“We ought to be driven forth with abhorrence from the society of honest men for daring to speak in the name of the Lord if the Spirit of God rests not upon us . . . If we have not the Spirit which Jesus promised, we cannot perform the commission which Jesus gave” (Al Martin, …
Pastoral Competence
One of the accusations leveled against conservative believers is the common charge that our pastors are not professionally trained or certified, and consequently, when it comes to counseling parishioners, are in way over their heads. Whether the issue is clinical depression, or dealing with childhood abuse, or fighting addiction, or any other number of serious …
Anatomy of Plagiarism
Introduction One of the things God expects us to do with His gifts is to turn a profit. We live as stewards of His bounty, and everything we have has been left to us in trust. When the master returns, he asks for a report from his servants. One made five talents off of five, …
Bully Pulpit or Pulpit Bully?
So once again it is time to discuss pastoral combativeness as a virtue. This is not to say that pastors have some sort of a double-00 rating allowing them to be pugnacious or difficult to get along with. On the contrary, Scripture plainly teaches that one of the qualifications for ministry is that a man …
Pulpit Honesty
“Stealing sermons is utterly indefensible. A preacher ought to be an honest man throughout. Sincerity, godly sincerity, should characterize him intellectually, as well as morally. His plans ought to be the genuine work of his own brain” (Shedd, Homiletics and Pastoral Theology, p. 121)
21 Maxims for Discouraged Pastors
1. The ministry is hard, exacting work. “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). In 2 Tim. 2:3-6, the apostle Paul compares the work of ministry to three vocations, and all of them involve a goodly …
Including What You Find on the Internet . . .
“This maxim forbids the use of skeletons and sermons of other sermonizers, in the process of composition . . . These collections of skeletons and plans, more or less filled up, which seem to be multiplying along with the general multiplication of books, ought to be entirely neglected and rejected, by both the theological student …
That’s What He Does
“It is fitting that the preacher should be characterized by a homiletical tendency, as that the poet should be characterized by a poetic tendency” (Shedd, Homiletics and Pastoral Theology, p. 108)
Beauty Works Out
“It is too much the habit to regard beauty, as mere ornamentation; as something that is added to other properties, instead of growing out of them . . . if the definition that has been given be the true one, beauty is rather an inevitable accompaniment, than a labored decoration” (Shedd, Homiletics and Pastoral Theology, …
Asahel’s Carcass
“Many preachers in our days are like Heraclitus, who was called the dark doctor. They affect sublime notions, obscure expressions, and uncouth phrases, making plain truths difficult, and easy truths hard. ‘They darken counsel with words without knowledge.’ Studied expressions and high notions in a sermon, are like Asahel’s carcass in the way, that did …