New Testament Exposition by Walter L. Liefeld (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing, 1984)
My preferred style of preaching is expository preaching. To be sure, there is a place for topical sermons and other aspects of crafting a message for the church, but primarily, I much prefer to preach expositorily.
In doing so, it helps me to grow just as much as it does the listeners sitting in the pews. I enjoy taking a passage and moving from the page of Scripture to the pulpit, describing what the passage means, and how we can use it in application for our lives today as well.
To that end, I want to be the best preaching I can be, and studying books on the topic is always helpful. This book, New Testament Exposition, by Walter L. Liefeld, was one of the books I read in college for a homiletics class. While it has been around for a while, it is proving helpful to pull it out and reread it again.
Hopefully, it will reinforce some things I practice, and remind of things I need to incorporate into my sermon crafting and delivery. It’s available on Amazon from a variety of sellers. If you preach regularly, I recommend that you pick up a copy.
But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.”
Several years ago, I developed a Life Plan, outlining the most important aspects of my life, and what I wanted to achieve in each of those areas. Periodically, I take the time to review that plan, in order to make sure I stay on track.
I was first introduced to the idea of a Life Plan by Michael Hyatt, through his blog on leadership. At that point, he was the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, and was striving to help others develop their leadership abilities on the side. Since then, he has made his leadership platform his main work, and has developed it into a full time business.
His blog and podcast are full of great leadership resources. Most of these are designed for the corporate or business mind, but there is a lot of overlap into the church as well. I find a lot of his resources to be extremely helpful, to the point of being almost invaluable.
One such resource is the development of my Life Plan. I initially wrote out a detailed plan for my life around 2011, identifying those areas of my life that were most important to me, and striving to make them the best that they can be.
I have written about this before, describing what a Life Plan looks like, and how I have fit it into my life.
I have had several discussions over the years with others about whether we should capitalize divine pronouns or not. In other words, should we use “he” or “He” when it refers to God? That’s a good question, and one that has strong opinions on either side. I prefer not to capitalize such pronouns, and this brief video from Bill Mounce describes four different reasons why the text of the NIV doesn’t capitalize them either.
In the first half of this stanza, we saw several ways that God’s Word gives us clarity in this world. In this week’s passage, we will find three more ways. Take a look at this passage in Psalm 119:109-112:
In the first half of this stanza, the author identified four ways that God’s Word provides clarity to life. God’s Word leads us in the way which we should go, it helps us to live with right behavior, it gives us clarity when we face suffering, and it shows us how to worship fully.
At the beginning of that passage, we saw one of the most familiar passages from this psalm, found in verse 105:
“Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path.”
That’s the kind of clarity that God’s Word brings to all areas of our lives. And in the second half of this passage, we find three more ways that God’s Word provides clarity.
God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.
There are times when I am reading through the Bible and a particular passage seems to reach out and smack me. Has this ever happened to you? It’s rather disconcerting and refreshing all at the same time.
I strive to spend some time daily in the book of Psalms. As I have grown older (and hopefully, grown more mature), I have found that if Scripture consisted of nothing more than the Psalms, I could be content with that. I’m not downplaying the rest of God’s Word. It’s all inspired, and it’s all useful. And I love many, many different parts of it.
It’s just that I have found, especially recently, that the book of Psalms seems to contain most of what I seem to need at this season of my life. It gives me the encouragement I need, from passage such as Psalm 106, or Psalm 95. I receive reminders of God’s love for me in passages like Psalm 100. There are passages like Psalm 23, which comforts me and reassures me of God’s presence.
The Psalms give me the challenges that I need to grow, they convict me in areas that I fall short, and they strengthen my resolve to stay as closely connected to God as I can.
Not too long ago, I came across this passage in my reading of the Psalms. I’d encourage you to go read the whole chapter, but look especially at Psalm 19:14.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.
What an incredible idea to keep before myself daily!
