<BrethrenVoice>
<GLEANINGS-FOR-THE-DAY>
<12 August 2002>


Contents:
---------
(1)  <Exhortatory> "Is it worth the search?" - Ravi Zacharias
(2)  <Testimonial> "The story of Ujagar Singh" (Part-2) - C.E.Wigg
(3)  <Doctrinal> "The Scriptural principles of gathering" (Part-8)-A.P.Gibbs
(4)  <Prophetical> "The Redeemer's Return" (Part-1) - A.W.Pink
(5)  <Sermon> "How to live in a war zone?" - Bob Alderman
(6)  <Misc. Study> "A sample guide to preaching" - Shawn Abigail


(1)   <Exhortatory><Slice-of-Infinity>
IS IT WORTH THE SEARCH?
Ravi Zacharias

Despite all denials of truth as a category, people still hunger for it and
the real question that haunts us is not whether truth exists, but whether it
is worth it at all.

On August 7, 1961, a twenty-six year old Soviet cosmonaut named Gherman
Titov became the second Soviet to orbit the earth and return safely. Some
time later he recounted his experience while speaking at the World's Fair.
In triumphalistic tones Titov declared that on his excursion into space, he
looked for God but didn't find him. Someone humorously quipped, "Had he
stepped out of his spacecraft, he certainly would have." Titov, of course,
had moved beyond the discipline of technological gain to draw theological
blood. One great step for science became an immensely greater leap in
philosophy.

Years later on Christmas day, 1968, three American astronauts were the first
human beings to go around the "dark" side of the moon. They saw earth rise
over the horizon of the moon draped in a beauteous mixture of blue and
white, garlanded by the glistening light of the sun against the black void
of space. Captured by the awe of the moment, they echoed the only words that
seemed fitting. Those words were from the first line of the bible: "In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth...".

Two similar experiences of awe and splendor, yielding two diametrically
opposed conclusions. These two incidents carried off into space the most
debated question on earth: Does God exist? The answer to that question has a
greater bearing on your life than anything else. Personal and national
destinies are inextricably bound to this issue. Our entire human frame of
moral reference is determined by whether or not God exists. Our purpose in
life is determined by that, whether we are here by design or whether we are
the accidental collocation of atoms. Who we are and why we exist logically
flows from the question of God's existence.

The question, therefore, is not whether the pursuit of truth is worth it or
not, but that it is the only thing that is ultimately worth it. Winston
Churchill said the most valuable thing in the world is the truth; so
valuable that it has often been barricaded by a bodyguard of lies. But we
might ask, "What's wrong with a lie?" For one, we would think it is morally
wrong, would we not? But how can we be morally wrong unless this is a moral
universe? And how can this be a moral universe unless it is created by God?
The intelligibility in this universe and the immense capacity of the moral
law point us to God.

What is more, we don't have to go into outer space to find him. He comes to
you in your inner space, the inner space of your life. Jesus said, "if any
man comes to me, I will in no wise cast him out." In knowing Him, you find
truth and life. That is worth it.

---
Copyright (p)(c) 2000 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM).
Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi
Zacharias International Ministries.

_______________________________________________________________________


(2)   <Testimonial>
THE STORY OF UJAGAR SINGH OF KAPURI VILLAGE, HARYANA, INDIA (PART-2)
Charles E. Wigg

....
They also have temples or Gurudwaras, where the faithful come to worship,
and before entering the compound of such places the Sikh will remove his
shoes, kiss his hand  and bend down and with the hand that he has kissed
touch the threshold of the entrance, only then will they enter. Also there
is a "sant", (in English Saint), who along with other men will live in that
place.

Ujagar Singh was born into this religion and he was reasonably happy also,
because God had blessed him with a beautiful and faithful wife, who had
borne him six children. However his little world fell apart quickly around
him, because his faithful wife went to hospital and gave birth to what was
to be their last child, a lovely baby girl, because three days after the
birth, his wife died. This came as a terrible blow to our friend, and
brought terrible problems with it. It is usual in most Indian families for
the care of the children to be totally the responsibility of the wife, and
if there are girls, then they will be trained to help also. But the men have
practically nothing to do with the care and raising of the children  So in
addition to the crushing grief of the loss of his wife, he had the very
great problem of caring for  a new-born baby, which he knew nothing about,
as well as the care of his fields, and the other six children.

