John Albert Broadus (1827–1895), was a founding faculty member and the second president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was also perhaps the premier Southern Baptist preacher of the nineteenth century. His more famous contemporary, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, called Broadus “the greatest of living preachers;” many others still laud him as “the prince of . . .
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It is virtually impossible to exaggerate the importance of love. Nothing is more basic to true spirituality than this singular virtue. Nothing is more central to Christian living. At the very heart of authentic discipleship is love. Without love, we are nothing. When Jesus was asked, “Which is the great commandment in the Law?” (Matt. 22:36), He answered, “You shall love the Lord your . . .
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Few pastors in church history have communicated gospel truth with more grace and compassion than John Newton. Today, Newton is best known for composing the best loved hymn in the English language, Amazing Grace, as well as for his dramatic conversion from a life of slave-trading to Christian faith. Newton was also a pastoral counselor par excellence, and a mighty . . .
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God wants each of His children to know beyond a shadow of any doubt that he or she has eternal life. The apostle John writes, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 Jn 5:13). God does not desire that we be uncertain about our eternal destiny; He wants us to be absolutely sure that salvation is . . .
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I remember the day my counseling professor stood before our seminary class, ticking off some of the main issues we should expect to encounter, and recommending resources to prepare for them. One topic he mentioned surprised me: discerning God’s will. “You will be amazed at how often you will be called upon to help a sincere Christian who is agonizing over God’s will for his or . . .
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The young, zealous pastor of Dundee, Scotland, Robert Murray M’Cheyne, who flamed out for God at age 29 and gave himself to the work of God as perhaps no young pastor has so uniquely given himself to God’s work, said before he died, “The greatest need of my people is my personal holiness.” M’Cheyne understood that the effectiveness of his pastoral ministry, including his pulpit . . .
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While reading in George Whitefield’s sermons and journals for an academic project I found the grand itinerant helping my preaching. Whitefield is instructive for many reasons (Spurgeon said if he had any model in ministry, it was Whitefield), but I have especially been learning from his clear communication that “you must be born again!” If these words of Jesus are true (and of course . . .
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Read More… from George Whitefield and Preaching the New Birth
The church exists wherever God’s people meet together in the name of Jesus Christ to worship God and to wait upon Him. As God communicates His grace through the Word preached and through the administration of the sacraments, God’s people congregate around that Word, and they have fellowship with God and each other.
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There is a wealth of wisdom in this anecdote from Spurgeon’s early days at New Park Street in London (he was about nineteen years old at the time of this incident). Brother pastors, Spurgeon can keep us out of a world of trouble if we’ll listen to him . . .
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The Scripture possesses divine power to convict human hearts, exposing sin and revealing one’s true need for God and grace. “Convict” refers to the judicial act of indicting one who has broken the law with a view toward sentencing them. The idea of conviction pictures a courtroom scene in which the guilty are accused before a judge and justly condemned. So it is with the ministry of . . .
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Paul begins this epistle to the Galatians by expressing his astonishment over how easily they have been led astray. He writes, “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him” (Gal 1:6). This word, amazed (thaumazo), means “to be astounded, bewildered, or shocked.” Paul is dumbfounded and perplexed with the Galatians. He is stunned that they have so quickly deserted the gospel he had preached to them. He had just been with them in person and proclaimed to . . .
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