Yesterday I attended the Let God Speak Conference at Grace Church in Des Moines. I sat with about 30 other pastors from around the area (mostly BCI guys) to be encouraged by God’s word. Dr. Jason Allen, president of Mid-Western Theological Seminary, preached the message. I thought I would share with you my notes from his sermon. I hope you enjoy my outline from his sermon. Let God Speak Conference, Aug. 4, 2014 Dr. Jason Allen, President of Mid-Western Baptist Theological Seminary Intro: Problem: The church in North America is in crisis. Question: What do we do about it? Answer: 2 Tim. 3:1-4:5 3:1-13: Recognize the depth of the falleness of mankind. v. 14 is the fulcrum of the text.
- Is ministry about comfort? We must leave our realms of comfort to do what needs to be done.
- The call is to digest the word of God and become a weighty preacher or disciple with the force of the gospel in our language and life.
v. 15: We must have a “word-driven” ministry with “word-driven” growth.
- How did Timothy learn the word? His family.
- How do you persevere? We will wither away without the word of God.
- We will compromise without the word.
- We cannot grow in our salvation without the word.
vv. 16-17: Strong belief about the word of God. We must recover the word for ministry. v. 17: If you have the word of God then you are adequate for ministry. 2 Tim. 4:1-2 v. 1: is the all caps button of the text. It is saying listen up! Listen to what I am about to say. Paul is ratcheting up the intensity and call.
- The call is to practice expository preaching. Expository preaching is when the point of the text is the point of the sermon. The text is illustrated and applied from the point of the text.
- Why do it? Why preach expository sermons?
- It most fulfills the biblical commands of the call to preach. It is a call to have a high view of Scripture.
- It most honors the authority Scripture.
- It gives authority to the sermon.
- It gives weight and gravity to the minister.
- It matures the church. It will draw people who are serious about God’s word to your church. It will grow the church.
- It helps people learn how to study the passage. In other words it demystifies the sermon preparation of the preacher.
- It ensures relevance. The more biblical you are the more relevant you are. If you work hard to be relevant then you actually become more irrelevant.
- It most consistently reveals Christ and the gospel. Week by week you help people learn how the Bible fits together.
- It disciplines and forces you to stronger man of God. It forces me to study difficult passages.
- It gives the preacher confidence because the word of God is his authority as opposed to his own words.
- It most optimally stewards the preacher’s time. Working through books of the Bible presets your study time.
- It ensures balance in the pulpit. I have to let the text give me the direction of the sermon.
Conclusion: 2 Tim. 4:3-5 – Fulfill the ministry you are called to!!