The Minister's Piety, Pt 5; Qualifications of the Preacher, Pt 12; The Big Idea, Pt 3

PROCLAIM!

Our Scripture verse on preaching is 1 John 1:3 which reads: "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ."

Our quote on preaching today is from Rich Mullins. He said, "I have attended church regularly since I was less than a week old. I've listened to sermons about virtue, sermons against vice. I have heard about money, time management, tithing, abstinence, and generosity. I've listened to thousands of sermons. But I could count on one hand the number of sermons that were a simple proclamation of the gospel of Christ."

In this podcast, we are using as our texts, the following three books: "Lectures to My Students" by Charles H. Spurgeon; "The Preacher and his Preaching" by Alfred P. Gibbs; and "Biblical Preaching" by Haddon W. Robinson. And, I want to remind you to take advantage of our special offer. If you enjoy this podcast, please feel free to purchase any one of these books for your personal library from the resources page on our website -- ProclaimPodcast.com.

Our first topic is titled "The Minister's Piety Must be Vigorous, Part 5" from "Lectures to My Students" by Charles H. Spurgeon. He writes:

Holiness in a minister is at once his chief necessity and his goodliest ornament. Mere moral excellence is not enough, there must be the higher virtue; a consistent character there must be, but this must be anointed with the sacred consecrating oil, or that which makes us most fragrant to God and man will be wanting. Old John Stoughton, in his treatise entitled "The Preacher's Dignity and Duty," insists upon the minister's holiness in sentences full of weight "If Uzzah must die but for touching the ark of God, and that to stay it when it was like to fall; if the men of Beth-shemesh for looking into it; if the very beasts that do but come near the holy mount be threatened; then what manner of persons ought they to be who shall be admitted to talk with God familiarly, to stand before him,' as the angels do, and behold his face continually;' to bear the ark upon their shoulders,' to bear his name before the Gentiles;' in a word, to be his ambassadors? Holiness becometh thy house, O Lord;' and were it not a ridiculous thing to imagine, that the vessels must be holy, the vestures must be holy, all must be holy, but only he upon whose very garments must be written holiness to the Lord,' might be unholy; that the bells of the horses should have an inscription of holiness upon them, in Zechariah, and the saints' bells, the bells of Aaron, should be unhallowed? No, they must be burning and shining lights,' or else their influence will dart some malignant quality; they must chew the cud and divide the hoof,' or else they are unclean; they must divide the word aright,' and walk uprightly in their life, and so join life to learning.

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Our second topic is titled "The Qualifications of the Preacher, Part 12" from "The Preacher and his Preaching" by Alfred P. Gibbs.

This section is titled: HE MUST BE CLEAN IN LIFE (PART 1)

The world's adage, "Cleanliness is next to godliness," should be altered to read, "Cleanliness is godliness," as far as the believer is concerned.

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Our third topic is titled "What's the Big Idea?, Part 3" from "Biblical Preaching" by Haddon W. Robinson. He writes:

The Importance of a Single Idea (Continued)

A novice may dismiss the importance of a central idea as the ploy of homiletics professors determined to press young preachers into their mold. It should be noted, therefore, that this basic fact of communication also claims sturdy biblical support. In the Old Testament the sermons of the prophets are called "the burden of the Lord." These proclamations were not a few "appropriate remarks" delivered because the prophet was expected to say something. Instead the prophet addressed his countrymen because he had something to say. He preached a message, complete and entire, to persuade his hearers to return to God. As a result the sermons of the prophets possessed both form and purpose. Each embodied a single theme directed toward a particular audience in order to elicit a specific response

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