In his dilemma he turned to his friends in the village, most of whom were
related to him, and asked their help but all declined politely.. The usual
answer was that they had so many problems of their own, and because of this
could not help him with his. However one villager told him about a place in
the town of Jagadari, some twenty kilometres away, where they took and cared
for babies like his. They warned him that some of the people there were
foreigners, and that they were not of their community, (were not Sikhs), but
assured him that finally that did not matter, as he did not want his baby to
die, it was better to take her there, than to let her die.

The poor grief stricken man could hardly believe that there could be such
people, especially those from a foreign country, who would care for his
little baby, even when his own village relatives would not come to his aid.
In spite of this he decided to go and see, so he took the little baby, got
on the bus and went to see.

He came to the Christian Mission Hospital in Jagadari, and was interviewed
by a lady Doctor who came from New Zealand. He told her the sad story that
we have revealed to you, and politely asked whether they could help him in
his troubles. The doctor smiled and assured him that they would gladly take
his little baby and care for her. They would gladly bring her up for him,
and they would give her things that he could never give her. He was overcome
with emotion and full of gratitude, he was unable to thank them
sufficiently. Much relieved he caught the bus back to his village, and on
the way, began to ask himself, "I wonder which God they worship? He must be
very different to the gods of my people, just see how He makes them loving
and kind, they have taken my little baby willingly, and will care for her
lovingly, when even my village relatives would not help. I must find out
more about this God". Such were the thoughts running through his mind.

He did not know, that the true, the living God, the one who had created him,
was looking on him, that God's heart was full of love for him, and was
seeking to soothe his sadness, seeking his eternal happiness and blessing.
My dear reader, perhaps you too have been passing through great troubles and
sorrows. Perhaps you have felt so totally alone, felt that no one cares,
that the gods are angry with you, that it is because of their curse that all
these things have happened to you. There is but one living and true God, and
He loves you, and longs that in your sorrow you might come to know Him. He
will turn your troubles about, and make them into blessings, will use your
sorrows to bring you to experience such joy as you would not believe
possible in this life.

However when Ujagar Singh reached home, the place was full of the saddest
memories, there were the other children to care for. His fields had to be
attended to, so he forgot about his intention to find out more about the God
of the Christians.

Some years passed by, and the lady doctor from the Hospital, who was growing
old, came to visit him in his home. She had some papers with her, and told
him that if he would sign them she would take his daughter to be her own.
She told him that she had never married, and that all her life she had
wanted a child of her own to love and care for, but God in His wisdom had
other plans for her. He responded willingly, and said that he would gladly
sign the papers. He told her that he knew that she would love and care for
his daughter better than any other could. Had she not taken her as a tiny
baby, when even his own relatives would not help?  [to be continued...]
______________________________________________________________________


(3)   <Doctrinal>
SCRIPTURAL PRINCIPLES OF GATHERING or
WHY I MEET AMONG THOSE KNOWN AS "BRETHREN" -(PART-8)
A.P. Gibbs

....
SEVENTH:  THEY GIVE LIBERTY FOR THE EXERCISE OF THE PRIESTHOOD
OF ALL BELIEVERS, AND HAVE ROOM FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF ALL THE
GIFTS GIVEN BY THE RISEN HEAD TO HIS CHURCH

The abominable heresy that divides the church of God into two classes,
called the "clergy" and the "laity," is utterly unknown in the New
Testament. This did not come into existence until the latter part of the
second century, as a perusal of any reliable 'Church History" will prove.
This innovation was undoubtedly the work of the Devil, and it has wrought
untold havoc in the church of God. The word "clergy" comes from the word
"kleeros," which is translated, "heritage." In I Peter 5:3 the Spirit of God
declares that all believers are God's "kleeros," or heritage. The term
"laity" comes from the word "laos," which means "the common people."

