ANOINTED EXPOSITORY PREACHING
Stephen F. Olford
- This calls for faithful, fearless, and fervent preaching
- We Must Be Faithful in Our Preaching, We Must Be Fearless in Our Preaching, We Must Be Fervent in Our Preaching
- It is possible to preach the gospel without reaching the people.
- In making that statement, we are not unmindful of the pastor/teacher’s responsibility to “feed [the] sheep” (John 21:17; Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2–4). Paul’s imperative to “preach the word” embraces “teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2–3), but it does not end there. He concludes with another imperative: “Do the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim. 4:5).
- I would rather pay to preach than be paid not to preach
- He (devil) knows that if he can distract or divert us from this daily tryst with our Lord, the consequences will be defeat, despair, and disaster
- As a preacher you should read aloud, at pulpit speed, a chapter of the Bible every day. It is preferable that this be done standing, with a mental picture of your congregation.
- It is easy to go on day after day in the religious “rat race” without the smile of God’s favor.
- That is why we must be devoted to, directed by, and dependent on the Word of God. For the preacher, it must be all the Word of God for all the work of God.
- God is far more interested in what we are as preachers, than in what we do. The
- The Believer’s Attitude to God, The Believer’s Attitude to Other People, The Believer’s Attitude to Himself
- Two of the ugliest sins of the church today are judgmentalism and unforgivingness.
- A Holy Man of God
- Righteousness is our relation to God, whereas godliness is our reflection of God.
- Donald Grey Barnhouse used to say,” The man who is to thunder in the court of Pharaoh with an imperious ‘Thus saith the Lord’ must first stand barefooted before the burning bush.”
- Holiness of life is not an option; it is the obligation of a man who is born of God (1 Pet. 1:14–16).
- Alexander Maclaren once told a group of ministers: “The first, second and third requisite for our work is personal godliness; without that, though [we] have tongues of men and angels, [we are] harsh and discordant as sounding brass, monstrous and unmusical as tinkling cymbals.… It takes a crucified man to preach a crucified Savior.”
- A Happy Man of God
- The missionary motto of the Moravian Brethren was a picture representing an ox in the foreground standing between a plow on one side and an altar on the other. Underneath the picture, which spoke for itself, were the words “Ready for either!”
- A Humble Man of God
- Make it your practice to take one day off a week with your wife.
- Think of it this way: if Sunday is “King’s Day”—then Monday (or any other selected day) is “Queen’s Day!”
- The purpose of such close planning should be obvious. It has been well said: “If you aim at nothing, you are sure to hit it!”
- There must be time to review progress, revise plans, and resolve problems.
- Nevertheless, when a man of God stands before the people of God with the Word of God in his hand and the Spirit of God in his heart, you have a unique opportunity for communication.
- “…; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading” (Neh. 8:8). for this.”
- So our task, as preachers of the Word of God, is to unfold the truth in language people can understand, “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Cor. 2:4)