A Sermon On 2 Tim Iv 5 Preached At The Ordination Of Nathan Strong By His Father N S Etc

Second Timothy encourages pastors to guard, entrust, suffer for, and above all, preach the gospel. Yet it is also full of encouragement for Christians living in a hostile world. Like Timothy, we need reminding that “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” We need to “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” and confident in the Scriptures, which are “given by inspiration of God.” And we need to hope in Christ’s return, when He will award the crown of righteousness “to all who have loved His appearing.” Michael G. Brown’s exposition of 2 Timothy is not only Christ-centered, redemptive-historical, and gospel focused, but also packed with pastoral and practical application. Table of Contents: Chapter 1: Courageous for the Gospel (1:1–6) Chapter 2: A Spirit of Power, Love, and Self Control (1:7) Chapter 3: A Gospel Worth Suffering For (1:8–12) Chapter 4: Follow the Pattern of Sound Words (1:13–18) Chapter 5: Wanted: Soldiers, Athletes, and Farmers (2:1–7) Chapter 6: Your Best Life Later (2:8–13) Chapter 7: A Workman for the Gospel (2:14–19) Chapter 8: Vessels of Honor (2:20–26) Chapter 9: Difficulty in the Last Days (3:1–9) Chapter 10: Sola Scriptura (3:10–17) Chapter 11: Preach the Word (4:1–5) Chapter 12: Finishing Well (4:6–8) Chapter 13: Safely into His Heavenly Kingdom (4:9–22)

Baptist pastor Charles Haddon Spurgeon is remembered today as the Prince of Preachers. But in addition to his sermons, he regularly reading a Bible passage before his message and gave a verse-by-verse exposition, rich in gospel insight and wisdom for the Christian life. === Sample: Titus 1:1-4 === While reading this chapter, we must understand that Titus was sent to Crete, to superintend the preaching of the gospel throughout that island. Crete was at that time inhabited by a people who were only partially civilized, and sunk in the very worst of vices. Paul, therefore, tells Titus to speak to them about things which would hardly be mentioned to Christians nowadays. Titus 1 1, 2. Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; The word “lie,” here includes beyond its ordinary meaning the thought of change, so that when we read that God cannot lie, we understand by it, not only that he cannot say what is untrue, but that having said something which is true he never changes from it, and does not by any possibility alter his purpose or retract his word. This is very consolatory to the Christian, that whatever God has said in the divine purpose is never changed. The decrees of God were not written upon sand, but upon the eternal brass of his unchangeable nature. We may truly say of the sealed book of the decrees, “Hath he said and shall he not do it? hath he purposed and shall it not come to pass?” 3, 4. But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior; to Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Among the friends of Paul, Titus was one of the most useful and one of the best beloved. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, and Titus was a Gentile. I should suppose that both his parents were Gentiles, and in this respect he differed from Timothy, whose mother was a Jewess. Timothy would well serve as a preacher to the circumcision, but Titus would be a man after Paul’s heart as a preacher to the Gentiles. He seems to have been a man of great common sense; so that, when Paul had anything difficult to be done, he sent Titus. When the collection was to be made at Corinth on behalf of the poor saints at Jerusalem, Paul sent Titus to stir the members up, and with him another brother to take charge of the contributions. Titus appears to have been a man of business capacity and strict probity, as well as a man who could order the church aright, and preach the gospel with power. Paul was, on one occasion, comforted by the coming of Titus. At another time, he was sad because Titus was not where he had hoped to meet with him. Though we know little about him from the Acts of the Apostles, or anywhere else, he appears to have been in every way one of the ablest of the companions of Paul, and the apostle takes care to mention him over and over again in his Epistles to the Galatians and to the Corinthians, rendering honor to whom honor is due. Paul says of himself and Titus, that there was a close relationship between them: “Titus, mine own son.” Not that Titus was Paul’s son after the flesh, for there was no natural relationship between them at all. Probably, in the early part of their lives, they had been total strangers to one another; but now, Paul views Titus as his son. We know, beloved, many of us, that the grace of God creates relationships of a very near and tender kind, relationships which will endure through life, relationships which will outlast death, and be, perhaps, even more strong and vivid in eternity than they are here.

What is it that compels a group of people to follow the leadership and vision of one person? Why are the insights and pursuits of certain individuals more persuasive than those of others? This book reveals how leadership should be characterized in the church, and how biblical leadership must differ from the kind of leadership promoted in the world. It explores the dynamics of leadership, particularly the character traits that need to be built up or eradicated in leaders, the dangers that leaders face and temptations to which they are particularly prone, and the development of future leaders: how to recognize leadership potential and encourage leadership gifts in the next generation.

In The Art of Prophesying, Puritan William Perkins (1558-1602) teaches how to preach the Word with "studied plainness," not relying on technique or soaring flourishes of oratory, but rather by unleashing the majestic power of the unencumbered Word of God. Unlike so much of the milquetoast preaching heard today, Perkins teaches how to utilize the Scripture in all its capacities: for teaching correct doctrine, for reproof and correction, and for training the godly in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). This type of preaching changed lives during Perkins' lifetime, and it has the same effect today. Includes a biographical preface by Benjamin Brook. Scripture references (from the ESV) are embedded in the text as hyperlinks--no internet connection required.

Scholarly interest in the early modern sermon has flourished in recent years, driven by belated recognition of the crucial importance of preaching to religious, cultural, and political life in early modern Britain. The Oxford Handbook of the Early Modern Sermon is the first book to survey this rich new field for both students and specialists. It is divided into sections devoted to sermon composition, delivery, and reception; sermons in Scotland, Ireland, and Wales; English Sermons, 1500-1660; and English Sermons, 1660-1720. The twenty-five original essays it contains represent emerging areas of interest, including research on sermons in performance, pulpit censorship, preaching and ecclesiology, women and sermons, the social, economic, and literary history of sermons in manuscript and print, and non-elite preaching. The Handbook also responds to the recently recognised need to extend thinking about the 'early modern' across the watershed of the civil wars and interregnum, on both sides of which sermons and preaching remained a potent instrument of religious politics and a literary form of central importance to British culture. Complete with appendices of original documents of sermon theory, reception, and regulation, and generously illustrated, this is a comprehensive guide to the rhetorical, ecclesiastical, and historical precepts essential to the study of the early modern sermon in Britain.