In Christendom today we hear of "clergymen and laymen," or the "kleeros and
the laos." The clergyman belongs to a particular class in the Church who, by
reason of education along certain religious lines, plus human ordination,
has authority conferred upon him to preach, baptize, administer the elements
in the Lord's supper, and also lead the congregation in public worship,
prayer and ministry, as well as shepherd the flock. The layman, not being so
educated and ordained, has no such privileges, and must be content to occupy
a subordinate place. This detestable heresy finds its fullest expression in
the Roman Catholic Church, but Protestantism also, is greatly corrupted by
it.

There is not the slightest ground for this division of Christians in the New
Testament. You will search therein in vain for it. It is foreign to the
whole language of Scripture in which every believer is viewed as a "priest"
(I Peter 2: 5-9). As such he is exhorted to "offer up spiritual sacrifices,
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (I Peter 2: 5) . All God's people are
described as being constituted a kingdom of priests unto God (Rev. 1: 5, 6;
5: 10) . All are invited to draw near with a true heart, in full assurance
of faith, through "the great high Priest of their confession," whose blood
has opened up the new and living way into God's presence and favor (Heb. 10:
19-22).

The elaborate ritual of Judaism, with its special priesthood, was done away
in Christ! The veil has been rent, and every regenerated person has been
constituted a priest unto God. All enlightened Christians will acknowledge
this, yet many continue to maintain their membership in a system which both
recognizes and supports this multitude of unscriptural "reverends," "right
reverends," etc., etc. Inasmuch as the church of God is likened to a human
body, each part being necessary for the proper functioning of the whole;
there can therefore be no division of the body into two separate bodies or
classes, such as is practiced in most circles of denominationalism.

Among those known as "brethren," no such distinctions are tolerated for one
moment. As they meet as an assembly for worship or prayer, all the believers
occupy the same common ground of priesthood, and liberty is given to the
Spirit of God to express Himself audibly through any of the men so gathered,
the women being expressly enjoined to be "silent in the churches" (I Cor.
14: 34, 35). In such gatherings, worship is given its proper place.
Christendom has practically eliminated the place of the worship meeting,
where believers gather for the purpose of giving God that which He is
seeking from His people, the worship of their hearts. Worship is not prayer
for one's needs, or praise for one's blessings, but the overflow of the soul
in adoration to God for what He is in Himself, as revealed by the Lord Jesus
Christ. Prayer is the occupation of the heart with its needs; praise, the
occupation of the heart with its blessings; but worship is the occupation of
the heart with God Himself. (See Author's book on "Worship, the Christian's
Highest Occupation." Same publisher.) How little of this is found in
Christendom and denominationalism, and God is consequently robbed of His
portion from His people!

While it is quite true that all believers are priests, yet it is also true
that not all are evangelists, pastors, or teachers. These are gifts, given
to the
church by the ascended Head. But the fact that one of the believers
exercises either of these gifts does not place him in a superior class above
his brethren: he merely exercises the gift he has been given as part of the
body of Christ, and thus the whole assembly is edified or built up. In the
assembly, as a whole, there are evangelists, pastors and teachers. As such
they are not limited to any one church. There is no such thing as the
evangelist of a church, or the pastor of a church, or the teacher of a
church. Bishops and deacons are local in their sphere. As regards the
bishop, he is a very different person from what we know of that high
ecclesiastical office as found in the sects of Christendom. The acceptance
of this truth would greatly upset some of the highly organized denominations
of today.

The "brethren" seek to recognize and give liberty for the exercise of these
gifts in the assembly. They believe that God meant what He said when He
declared: "As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same
one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God" (I Peter
4:10, 11). Gift will make room for itself, and it will soon become apparent
to the assembly whether this person or that has really the gift of an
evangelist, a teacher, or a pastor. The saints are exhorted to "know, or
recognize, them that labor among them" (I Thess. 5: 12) ; but are never
asked to elect, choose, or appoint them. With the business affairs of an
assembly, however, this is different (Acts 6:1-4).

