Category: Preaching and Teaching

For such a time as this

I’ve been working through the book of Esther but often accounts like this are best understood when we see the whole story together. Whilst we can preach sermon series on books like Esther, Ruth and Jonah, there’s benefit from time to time to getting that big picture view to understand the overall message. So, here’s… Continue reading For such a time as this

Growing an appetite for God’s Word

I believe that two crucial ingredients need to be present in any local church that wants to thrive.  These are prayer and Bible study/teaching.  Both are important because they are signs of hunger to know God more and more. Having said that, sometimes it can feel like hard work to encourage these things.  Why?  Well,… Continue reading Growing an appetite for God’s Word

It’s high time that western conservative evangelicals started learning from non-western Christians

I have just had the privilege of visiting a conference held for Nigerian Christians who have settled in the UK.  What a blessing it was to worship with brothers and sisters and to sit under passionate preaching.  It prompted me to reflect on my experience of worship with non-western Christians.  Over the years, I’ve had… Continue reading It’s high time that western conservative evangelicals started learning from non-western Christians

Preach the whole word of God

I’ve spent a lot of time over the past couple of months working chapter by chapter through 1 Chronicles for the Faithroots Podcast, I’ll return to that in the Autumn.  I’m about to run a little series of articles taking us through the book of Esther. In the Autumn, our church are starting a teaching… Continue reading Preach the whole word of God

Should I take questions after preaching?

Someone raised the question the other day about what would happen if we opened up the floor to questions when we had finished preaching. Now, as it happens, I’ve been in a fair few preaching contexts where we’ve done that.  Sometimes, I’ve intentionally opened up to Q&A, at other times, it’s been the decision of… Continue reading Should I take questions after preaching?

The danger with listening critically to sermons

The other day, I wrote some advice on giving feedback to preachers.  I want to add one further piece of advice.  Ration your feedback, give it sparingly.  What I mean by this is that whilst everyone should be getting regular feedback, you don’t want to be giving it every time you listen to other preachers.… Continue reading The danger with listening critically to sermons

You don’t have to look too hard for the application!

This is part two of a mini-series of articles on preaching application. In part one, I talked about the twin dangers of not applying a passage at all and over applying with a scatter gun approach, shooting off lots and lots of things for people to know, believer, repent of, start doing, stop doing etc. … Continue reading You don’t have to look too hard for the application!