Tag: Preaching

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Simplicity in Preaching Book Review by Jeff Bush

By JC Ryle 

  • Unless you are simple in your preaching, you cannot be understood, and if you cannot be understood, you are of no good to the listeners. 
  • No greater mistake can be made than supposing you can easily be understood. 
  • The majority of preachers preach over the head of their listeners. 
  • It is not easy to write a clear and straightforward sermon that can be easily understood. 
  • To write what is simple, striking. and easily understood is a rather hard thing. 
  • If you are going to attain simplicity in preaching, you must have a good understanding of your subject. 
  • Do not preach on an obscure passage that you do not know or understand. 
  • Be careful of spiritualizing and drawing out something that the Holy Spirit never put in the text. 
  • If you want to be simple, there must be order your sermon.
  • If you do not understand a passage or subject, you cannot make it simple; and if you do not make it simple, it will not be understood.
  • Use simple words. Simple words, are not words of one syllable rather words that are commonly used.
  • Use antidotes and illustrations. Look at the sermons of Jesus, He referred to the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, the sheep, the goats, etc.
  • The best speaker can turn the ear into an eye, causing people to imagine and see.
  • You will never preach with simplicity without a lot of hard work. Take time to prepare and develop your sermons.
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Planting by Pastoring Book Review by Jeff Bush

By Nathan Knight 

  • Don’t look at the best business models, look to God. 
  • We love size and speed, but a church can grow and be healthy without those. 
  • Most authors and church planters say that size and speed are important in church planting, but when we go to Scripture, the narrative of God is more on slowness. Consider Abraham and Sarah who were childless for 25 years after being told they would have a child. Consider Israel who was is in slavery in Egypt for 420 years. Or consider the coming of Christ in which thousands of years have passed.
  • The essence of a church is not their financial stability.
  • Multiplication does not come at the expense of depth. 
  • Planting by pastoring is glorious and grace filled, but it is not efficient. It takes time and energy. 
  • Evangelism is not the finish line in church planting. 
  • We want to know names, not just see numbers. We want to know stories, not just statistics. 
  • We plant churches to pastor people individually so we can worship Jesus collectively.
  • What if Jesus did not intend for churches to look like McDonald’s serving a billion people, rather look like your kitchen to serve your family and friends?
  • Pastor’s sacrifice for their sheep
  • Jesus knew His people and His people knew Him. He pastored them as names and not numbers.
  • The foundation of the church is Jesus and His Gospel. If you are a church planter, you should ask yourself what lies at the foundation of this thing that you are spending so much time building. 
  • Let the size and significance of the church you are planting take care of themselves. Slow down and press the Gospel into the lives of the people just as Jesus did.
  • The people need to know that you are wanting to help them, not get something from them. You are a pastor, not an entrepreneur.
  • Jesus gathered men before He ever held a public campaign or evangelistic effort.
  • A planter pastor must have character, competence, and compassion. 
  • Charisma might attract people on the front end, but it rarely endures. Your love for Jesus will keep you there, not your charisma. 
  • The power is in the Gospel. A magnetic personality and eloquent composure is nice to have, but they are bonus, extra, and unnecessary. 
  • If you are planting churches to be respected, heard, and esteemed, you are doing so for the wrong reasons.
  • Plant churches for the identity of Jesus, not to find or focus on your own identity.
  • Our areas do not need community centers and places of entertainment, they need a church where Christ is preached.
  • If you’re going to plant a church you need to be sent out by a church. A church that will love you and lead you.
  • A church planting team will minimize weaknesses and maximize effectiveness. Throughout the Bible, we see teams going out. Paul and Barnabas, Jesus and the disciples, and even many letters that Paul signed included a team of people.
  • In planting a church, we can get so involved with a list of what needs done and neglect our own souls. 
  • A team helps you with encouragement and accountability.
  • Prayer is your lifeline to God. Prayer is essential.
  • You should allow people to challenge your thinking. Is the place you are wanting to go truly a place of need? 
  • When, choosing a city, ask yourself if you are reflecting the need of Romans 15:19–20.
  • Preach, pray, love, and stay in a community. 
  • Love people, not programs.
  • Use as many evangelistic tools as possible, but one of the best tools will be the church members’ influence on other people.
  • Church planters can rest in God’s fruit as they faithfully scatter the seed.
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Perspectives on Missions Book Review by Jeff Bush