Christendom presents the spectacle of one man being elected and appointed by
a congregation, for a certain stipulated salary, to do all the evangelism,
teaching and shepherding of the flock; but seldom indeed is there a person
who has all these gifts combined in himself. Furthermore, Scripture does not
contemplate a stipulated salaried ministry. The New Testament knows nothing
of a minister hired to preach at so much per annum. It is foreign to New
Testament principles, which describes the evangelist, teacher, or pastor,
who is devoting his whole time to such ministry, as looking alone to the
Lord for his support. (I Cor. 9:14). We need not be surprised by attacks on
the part of so-called "ministers" of denominations against the "brethren."
These men realize that if they accepted what the "brethren" practice along
this line, both their position and salary would be lost. Their opposition is
simply a gesture of self-defense to defend a system from which they derive a
livelihood. (III John 7).

The idea of taking collections of money from a mixed audience of saved and
unsaved has also no scriptural warrant. "Freely ye have received, freely
give," was our Savior's exhortation (Matt. 10: 8). There is not the
slightest suggestion in the New Testament of money being solicited from
unsaved people to "help the cause," or to "pay the minister's salary," or to
"pay off the mortgage on the house of God." The collections of money were to
be taken from the Lord's people only (I Cor. 16: 1, 2). What shame and
disgrace Christendom has brought to the name of Christianity, by using
worldly means to extract money from the reluctant pockets of unsaved people
to support what is professedly of God!

To sum up: We have seen that an assembly of believers, according to the New
Testament, gives room for the manifestation of all the gifts given by the
Head of the Church for the edification of the assembly. In the fourth
chapter of Ephesians, the Spirit of God, after describing the gifts given by
Christ to His mystical body, reveals the purpose for which they were given
(v. 12), and then describes the effect of these gifts in the assembly. We
read: "From Whom the whole body, fitly joined together and compacted by that
which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the
measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of
itself in love" (Eph. 4: 16) . Thus the evangelists in a local church should
be busily engaged in preaching the gospel to the unsaved. The teachers
should be faithfully seeking to instruct the believers. The pastors should
be lovingly shepherding the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made them
overseers (I Peter 5: 1-4). The bishops or elders and deacons should be
sincerely fulfilling their God-given functions. Is this possible in the
assembly of which you form a part; or are you associated with a humanly
conceived, humanly organized and humanly directed assembly, that allows no
liberty for the exercise and development of the gifts given to the Church to
function within the local assembly? [to be continued...]

_______________________________________________________________________


(4)   <Prophetical>
"THE REDEEMER'S RETURN" -(PART-3)
Arthur W. Pink

I. THE REDEEMER'S RETURN IS NECESSITATED BY THE DECLARATIONS OF OLD
TESTAMENT PROPHECY

....
It is very apparent to any one who has read thoughtfully through the Old
Testament that the First Advent of our Lord did not exhaust the burden and
scope of the numerous predictions which had been made concerning Him. Many
of the things foretold of Israel's Messiah were not accomplished during the
days when He tabernacled among men. Many of the promises found in God's Word
connected with the Person of Christ, still await their ratification. While
it is true that the First Advent of the Lord Jesus literally and remarkable
fulfilled many of the Old Testament prophecies concerning Him, yet, it is
also true that many others were not then fulfilled. 1 To several of these we
shall now call our readers attention.

"And I will put enmity between thee (the "serpent") and the woman, and
between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt
bruise his heel" (Gen. 3:15). There is much in this remarkable verse which
we cannot now consider in detail, yet we will endeavor to present an outline
of its contents. This is not a single prophecy but a compound one and at
least seven separate predictions are included in it:--

First, the woman is to have a seed: as we know, this pointed forward to our
Lord's humanity. Second, He was to be peculiarly the woman's "seed," not the
man's, hence we read, "When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth
His Son, born of a woman" (Gal. 4:4, Greek). Third, the woman's "Seed" was
to bruise the Serpent: in other words, Satan was to be His particular
antagonist. Fourth, He was to bruise the Serpent's head. Fifth, He Himself
was to be bruised in the "heel" by the Serpent; and hence it is written, He
was "bruised for our iniquities" (Is. 53:5). Sixth, there was to be "enmity"
between the Serpent and the one who gave birth to the "Seed," namely Israel
(cf. Rev. 12:1-6). And then, after making mention of the enmity between the
Serpent and the woman, we read, Seventh, "And between thy seed--the
Serpent's "seed," i.e., the Son of Perdition--and her "Seed." In other
words, this age long "enmity" was to head up in a conflict between the
Antichrist and the true Christ. For our present purpose it is sufficient to
single out the fourth and fifth of the above items, which, in their
historical order, have been reversed.

