Very many people object to being preached at. Indeed! Good training should teach preachers not to preach at people, nor beyond people, nor above people's heads, nor beating around the bush, but to people in a manner designed to engage their attention. However, many people do not want even this. So they cannot complain if …
Category: Preaching
Foolish government according to wise king Solomon
Wise king Solomon's book of Ecclesiastes gives much wisdom for daily life, just as his book of Proverbs gives wise advice particularly to the young. A summary of Ecclesiastes chapter 10 runs as follows: Working conditions The damaging effect of a little folly upon one's reputation v1, and the more so when it becomes endemic …
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False doctrine and the need to expose it
The concept of false doctrine has been lost in this age when everyone is allowed to have their own opinion as if each opinion is equally valid. This so-called liberal position is, however, simply a transitional phase during which our society moves into a new paradigm where secular opinion will impose its false doctrines upon …
My YouTube channel
Today is the second anniversary of my brother Andrew's death. It is also the 49th anniversary of my reading the whole Bible for the first time on 22/8/1971. I have read the Bible daily ever since and now I spend several hours a day on my Bible commentary, making its teaching accessible to ordinary people, …
There is a Christian Party
"There is a Christian Party – I like that!" When Donald Dewar, the first First Minister of the reconstituted Scottish Parliament in 1999, launched the Scotland Bill in 1997 he announced: "There shall be a Scottish parliament," and added: "I like that!" Similarly, "There is a Christian Party – I like that!" You can add …
Code exegesis
There are people who exegete Scripture as if it is code. I call it code exegesis and it is over three years since I intended to explain it more fully. As Scripture clearly has Old Testament types of Christ and symbols of various spiritual matters, this has developed into a form of allegorising that sees …
What constitutes a ‘good’ minister?
Not so long ago I discussed the subjective nature of a 'good' sermon. A good minister is not so subjective to assess as a sermon, because the apostle Paul discusses it in his letters and when writing to Timothy he gives advice about a good minister 1Tim 4:6 and evangelist 2Tim 4:5. Ministers and preachers …
Evangelistic one-liners
This is one in a series of evangelistic one-liners that Christians should practice. Recently I drew attention to Goodbye meaning 'God be with you'. Christians need to learn how to use one-liners. The role of one-liners There was a time when people read books. As advertising became more prominent, leaflets were used, not so much …
What constitutes a ‘good’ sermon?
The answer to this question is subjective, although it ought to be objective. The difficulty in making it objective is that everyone has a different idea of 'good'. The preacher will have a different assessment from his hearers, and the hearers will differ according to their readiness to receive instruction from the preacher. Even Jesus …
View from the Pew
In the 1980s I edited View from Farr and in the 1990s Auldcastle View. The past two decades have given me another perspective and so I am beginning a new series in my blog called View from the Pew. It is specifically aimed at preachers, preaching and congregations. The reason for this is that whereas …
Donald's Thoughts 