by Dr. Don Sisk

  • There are many enemies. If you do not believe it, consider this: there are more than 5 million fundamental Baptist Christians in America today. But these 5 million Christians have fewer than 5000 foreign missionaries., Which means it takes 1000 fundamental Baptist to go to get one missionary on the field. Last year, less than $75 million was given through all fundamental Baptist mission agencies for worldwide evangelization. This represent approximately $15 per fundamental Baptist per year for foreign missions. This is enough to convince anyone that to the average person, missions is not considered obligatory, but optional. Many show a token interest in worldwide evangelization, but only a few our whole heartedly involved. — page 21
  • When He directs people, He has a purpose for them. God prepares the fields before He directs the workers. — page 23
  • The Moravians had such a missionary zeal that 1 out of every 92 members of their congregations were serving God on a foreign mission field. It was not long before the Moravians in foreign countries, outnumbered the Moravians in Germany by 3 to 1. I do not know that there has ever been a more intensified effort on any group to get the gospel out around the world than this group. — page 25-26
  • I believe the missionary should plan his furlough around his work, instead of planning his work around his furlough. — page 39
  • In June (1990), BIMI will be 30 years old. I try to check our pulse regularly. I have a phobia of being a part of something that has lost its purpose. I have a fear of having a name that we live, but are dead (Revelation 3:1). A wise man once said, “Many Christian institutions are dead, but we can’t bury them because they are too heavily endowed.” — page 63
  • As I check our pulse, I must say: “Praise God, we’re alive! Let’s not go to sleep on the job. Let’s not rest on our past and become useless for the present and lose our opportunities for the future.” 
  • I have some visions for our 30th anniversary year:
        1. A gain of 30 missionary couples per year for the next 10 years. (Since every mission loses missionaries each year by death, retirement, etc., we must have at least 60 new missionaries each year.) This would give us 1200 active missionaries by the year 2000.
        2. Thirty new supporting churches for the home office each year. (Administrative cost increase each year. We must have help from churches to keep down the cost for the missionaries.)
        3. Thirty new fields opened in the next 10 years. (There are more opportunities now than at any time in the history of BIMI.)
        4. Thirty new churches established by our missionaries each year for the next 10 years.
  • We are alive! Will you allow us to help you? As your church thinks about missions, would you let us suggest some missionaries? Could we help you in your missionary conference? As you consider the mission field, would you consider BIMI as your mission? Pastor, would you recommend to your church BIMI for monthly support? — page 63-64
  • Someone has well said, “God accepts us as we are, but He loves us too much to leave us as we are.” — page 67
  • How sad, but throughout Christian history, some have come to believe “If I said it, you should believe it.” No man should assume that, and none of us should give any man that kind of allegiance. Any man can make a mistake, and any man can be replaced. We are instruments. God changes instruments, but God does not change. He buries his workmen, but his work goes on. — page 78-79
  • The cry of a Mexican pastor, Brother Enoch, continues to ring in my ear as I remember hearing him say, “There is enough of the Bread of Life to feed the whole world. There’s enough of the Light of the World to enlighten every person who lives on the face of the earth. There’s enough of the Water of Life to quench the thirst of every thirsty soul in the whole world. But the great majority of the people of the world know nothing about the Bread of Life. They know nothing about the Light of the World. They know nothing about the Water of Life.” — page 138
  • Perhaps there are 200 Bible-believing, Gospel-preaching churches in this (Mexico City) city. There’s about 1 Christian worker for every 300,000 people. In contrast, there is about 1 for every 150 people in Chattanooga, Greenville, Dallas, Jacksonville, and Memphis. On we could go naming cities in America, where the Gospel has been preached. — page 139
  • I have a dream… that pastors from all over America can come here to the World Missions Center and, in modular courses, be trained in worldwide evangelization by pastors and mission personnel, who have experienced firsthand what missions is all about. — page 148
  • God never commands the impossible, and He has commanded us, “Go, ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). — page 148
  • We (BIMI) are not a fellowship, we are not a denomination, we have no authority over any church anywhere. It is not our job to keep everybody straight or even to determine who is right and who is wrong. It is our task to serve. To that purpose, we want to get in totally dictate ourselves. — page 152
  • Available! The laborers are in the Bible-believing, fundamental Baptist churches in our country. There are at least fifteen thousand fundamental Baptist churches in North America. However, there are fewer than ten thousand fundamental Baptist missionaries. Thousands of churches have never sent one missionary to the mission field. Thank God for good sending churches. However, this is not a task for a few, but for all. Every church should be sending forth missionaries. — page 170
  • I often say to people, “It is always too early to quit.” The great difference between winners and losers is not that winners never fail – they do. There will always be failures in any endeavor. The difference between winners and losers is that winners never quit. — page 174
  • Approximately 80% of the independent Baptist churches in America do not have a missions conference. That is, they do not have a time during the year that is set apart for the emphasis of worldwide evangelization. I am aware of the fact that we need not to emphasize world evangelization every Sunday; however, churches that are being used by God to make an impact in world missions set aside some time every year for missions is the main emphasis. — page 184
  • The problem is not with the harvest; the problem is a lack of laborers. After making that great statement, Jesus commanded his disciples, “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest” (verse 38). What if you and I would go before God daily, and pray to Him that He would send forth laborers into this great harvest field? — page 185
  • Someone has well said, “We should not pray unless we are willing to be the answer to God’s prayer.” — page 186
  • It was not until God allowed the persecution of the church to come that the fulfillment of Acts 1:8 began to be unveiled. — page 220
  • It would be impossible for anyone to read the Bible, and not realize that God is interested in the whole world. — page 229