"Thou shalt bruise His heel." That old Serpent the Devil was to be permitted
to attack the wound the only vulnerable part of our Lord's person--His
humanity, here intimated by the word "heel." How this portion of the
prophecy was fulfilled our readers will know. No sooner was the Lord Jesus
born in Bethlehem of Judea than the "Dragon" sought to encompass His
destruction (Rev. 12:4). Immediately following His baptism, which was the
inauguration of His public ministry, He was tempted or "tried" by the Devil
for forty days (Mark 1:13). On the eve of His crucifixion our Lord expressly
declared, "This is your hour, and the Power of Darkness: (Luke 22:53). Thus
was Satan allowed to bruise the "heel" of the woman's Seed.

But we also read, "It shall bruise thy head," that is, Christ shall bruise
Satan's "head." The head is the seat and source of power, and in the
Scripture we are now considering is placed in sharp antithesis with the
"heel" of the woman's Seed. Stripped of its prophetic symbolism, it can only
mean that Christ is to depose Satan and reduce him to a state of impotency.
This interpretation is fully confirmed in Rev. 20 where we learn that a day
is coming when the Devil shall be bound and cast into the Bottomless Pit to
remain there securely confined throughout the Millennial Era. What we now
desire to emphasize particularly is, that, this part of the Edenic prophecy
was not fulfilled when our Lord was upon earth before, and has not yet been
fulfilled. Therefore, if this prediction is be realized our Lord must return
to this earth and deprive the Devil of his power, for He alone is competent
for such a task.

Again; we read in Is. 9:6, 7, "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is
given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be
called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the
Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be
no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to
establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever."
Here again we meet with a prophecy which has already received a partial
fulfillment, but which has not yet been completely realized. Unto Israel a
Child was "born," unto Israel a Son was "given;" but, during the days of His
First Advent the "government" for He is not yet seated upon His own
"throne": (see Rev. 3:21). Observe particularly that, above, it is repeated
"of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end." His
"government" and "peace" are inseparably connected. The latter part of this
prophecy therefore looks forward to the time of His Second Advent, for "When
the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him,
then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory" (Matt. 25:31). Then will it
be that He shall inaugurate a Reign of Peace, for then it shall be (and not
till then) that "He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations
afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their
spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more" (Micah 4:3). Thus we see that the
declarations of the Prophetic Word require and necessitate the personal
return of Christ to this earth, for only thus and only then will they be
literally and completely fulfilled. Many other Old Testament predictions
could be cited to the same effect, but one more must suffice.

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a
righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute
judgment and justice in the earth. In His days Judah shall be saved, and
Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His name whereby He shall be called,
the Lord our Righteousness. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the
Lord, that they shall no more say, the Lord liveth, which brought up the
children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, the Lord liveth, which
brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the North
country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall
dwell in their own land" (Jer. 23:5-8). In the first place, observe, here,
that unto David (Israel) God promised to raise up a King who should reign
and prosper. Without a doubt this prophecy refers to our Lord Jesus Christ
who was born "King of the Jews" (Matt. 2:2), for it was uttered shortly
after the Jews were carried down into Babylon, since which they have had no
human King. It needs no argument to prove that the terms of this prophecy
were certainly not fulfilled at the time of our Lord's First Advent, for
then, the Jews would not own Him, but demanded His death, and when Pilate
inquired of them, "Shall I crucify your King?" (John 19:15), the leaders of
the nation answered, "We have no king but Caesar." Furthermore, this
prophecy was not fulfilled when our Lord took His seat at the right hand of
the Majesty on high, for note, it says that Israel's King shall "execute
judgment and justice in the earth," not "from the heavens." Again; we
observe that it declares, "In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel (the
ten tribes) shall dwell safely" which certainly did not come to pass during
the days of our Lord's humiliation. No; this prophecy, like scores of other
Messianic predictions recorded in the Old Testament, looks forward to the
time of our Lord's Second Advent to the earth, which Advent is imperative if
the terms of this prophecy are to be realized.

