God has been melting my stony heart with explosions of His love by providing for my needs as recently as this morning during my visit to the gym. I am and will be continually flabbergasted that His majesty the king of all creation will continually unload gifts into my backpack of life during this hike called “full-time” ministry. While I marvel at my king’s consistent and never ending acts of generosity towards me....I am simply speechless. THANK YOU ABBA FATHER!!!!!!!!!!
A community of faith in Portland Oregon has asked me to come and declare the impact of the Resurrection in my life. The resurrection of Jesus Christ sends rumbling across my mind, rumblings that catapult me into a lifestyle that seeks to live a new life daily. Colossians 3 will be my text this lord's day.......Prayers are needed for husbands and wives who hear the truth to allow their hearts and minds to be driven to repentance towards God. To speak with words of affection towards one another in their homes that they children might declare that God is not a joke!!!!!!!.
This week I got hungry for a good preaching book and took my mind to seek out a book on preaching. I preach at least twice a week. So I picked up a book from my library by Haddon Robinson titled “Biblical preaching. Here are some thoughts from this book:
1. Thinking is difficult, but it stands the essential work of the preacher. Let there be no mistake about the nature of the task. It is often slow, discouraging, overwhelming but when God calls men to preach, He calls them to love Him with their minds. God deserves that kind of love and so do the people to whom we minister.
2. For some preachers, therefore fads in communication become more stimulating than the message. Multimedia presentations, filmstrips, sharing sessions, blinking lights, and up-to-date music may symptoms of health or disease. Undoubtedly, modern techniques can substitute for the message-the startling and unusual may mask a vacuum.
3. Paul realized that some ministries simply couldn’t take place apart from face to face contact.
4. A preacher can proclaim anything in a stained-glass voice, at 11:30 on Sunday morning, following the singing of hymns. Yet when a preacher fails to preach the Scriptures, he abandons his authority. He confronts his hears no longer with a word from God but only with another word from men. Therefore most modern preaching evokes little more than a wide yawn. God is not in it.
5. Ultimately the authority behind the preaching resides not in the preacher but in the biblical text. For that reason the expositor deals largely with an explanation of Scripture, so that he focuses the listener’s attention on the Bible.
6. An expositor may be respected for his exegetical abilities and his diligent preparation, but these qualities do not transform him into a Protestant Pope who speaks ex cathedra. As Henry David Thoreau wrote, “It takes two to speak the truth-one to speak and another to hear.”
The sharp wit with which Haddon Robinson writes propels this truth into a dynamic duo: Grace and Truth. I will love to attend the shepherd’s conference this year to ignite in me a passion to speak the word of God with depth and passion. Thank you being a blessing to this African preacher.
Grace and Peace
Pastor James Owolabi
P.S. Grace......good job taking the pictures.......
