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matt1000
Member



Joined: 2011/7/18
Posts: 6


 The Greatest Need for the Church

I hope no-one disagrees with this. But Martyn Lloyd-Jones said that he was thoroughly convinced that the single greatest need for the Church was a return to expository preaching. What is expository preaching? It is when a pastor or teacher chooses a book of the Bible, and each week he works his way through it, preaching through every single section of that book. He reads the passage, explains it to the people with all his heart, and preaches Christ from it, soaking the message in application for the people. That's expository preaching. It's the exposition of the word of God to God's people, so that God himself speaks to them.

I want to take Lloyd-Jones statement a massive step further. I agree totally with J. Vernon McGee that the world-wide Church needs to engage in expository preaching on the ENTIRE Bible. Every book. Churches need to be hearing EVERYTHING that God has to say to them.

Consider this by Paul: 'Everything that was written in the past was written to teach US' (Rom 15:4). The OT was not written primarily to teach OT Jews, but to teach Christians, whether Jew or Gentile! The OT is OURS! But sadly, it's seldom opened up in all it's glory! Jesus on the road to Emmaus showed that the whole Bible proclaimed him in advance!

So here's the challenge: I don't know what pastors are doing, but I know for sure that hardly any of them are doing this. Why not? What else is there for pastors to do? They are told to 'feed the sheep' and 'shepherd the flock of God' and to 'preach the word!' That's pretty much the sum and substance of it! Of course pastors have other side-line things to do: but the preaching of the whole word should be paramount.

I am more convinced about this than ever, especially when so many Christians don't understand the OT, find it difficult to read it and don't know how to interpret it. The poor souls may as well not carry a whole Bible to church most of the time. How can pastor's just watch their flocks continue in ignorance of massive sections of Scripture and still come every week with yet another sermon from the NT? And I will also say this: It is not the average Christian's job to work out how to read and interpret the OT for themselves. It is the pastor's job! So why aren't pastors helping their people to understand the WHOLE Bible? This is devastating, really. Is the OT not relevant to us? Is 78% of the Bible not as important as the final 22%? If anything is vital to leading us to a national and world-wide revival, this is surely one of the key things.

Back to the OT! Pastors: lead the way!

 2011/7/18 10:37Profile
lylewise
Member



Joined: 2009/2/20
Posts: 494
Celina, Texas

 Re: The Greatest Need for the Church

I would see this as more of a man vs. method question. If a man be led by the H.S. then does it matter the method? Without the Spirits leading, using either method, he will be guilty of a fleshly endeavor.

I have seen men preach and teach expositionaly and never leave the chapter they were in. With all of scripture available to compliment, clarify, and consider they would not even turn the page. So expositional preaching can be abused just as topical preaching is.

The cure for the word is the Word Himself. May men ask God that they may receive in Spirit and not in flesh.

 2011/7/18 16:42Profile









 Re:

I came across a radical suggestion on a web site. A person suggested that a church do away with preaching for about 7 months. Get the best readers in the church. Take the New Testament and read it aloud every Sunday for 7 months. Start in Mat. and read through Rev. The Holy Spirit can preach to the people. I dare say that the church woukd see revival. Like I said this is too radical for the church. Somehow I do not see it happening. But how one's soul would love to see the power of God's word unleashed.

 2011/7/18 19:32
lylewise
Member



Joined: 2009/2/20
Posts: 494
Celina, Texas

 Re:

What about reading it at home and sharing when your come together with brothers and sisters those things God has laid on your heart?

 2011/7/18 20:32Profile
andres
Member



Joined: 2005/6/17
Posts: 285
texas,brownsville

 Re:

nothing wrong with reading scripture, it should be done more in at church, but God has ordained teachers or the Word.. Preaching the word is biblical
andy


_________________
andy

 2011/7/18 21:28Profile
ginnyrose
Member



Joined: 2004/7/7
Posts: 7534
Mississippi

 Re:

Quote:
Take the New Testament and read it aloud every Sunday for 7 months. Start in Mat. and read through Rev.



I love this idea. In fact, I mentioned it to one of our preachers one day that they do this instead of preaching. For some reason he was not all that impressed.

Many years ago one of our preachers used to read an obscure OT chapter for a devotional at worship service. I was so captivated by it that it forced me to study it on my own. For some reason the way he read it piqued my interest like nothing else did. So, I started reading the prophets and was enthralled with it and still am to this day. Actually, in our SS we are studying the prophets - last Sunday it was Obadiah, next Sun. it will be Jonah - and nobody wanted to teach it so guess who got that job? Or, who volunteered for it? The one who does it gets blessed the most, I think.


_________________
Sandra Miller

 2011/7/18 22:41Profile









 Re: Reading thr scriptures

The brother on this particular web site was not advocating doing away with teaching or preaching of scripture but to read for a time the word of God in the church and let the Holy Spirit preach it to the heart. Hebrews tells us that the word of God is living and active. It penetrates and judges our hearts. We see in the Old Testament what happened when the scriptures were read to the people. Something like revival broke out under Josiah and Nehemiah. Paul told Timothy to give attention to the public reading of scripture along with preaching and teaching. We preach and teach the word but is it read extensively in one setting?