---
It is this very thing which has proven such a stumbling-block to the Jews
and humanly speaking, has been the reason why so many of them have failed to
see in "Jesus of Nazareth" the Messiah of Israel. But, as we shall show
above, those Messianic prophecies found in the Old Testament which were not
fulfilled at His first Advent will be fulfilled at His Second.  [to be
continued...]
_______________________________________________________________________


(5)   <Sermon-Outlines>
HOW TO LIVE A LIFE OF PEACE IN THE WAR ZONE OF LIFE
Bob Alderman

Know you are at war - 2 Corinthians 10:3-7  "We are human, but we don't wage
war with human plans and methods.  We use God's mighty weapons, not mere
worldly weapons, to knock down the Devil's strongholds. With these weapons
we break down every proud argument that keeps people from knowing God. With
these weapons we conquer their rebellious ideas, and we teach them to obey
Christ.   And we will punish those who remained disobedient after the rest
of you became loyal and obedient.  The trouble with you is that you make
your decisions on the basis of appearance. You must recognize that we belong
to Christ just as much as those who proudly declare that they belong to
Christ.  (NLT)

Ephesians 6:12  "For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and
blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world,
against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against
wicked spirits in the heavenly realms."

We are at war -  There are many battles, skirmishes and attacks on us and
our church.  We have clearly defined enemies:
Satan
i.     his attacks
ii.    his minions
iii.   his evil
iv.   his strongholds in us "SELF":
      a. Pride "proud arguments"
      b. Rebellion  "rebellious ideas"
      c. Disobedience "we teach them to obey Christ"
      d. Wrong Priorities  "decisions based on appearance"

We are not at war against other people
We are commanded to Love other people; not fight them
We sin if we fight against flesh and blood
We are war against the enemies of God: Self & Satan

Our weapons are not made of steel and gunpowder; they are made of prayers,
faith, love and hope in Jesus Christ

We are soldiers:
-----------------
Soldiers are called
Soldiers are set apart - Uniforms, Forts
Soldiers are trained
Soldiers have special tools and weapons
Soldiers are sent out
Soldiers fight
Soldiers get injured
Soldiers sometimes give their life for their country/cause
Good Soldiers receive their reward
Soldiers are called home

_______________________________________________________________________


(6)   <Misc. Study>
A SAMPLE GUIDE TO PREACHING
Shawn Abigail

Many young men are asked to prepare and deliver a sermon, but few are given
any help or guidelines. This short tract is designed to give some advice
they might find helpful.

The man who is asked to give a message must make sure he does his homework.
There is no point in trying to give a message if you are not willing to take
the time to learn the Word. You must take time to learn the Word before you
are asked to preach. We remember the words of our Lord when He said, "For
out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." ( Luke 6:45) If you are
storing up the Word in your heart, reading it and studying it in your day to
day life, you will always have something to share with the believers. George
Muller once stated, "The Lord always helps me when I preach, provided I have
earnestly sought Him in private."

How long will it take you to prepare your message? Of course, this will vary
with the preachers experience. In his book "Biblical Sermons", Haddon
Robinson interviews 12 preachers. On average these experienced preachers
spend over 16 hours preparing for each sermon. This does not include time
they spend in their own personal reading. If you agree to preach a sermon,
you are committing yourself to doing a significant amount of studying and
preparation. Studying the Bible should follow a three step process; read the
Bible, interpret the Bible, and apply the Bible.

You should read the Bible in a number of responsible translations. Do not
develop a sermon based on the way a single translation expresses a verse.
Read slowly and read repetitively. Try to understand what the passage is
actually saying.

The second step is to interpret the Bible. This is the process of
understanding what the passage actually means. The most drastic errors of
application come from people who ignore the step of interpretation. Consider
the context of a passage and compare Scripture with Scripture. Make use of a
good set of cross references. Compare and contrast with other passages.

