“Rightly Dividing” More Right Than Ever

Cutting Straight Conspicuously It has always been essential for preachers to ground their sermons in a text. But I’m persuaded that postmodernity necessitates our doing so far more conspicuously. That is, I believe that the nature of contemporary culture compels us to establish visibly and indubitably that our content is what texts are actually saying.…

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Tentmaking Ministry in the 21st Century

(Thoughts on Full-Time Vocational Ministry versus Bi-Vocational Ministry) When I was in high school, my plan was to head towards the Georgia Institute of Technology so that I could become an engineer. My senior year of high school the Lord changed everything. He called me to preach at the beginning of that year. I walked…

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Best of Blogs: On Preaching

Just a few days ago, I read an outstanding blog article on preaching by Michael Kruger, president of the Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC. In Moving Beyond One-Dimensional Sermon Applications, Kruger outlines three categories of application for the sermon, the call to action, the appeal to the mind, and the application to the heart.…

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Going Against His Wishes: Remembering R. C. Chapman

Out of the plethora of godly preachers who have already entered into glory, who graces your list of heroes? There are plenty to choose from: Chrysostom, Whitefield, Edwards and Lloyd-Jones, Moody and Morgan, Torrey, Tozer, Spurgeon, and Simeon along with the rest of the great cloud of witnesses. Let me suggest one more worth adding…

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The Sermon and the “Sermonater”

George Stiekes Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. II Timothy 2:15 Have you ever wondered all that the pastor must do in order to prepare a good sermon?

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Holy of Life, Eloquent of Speech, Patriotic of Spirit

A Slice of Baptist History (FrontLine • May/June 1994) Samuel Stillman was born in Philadelphia on February 27, 1737. At the age of eleven he, along with his parents, moved to South Carolina. Under the preaching of Oliver Hart, he was converted to Jesus Christ. Stillman was baptized by Hart and studied theology under his…

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Be Careful Who You Listen To

Don Johnson In discussing the interpretation of Psalm 44, my friend Mark Ward observes, “Psalm 44 doesn’t just express the nation’s feelings of frustration; it expresses their faith. They still instinctively reached out to Yahweh and not to other gods.” It strikes me that we can see this on display in Jeremiah 27 as well,…

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Prepared to Stand Alone

J. C. Ryle: Prepared to Stand Alone Iain H. Murray, Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2016. 259 pgs. Reviewed by Don Johnson Noted biographer Iain Murray brings us another outstanding piece of work in J. C. Ryle: Prepared to Stand Alone. His book is very readable and presents an objective (but warm) account of the…

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