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"The pulpit is not a psychiatrist's couch or a seminar room. The preacher is a herald, an announcer, not a pollster. In the New Testament, the words for preaching ring with the authority of proclamation. The principal terms are drawn from the language of public life rather than from philosophical dialogue or religious ecstasy. The preacher is a messenger of the kingdom announcing the good news of the redemption God has wrought. His word is a trumpet call: 'Thus saith the Lord.' He bears witness to the decisive intervention of God and calls men to a decision. The preacher does not talk in scholarly footnotes nor does he cajole men with an ingratiating whine. He stands with boldness, using free speech before God and men in the authority of heaven's messenger. Whether men hear or refuse, they must be told." - Edmund Clowney, Called to Ministry #Christian #Reformed #catholic
2025-10-10 18:46:36 from 1 relay(s) 2 replies ↓
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The Word of God comes to us in various ways at various times. Sometimes it is in the still small voice, as it came to Elijah in 1 Kings 19, but that is not so uniform as to be considered the normative way that God speaks. God's Word also comes through Moses commanding Pharaoh, "Let my people go!" Or through John shouting from the wilderness, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" Or through Paul rebuking the Galatians, "O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified." Don't be quick to limit how God must speak to his people without taking the whole of Scripture into account. The point of the quote from Clowney is that when a man is called to be a minister of the gospel, he must understand the weight of that call, because it comes with the need to preach with authority from God, "Thus saith the Lord." Sometimes those words will be soft words of comfort and consolation, but other times they will be commands to repent from wickedness. This is one reason why Reformed churches put a high premium on expository preaching, verse by verse, through the Bible. It puts things in proper balance, such that you don't have one minister who preaches nothing but hell-fire and brimstone all the time, while another just focuses on how much God loves us all the time. The whole of what Scripture says must be preached. Both words of comfort and assurances of love as well as warnings to repent and flee from sin and its wages.
2025-10-10 22:51:08 from 1 relay(s) ↑ Parent 1 replies ↓ Reply
Sure, but by that token God works through everything and everyone, even Satan tempting Job. But we must TURN WITHIN to find God in our hearts, because if we continue looking out towards the materialistic world for guidance from God, we will quickly be reminded how worthless the flesh is.
2025-10-11 12:03:36 from 1 relay(s) ↑ Parent Reply