Finally, apply the Scriptures. This is the process of helping the believer
to decide what he or she should do in response to the Scripture. Do not
attempt to apply the Scripture until you have interpreted it.

Many preachers like to start their sermon with an illustration or joke.
Illustrations and humour can be used to drive home a point and hold people's
attention. Just remember that you are there to preach the Word of God and
not to entertain.

Each sermon should have a clearly defined introduction, body and conclusion.
The introduction should be designed to grab and hold the listeners
attention. The body of the sermon can have one or more points. Many
preachers like to give a 3 point sermon. While I would hesitate to suggest
that a 3 point sermon is the format that every preacher should follow, I
think that some preachers would benefit from preparing 3 point sermons
because their messages lack cohesive structure.

In each sermon, the preacher should have one point that he seeks to drive
home to his audience. State this point, repeat it and demonstrate how
everything you say relates to this point. One sermon I heard was on the
necessity of personal witnessing. The body of the sermon had many points,
but the speaker brought every point home to the fact that each of us should
be witnessing. It was one of the finest sermons I have ever heard.

Each sermon should have a definite end. For the audience, there is nothing
worse than thinking that a message is coming to an end and then having it
continue.

If you find that you do not have time to preach all the material you have
prepared, cut some material out and go to your conclusion. Regrettably, many
preachers start to run out of time, fly through the last half of their
sermon and then end without any real conclusion. A preacher can avoid this
problem if he practices his message and knows exactly how long it is. The
preacher should stick to the time which he is given. Young men should make a
special effort to finish on time.

The preacher must receive his sermon from the Bible, and not read his sermon
into the Bible. The preacher exists to explain a text or topic. He should
not decide what he wants to preach on and then go looking for a text to
support his opinions. The text is not a springboard for whatever topic you
wish to preach on.

There are a number of different types of sermons. An expository message
takes a passage of Scripture and seeks to explain it. The topical sermon
traces a topic through the Scriptures. A biographical sermon follows the
life of someone found in the Scripture and seeks to learn what lessons we
can from their life. An evangelistic message seeks to explain to the
audience what they must know to be saved. A type of evangelistic message is
the testimony. An exhortatory message will seek to move the believers to a
deeper obedience of the Scriptures. The young preacher should experiment
with a variety of styles.

Each believer has a spiritual gift (1 Cor 12:7). A young man with a gift of
teaching, exhortation or evangelism may be called upon to preach a sermon.
The content of the sermon will likely depend on a man's spiritual gift.

How does one choose a topic to preach on? Sometimes a topic will be assigned
by the Elders. If you have the freedom to choose your own topic, spend a
great deal of time in prayer. At the same time, make sure that you are
reading and studying the Bible. Often, your own readings will lead you a
topic you should preach on. Ask yourself what the audience needs to hear.

When preparing for a message, study the word for yourself. This will take
considerable time. Take time to meditate over the Word. Don't start by
digging through commentaries and listening to audio tapes of messages other
people have given on the same topic. Do not plagiarize. Do not present
another man's message. We have all learned from good teachers of the word.
What we learn may excite us and we may want to pass it along to others, but
avoid the habit of preaching other people's messages. If you must present
another man's materials, acknowledge to your audience the source of your
material.

Some preachers will prepare their sermon by writing the whole sermon out
long-hand. They then proceed to read it directly or memorize it and deliver
it. Others will set out their sermon in point form. Some will merely write
out their Scripture references in case they forget one of them. The young
preacher should not attempt to give a sermon off the top of his head unless
he is asked to preach at the last moment.

The young preacher would be well served to read several books on the topic
of preaching. One of the best is "The Preacher and His Preaching" by Alfred
P. Gibbs (Walterick Publishers). Warren and David Wiersbe have published a
short book called "The Elements of Preaching" (Tyndale House). Another short
booklet entitled "If Any Man Speak" was written by James Gunn and is
available from Everyday Publications. Another excellent idea is to tape or
videotape some of your messages and critique them at a later date. The young
preacher should also listen to a number of good preachers to see what he can
learn from their style and delivery. Of course the young preacher will
eventually develop his own technique.

---
[This tract may be reprinted and distributed for non-profit purposes - Shawn
Abigail].
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