This semester finds me navigating uncharted waters…particularly in the area of public speaking. I have often used my education in Christian matters to speak before other people, but the majority of that speaking has been in a classroom setting. Now that I am faced with the prospect of spending forty minutes exhorting and explaining the Word of God to a crowd, I am terrified. And not without good reasons:
1. DTS has convinced me that Scripture must not be misused…and staying true to the text is harder than it looks. I spend hours on assignments, only to have my understanding of passages corrected in class. I thought I was smart!
2. Writing eloquently is easier than Speaking effectively. You can pause and collect your thoughts between sentences when you write, but when you collect your thoughts while speaking, it’s usually accompanied by the word “Ummmm”
3. Exhortation only works when you are yielded to the Spirit. Being earnest requires having applied the Scripture to your own life, as well as to the life of others. Understanding comes faster than application. Proper application takes time…and how many of us plan far enough ahead in our teaching to allow the Scriptures to sink into our own actions?
February 27th, 2009 at 11:30 am
There is this system caled Biblical Theology, Andy ascribes to it, Louis Giglio ascribes to it ( as best I can understand) and several other well knows. The idea is that all of scripture supports itself. That God has been in the process of redeeming his people ever since Adam and Eve, and I would say, the point of creation. So Scripture from beginning to end supports itself. There is nothing that we can say that Lines up with the Character of God and his revelation that is not true.
When I used to speak before groups I had to ask myself two questions:
1. Does this message line up completelely with what we know of Gods character through out his word? Remember, God’s character never changes; this moves us into the second question:
2. Do I understand the complete context of the passage in which I am reading. This means the complete understanding that you can have with your ability and mind as a human being. But this also takes a lot of work. In line with this question is another question; Do you believ that the character of God does change? If not then do you ever find yourself questioning why God spared Ninevagh and not Sodom? It all is answered in your ability to understand the character of God and the culture in which he is addressing.
The thing about the Patrick that I know is that there is no side stepping going on in preparation. There are intimidations out there. Truth be told; If I were assessing you and Ken Gangle was assessing you you may recieve a negative grade from one of us beacuse our method of Biblical interpretaions may be very different. You need to speak to the heart of the listener by sueing you heart. There are countless people that have come to the Lord while in their last year at Seminary. Let God do the speaking. Ask him to work on your heart. Do what you know is right. And forget about the grade. Remember your want to reach the heart of the listener. If you are worried about your grade or what one of the profs are going to say then it may be hard for you to really feel the H.S. working through you. God has promised us that his word will never go in vein.
February 27th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
With comments like this, who needs my posts. Thanks for the excellent feedback, Gordon. You’re words are always from the heart, and deeply thought out.
I enjoyed preparing the sermons this week for the very reasons you mentioned. The Spirit was saying…”yeah, you’re going to be evaluated. but more importantly, you’re sharing the Word of God with your fellow students. That’s the point that matters. Let it transform your life, and do you best to assist them in letting it transform theirs. Let Me worry about your grades.”
March 1st, 2009 at 2:59 pm
While attempting to say something meaningful or truly insightful I’m left with that long ummmm… So simple and straight forward it is.
Interpretation will always be difficult at best with in-depth study because of our limited comprehension of God’s ultimate logical and philosophical capacities; our problem with the internal struggle of the sin nature battling the spirit; and not to mention the seemingly differing theological possibilities that have been boiling points for centuries.
So, what do we do?
We keep going. We keep putting time, effort, and good Godly sense to work in attempting to acquire what we really seek from the Word… understanding. The great thing about you Trick, is that you know and apply what you need to do in order to be successful. Preparation, prayer, research, accountability, and people to use as sounding boards all within your normal processes. We who teach and preach need to use the same wisdom you incorporate so as to heed the warnings of James 3:1.
March 1st, 2009 at 4:25 pm
As always, your contribution is a keen one. A lot of our teaching pertains to the struggle between the spirit and the flesh…our ability to comprehend the passage is surely tied to the level of submission and discipline in applying the Word of God authentically in our own lives.
I recently came across another post of tips for student preachers, and found it quite helpful too. I thought it best that the URL for that post belong here to: http://heidelblog.wordpress.com/2009/02/27/a-few-words-to-student-preachers/