If revival broke out under the Old Covenant by the reading of the Torah, what would happen if a pastor dare to take the New Covenant writings and have them read in the church? Jesus said it is the Spirit who gives life and his words are spirit and life. Imagine the possibilities if reading the word for say 30 minutes or 45 minutes in our churches without comment. The Holy Spirit woukd have a field day. Lives would be changed. Repentence would occur. Sinners gloriously converted. People healed and set free. Am I snorting something or could this not happen? All it would require is for a pastor to crucify his ego and let the word be read without comment in his church for a few months. I honestly believe that church woukd never be the same. I honestly believe there woukd be revival. Is that not what we are wanting?

 2011/7/19 4:40
matt1000
Member



Joined: 2011/7/18
Posts: 6


 Re: Man vs Method?

I appreciate what you're saying lylewise. I totally disagree with boring the people senseless and perhaps it's best for a man who cannot preach the whole Bible to focus on another form of preaching. I generally don't agree with staying in one chapter for years, at the expense of preaching the rest of the Word. That's really my point. I just do not believe the Holy Spirit has led so many men to practically ignore the OT in their preaching. I think the Holy Spirit wants us to get back to reading and preaching the OT.

I know that people do preach on the OT, but the NT is preached far more today. The average ratio is about 3:1 (NT:OT). However the amount of OT compared to NT in our Bibles is about 3-4 times as much! The apostles found Christ all over the OT and they had no full NT to preach. When Paul said 'All Scripture is profitable' he was speaking about primarily the OT Scriptures, because the NT writings were not completed then. When he told Timothy to preach the word, he primarily meant the OT, preached in light of Christ's coming.

I am concerned and zealous that the OT be brought back into the life of the Church. There is so much we must learn from it, which is not adequately dealt with in the NT. I am not suggesting pastors ignore preaching the NT at all. We absolutely need it. But I want believers to be hearing the whole Bible read well and preached well, just as happened in Nehemiah's day (chapter 8) and Josiah's day (2 Chron 34). Remember that there was revival on both these occasions. All they did was read and explain and apply the OT Scriptures. But we've got Christ now to open the OT up! And how often has it all been opened up to churches since around 70AD? I believe pastors should seek to read, explain and applying the OT in the light of Jesus. Of course, I think pastors should be doing the same thing with the NT too: read it, preach it in the light of Christ! I think this would revolutionize the Church.

I do want to clarify that this is not my own idea at all. Matthew Henry preached the whole Bible to his people twice! He would preach OT Sunday mornings and NT Sunday evenings. That's great! I bet his people knew their Bibles well! Vernon McGee also strongly believed this was the best way and you can find his teachings of the whole Bible in 5 years on 'Thru the Bible' website. It has been used to save and build up loads of people. Tom Holland, an author on Pauline theology, is also very keen about this. Stuart Olyott says its vital and he believes pastors should teach their people the whole Bible in about 10 years at a time. So its others who've said this first. And of course, it is the Scriptural method.

 2011/7/19 5:11Profile









 Re:

Matt why go back to the shadow when the reality is found in Christ? Incredible riches ate found in John, Romans, Eph., Col., and so forth. I find it significant that on the Mount of Transfigiuration God said this is my vibes Son, listen to him. This was said when Moses and Elijah departed. Jesus was left. Hebrews declares that Jesus is the FINAL WORD of God. Truly in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and glory. Sorry for the mispells.

 2011/7/19 5:26
matt1000
Member



Joined: 2011/7/18
Posts: 6


 Re: Christ fulfils the OT Scriptures

Martyr:

I am well aware great riches are found in Ephesians, John, etc. But the OT is also packed full to the brim with great truths which foreshadow our Lord. God gave us the OT for this time now: so that, in the light of Christ and the NT, we would understand it and love it and learn from it. So the reality of Christ can be preached from the OT. Christ can be preached from the OT, where he is foreshadowed.

For example, I was reading 1 Chronicles 22-25 yesterday (well, I was listening to being read actually on Biblegateway.com). It is about David being central to the preparations of the temple that Solomon would build. So David prepared wood and gold and silver for the temple, etc. But most interestingly, David also was involved in dividing up the Levites to serve in the temple. Some were appointed to sing, others to be gatekeepers, etc. etc. (see chap 23). Then David was involved in the ordering of the priests and the singers, chap 24-25. The point is that David was central to the roles people had, even individual people. That's why individual names are given. And this made me think immediately of Jesus Christ, how he has given gifts to us all individually, for the building up of his Church (Eph 4:7-11)! And his Church is the Temple of God (Eph 2:19-22)! Jesus is therefore prophesied in advance in 1 Chronicles 22-25 as the one who would come and be central to giving each of his people specific roles in the service of God's people! Don't you find that awesome? I loved it. I may just preach it this weekend lol. In other words, the application is that we all have gifts, given by Jesus, for the service of God. Our gifts may be singing, preaching, listening to others, caring, hospitality, etc. But here's the question: Are we using them properly? Jesus has given YOU a gift, martyr, my brother: are you using it well? I hope so :)

I would recommend that to really see what I am saying, you had best listen to an example of the kind of preaching I'm talking about. I began to listen to Vernon McGee last month. I loved his expositions on Genesis. Now he's in Matthew. After that, he'll go to Exodus. Then Mark, Leviticus, etc. You can find some of his stuff on sermonindex, or you can get the 'Thru the Bible' podcast for your Ipod. Seriously well worth it. He's convinced me that the Church needs to bring 'the whole word to the whole world'. Not bits of the Bible. Also, you may be aware of David Pawson. He also is another strong advocate of preaching and teaching the whole Bible to God's people.

 2011/7/19 5:58Profile





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