Giving Ourselves ‘to the Utmost’

There is an undoubted physicality to preaching. 18th Century Baptist, John Gill, evidently knew this by experience:

“Far from being ‘grim’ and ‘high and dry’ when preaching, Gill was very emotional and pleading in his urgent delivery and gave himself to the utmost, often descending the pulpit stairs in exhaustion after his sermon was over. His kind hearers in the pews nearest the pulpit always took a supply of large handkerchiefs with them to the services. As their pastor warmed to the subject, he would sweat profusely and then his hearers would pass handkerchief after handkerchief up to the pulpit so that Gill could wipe his brow and face. A ‘normal’ sermon would be accompanied by three or four handkerchiefs being put to this use. Funeral services tried Gill the most and these were occasions when much laundering after the service!”

(John Gill and the Cause of God and Truth, Goerge M Ellla, p189)

Ryken Farwell

I found this very moving. And I’m sure something that will resonate with anyone who has ‘had’ to leave a church they love.

Conference Audio – 9 Marks

This will only be online for 60 days. The audio from the recent 9 marks workshop. A few of the links will take longer to go live.

Session 1  –  Questions about the Church (Mark Dever)

Session 1  – Q & A

Session 2 –  Preaching and Biblical Theology (Colin Adams)

Sesssion 2 – Q & A

Session 3 –  The Gospel and Evangelism (Mike Gilbart-Smith)

Session 3  – Q & A

Session 4 –  Church Membership & Discipline (Mark Dever)

Session 4 – Q & A

Session 5 – Church Leadership (Mike Gilbart-Smith)

Session 6 – Covenanting Together (Mark Dever)

That was fun…

Thanks everyone who worked their socks off to make 9 Marks Northern Ireland so profitable. Mark and Mike, you blessed us with your time and wisdom.  The following links will certainly be helpful to those who attended: 9 Marks website, 9 Marks e-journal, 9 Marks audio interviews, Mark’s sermons, Mike’s sermons.

Forget the Experts

“Let a good expositional ministry be established and watch what happens. Forget what the experts say. Watch hungry people have their lives transformed as the living God speaks to them through the power of His Word.”

(Dever, 9 Marks of a Healthy Church)

The Task Is Not Finished…

(HT: Paul Rees)

Dever….In Days

Really looking forward to having Mark Dever and Mike Gilbart Smith here in Northern Ireland next week (D.V). Pastor Dever is at Charlotte Chapel Edinburgh, this weekend. There is still opportunity to sign up for these 9marks workshops.

I recently enjoyed listening to these two talks by Mark:

MP3s

• The Pastor
• The Church

Summaries

• The Pastor
• The Church

…and this tour of his study….

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Long-Haul Evangelism

This is an inspiring story. John MacArthur, on how God used his witness over a 50 year period, to finally bring someone to Christ.

Preacher Power

The following quote first subdues my pride (‘my preaching cannot save a single soul’) but then lifts me from despair (‘God’s Spirit can’!):

“The gospel is preached in the ears of all men; it only comes with power to some. The power that is in the gospel does not lie in the eloquence of the preacher otherwise men would be converters of souls. Nor does it lie in the preacher’s learning; otherwise it could consists of the wisdom of men. We might preach till our tongues rotted, till we should exhaust our lungs and die, but never a soul would be converted unless there were mysterious power going with it – the Holy Ghost changing the will of man. O Sirs! We might as well preach to stone walls as preach to humanity unless the Holy Ghost be with the word, to give it power to convert the soul.” (Charles Spurgeon, quoted in Stott, I Believe in Preaching, 335)

Or as Paul put it:

“…our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.” (1 Thessalonians 1:5)