INTRODUCTION:This Lord’s Day is the first after our Thanksgiving holiday, and is also the first Sunday in Advent. Because we want to stand against what might be called morbid penitentialism, we want this season to be suffused with a glad anticipation. The only conviction we want to awaken would be a spirit of penitence for …
And Continues With Gathering Force
“The glory of Zion is revealed with the gathering in of all the nations of the earth and the homage of even the Gentile kings. For Paul Christian preaching is nothing less than the proclamation that this age has come. The Scriptures have been fulfilled” (Hughes Oliphant Old, The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures, …
Straight Up the Middle
“Today the principle that faith comes by hearing counters the idea that church growth is just a matter of sociology or demographics or something programmed by church administrators. Evangelism is not a matter of psychology and especially not mass psychology. Neither is it a matter of communication techniques or how to win friends and influence …
The Wine of Astonishment
INTRODUCTION: This psalm begins in a disastrous period in Israel’s history, and ends with disaster for her enemies and foes. It begins with Israel drinking the wine of astonishment at her peril and impending calamity, and ends with Moab and Edom thrown down. It begins with Israel facing potential disaster, and ends with her enemies …
Foundations for Worship
“The incarnation of the Word leads to the proclamation of the Word, and this proclamation is in the end the establishing of communion, both with God and with the worshiping congregation. To put it succinctly, the apostolic proclamation of the Word is the basis of worship” (Hughes Oliphant Old, The Reading and Preaching of the …
Most of the Sermon is Unspoken
“Preaching must intimate more than it defines. The power of suggestion is one of preaching’s greatest strengths” (Hughes Oliphant Old, The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures, Vol. 1, p. 146).
From the Start
“Jesus was preeminently a preacher of the Word . . . His three-year ministry was above all a preaching ministry. Those who continued his ministry, the apostles, were preeminently preachers as well, as evidenced by the Acts of the Apostles and the New Testament Epistles. Christianity from its earliest beginnings was a preaching religion” (Hughes …
An Angular Grace
“Preaching, especially prophetic preaching, demands a special charisma. It is not always easy to tell when preachers have this special grace. In time, however, we will know them by the fruit of their preaching” (Hughes Oliphant Old, The Reading and Preaching of Scripture, Vol. 1, p. 59).
The Whole Thing Entire
“One approaches the hearing of the Word of God not as one approaches the eating of nuts — cracking the shell, eating the meat of the nut, and throwing the shell away. Rather, one approaches the Word of God as one eats grapes — eating the whole thing, skin, pulp, and seeds” (Hughes Oliphant Old, …
Deception and War
INTRODUCTION:Here is yet another psalm from yet another time when David was in trouble. The inscription says that it was the incident in which Saul’s daughter, Michal, helped David to escape when Saul’s men were watching their house. THE TEXT:To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David; when Saul sent, and they watched the house …