Church Leadership
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Prayer Part III, Do you feel connected to God when you pray?
To pursue a more vibrant prayer life, we have to be willing and able to saturate ourselves with it and in it! Also, we need a desire to move our prayer life from the occasional extracurricular activity to a passionate pursuit, and carry out prayer sincerely, earnestly, and vibrantly with His Spirit and Truth! This means prayer must become more than a just thing we do; rather, it becomes an attitude and a constant pursuit. We grow beyond our regular prayer times; we still have them, but we no longer limit ourselves to pray just at those times. We realize that...
To pursue a more vibrant prayer life, we have to be willing and able to saturate ourselves with it and in it! Also, we need a desire to move our prayer life from the occasional extracurricular activity to a passionate pursuit, and carry out prayer sincerely, earnestly, and vibrantly with His Spirit and Truth! This means prayer must become more than a just thing we do; rather, it becomes an attitude and a constant pursuit. We grow beyond our regular prayer times; we still have them, but we no longer limit ourselves to pray just at those times. We realize that...
Prayer Part II Matthew 6: 5-15; 7: 7-12 How can I pray?
What if I have never been taught how to personally pray or to talk to God? What if I grew up in a church that never had conversational or personal prayer? What if I only know liturgy? What if I offend God? If you think that you do not know how to pray, you need to ask yourself, do I know how to talk and listen? If you know how to talk to another person, then you know how to pray! Prayer is basically our communication with the Great Sovereign God of the Universe who wants the best for us and to hear from us!
What if I have never been taught how to personally pray or to talk to God? What if I grew up in a church that never had conversational or personal prayer? What if I only know liturgy? What if I offend God? If you think that you do not know how to pray, you need to ask yourself, do I know how to talk and listen? If you know how to talk to another person, then you know how to pray! Prayer is basically our communication with the Great Sovereign God of the Universe who wants the best for us and to hear from us!
Prayer Part I How is your prayer life?
Is prayer your first response for all thoughts and encounters in your life? Have you ever thought through why you do not spend more time with God? What aspects of your time and commitment hold you back from prayer? Most of us do not have the kind of prayer life we should have; in my experience, most people give up because either they do not know how to pray or they do not understand the significance of prayer. Others may have prayer lives but they are not godly or effectual prayers; these tend to be the prayers with only the self-interests or personal agendas in mind. We may know about prayer, but...
Is prayer your first response for all thoughts and encounters in your life? Have you ever thought through why you do not spend more time with God? What aspects of your time and commitment hold you back from prayer? Most of us do not have the kind of prayer life we should have; in my experience, most people give up because either they do not know how to pray or they do not understand the significance of prayer. Others may have prayer lives but they are not godly or effectual prayers; these tend to be the prayers with only the self-interests or personal agendas in mind. We may know about prayer, but...
"Preaching is not people hearing you, it's you hearing from God." Dalton was bewildered at his father's presumption that he could tell him about ministry, and he turned to walk away.
"Enjoyed your message, pastor," say the many who meet and greet him at the church's door. All the while, the pastor is curiously racking his grey matter to figure out just what they enjoyed. Wonder why? It must be because this sermon really was good. After all, it sounded so good on the Internet that the pastor "borrowed" it so that his congregation could be as blessed by it as he was.
Activists, repudiating the obvious meaning of Scripture, run the risk of the sin of unbelief.
Preaching Thoughts for Pastors
A dull preacher is a contradiction; if he is dull he is not a preacher-Bible dullness is impossible.
The following is something I put together for myself after reading John Stott's book Between Two Worlds on preaching.
Some Valuable NOTES on BIBLICAL PREACHING by the foremost expert on the subject!
