Nathan Walter gives some tips on listening to sermons (back page)… he starts off with a gentle rebuke to people who say “Mark Driscoll says…”, I don’t know anyone like that, hmm… but that is always a danger isn’t it, that we hold too high an opinion of the words of [insert your favourite preacher here] diminishing both our own pastors and our personal time with God in His word. Here are his tips:

  • Vary your diet of preachers, and, sometimes, why not simply listen to an audio Bible?
  • Be wary of comparing the online preacher (publicly or privately) to your own God-given pastors.
  • Don’t forget your responsibilities as a listener. Test everything. Never listen without your Bible open. Chase up the passages and write notes.
  • Keep audio sermons in their place: like good Christian books, they can help us grow enormously, but we mustn’t let them loom too large. Nothing beats the godly discipline of reading your Bible.
  • As with all preaching and teaching, don’t just listen to store up knowledge; listen to sermons in order to put the Word into practise. Listen to an iSermon on your iPod, but make sure you also have an iHarvest of righteousness.

Some good advice. The only one I would question is point 3 – while I agree in principle and certainly would do this when listening to a talk while at home, a lot of the time if I’m listening to a sermon on my iPod I’m doing something else; walking around town, travelling, at the gym (rarely but has been known)… it’s on my iPod because I’m not in the position to sit with open Bible and make notes.

Chandler on Preaching

by Hugh on April 3, 2008 in Faith with No comments

This is one of the pre-Resurgence conference videos – Matt Chandler, Advice for Preachers… Live Preaching, Live the Gospel… burn for the text… possessed by the text…

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