Topic Archives: Preaching & Teaching

This is a little gem. It is only 21 pages long but contains more wise advice about preaching than books many times the length. J C Ryle, the well known Victorian Church of England minister writes about a subject close to his heart: Simplicity in preaching. In all his own writings (as well as his sermons) Bishop […]

Stuart Olyott gave the 2010 Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones lecture on preaching at the John Owen Centre in London on September 27. Mr Olyott began with a tribute and a statement of his personal indebtedness to Dr Lloyd-Jones, mentioning hearing him on spiritual warfare in 1964 at the last Campbell Morgan lecture and on that famous […]

In so many churches today the centrality of preaching has lost its prominence. This sadly reflects a lack of trust not only in the authority of Scripture but also in the prominence that Jesus gave to the centrality of preaching. At the outset of his own ministry Jesus said to his disciples in Mark 1:38: […]

I have been listening to some cassettes of a certain style of preaching which seems to have swept the evangelical church. Its emphasis is the Bible as a history of redemption (which it is), but it claims to be the one Christian group which is expounding and exegeting Scripture. It takes large sweeps across the […]

I would normally preach through a Bible book. I am currently preaching through Colossians. Hence, this is what I have done: 1. Read the entire epistle to the Colossians a number of times, using the NKJV (the version the church uses) and other versions like NASB, NIV, ESV including the Bible in Chinese. We are […]

‘Church Planting is not a very popular option for men aspiring to enter the ministry but it is a biblical one.’ The final year students in the year I began my theological studies were tense. There seemed to them to be too few pastoral vacancies for them to have any hope of a call to […]

This is the final section of a paper given at the Theological Conference of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland in 2008. Its full title was, ‘James Fraser of Alness and the Preaching of the Gospel’. The previous two sections were: (1) James Fraser, the Man, and (2) James Fraser’s Magnum Opus.1 3. James Fraser […]

On 12 September,1983, the Rev. William Still, Gilcomston South Church, Aberdeen, universally recognized as the senior parish minister, both in years and influence, among evangelicals in the Church of Scotland, gave the following address to some fifty ministers at an In-Service course of his denomination, convened at St Andrews. The address was published in The […]

The Bible’s Own Assessment of the Gospel Preacher [This is the Graduation address given at the Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, MI, in May 2010 by Edward Donnelly.] How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! (Romans 10:15). Preachers and preaching are […]

Dr. David P. Murray is Professor of Old Testament and Practical Theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland and was a pastor for 12 years in the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing). He was Lecturer in Hebrew and Old Testament at the Free Church (Continuing) Seminary in Inverness until he […]

Clarifying the term ‘Expository’ In a number of circles today ‘expository preaching’ is in vogue, and it is being urged on preachers as the way to preach. If this means that the preacher’s one business is to confine himself to the text of Scripture, and to make the sense plain to others, there is nothing […]

Let’s admit it, many, many preachers have preached borrowed sermons taken from others, sometimes to good effect sometimes not. If it is the result of laziness to prepare thoroughly, it is both wrong and sinful. Is it always out of place? I think not. In my first pastorate after I had read Spiritual Depression: Its […]

[The second part of a paper given in January 2010. The first part can be found here.] 3. AREAS TO BE GREATLY VALUED BY THE PREACHER. i] There is the utter delight and enormous cost of preaching. There is joy that is unspeakable in exalting God as a congregation listens, magnifying his grace, describing the […]

This paper was given to a gathering of ministers near Cardiff on 18 January, 2010. The topic was requested by the organisers. How infrequently are older men able to learn brand new lessons. Over fifty years ago I learned at a student week-end conference the Scriptures’ teaching of justification by faith. I believe that that […]

Do the work of an evangelist (2 Timothy 4:5) . . . speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) . . . through love serve one another (Galatians 5:13). The year 1735 was a remarkable one in the western world.1 In January, while her husband Jonathan was off preaching in other places, the Spirit of […]