THE GREATEST PREACHERS

Apparently, some time ago, one of the world’s most respected theological publishers, Banner of Truth Trust, announced a list of the world’s greatest preachers of all time. These were the preachers whose preaching shaped their world, and ours, for generations to come. Not surprisingly, Jesus of Nazareth topped the list. (I’m rather pleased to inform you that F.W. Boreham was among the top 20 on that list.) It does cause one to ask though, What constitutes a preacher as ‘great’? As a preacher, I’d also be interested to know how one becomes a ‘great’ preacher.  

The point is, Before you trust, you have to listen. But unless Christ’s Word is preached, there’s nothing to listen to.
Romans 10:17 THE MESSAGE

WHAT MAKES GREAT PREACHERS GREAT PREACHERS

History is peppered with many great preachers. Men such as Ambrose (340 – 397) was an Italian preacher whose preaching changed the world. His preaching led Augustine (354 – 430) to Christ who went on to become one of the greatest preachers of his day. John Wycliffe (1330 – 1384) was an English preacher who shook the world. Martin Luther (1483 – 1546) was a German preacher whose preaching changed the Europe. Count Nicolaus Ludwig Von Zinzendorf’s (1700 – 1760) preaching changed the destiny of at least three continents. John Wesley (1703 – 1791) was an English preacher whose preaching is credited as saving England from the destruction that tore France apart. Billy Graham (1918 – 2018) preached to more people than any other preacher and witnessed more people coming to Christ than any other preacher. Each of these great preachers exhibited 5 essential qualities:

1. Great preachers are attractive – they attract people to listen to them.
2. Great preachers are easy to listen to – they are simple, eloquent and hold people’s attention.
3. Great preachers have something important to say – they need people to listen.
4. Great preachers move people to action – they create a movement for change.
5. Great preachers speak from their compassionate hearts as well as their sharpened minds – they will often memorise facts, Scriptures, and poetry to reinforce their message. 

for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; 
¶ as even some of your own poets have said, 
“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
Paul of Tarsus, Acts 17:28

WHAT THE GREATEST PREACHERS ALSO DO

Determining who should be considered among the greatest preachers is generally based on the level and scope of their influence and effectiveness. This is why the Apostle Paul is rightly considered to be the most influential preacher of all time (after Christ of course). His preaching clearly impressed people. The people of Lystra (Acts 14:12), for example, thought he was the god Hermes since he was such a good speaker. Was it his training that made him a great preacher? Was it his level of practice? Was it his dedication? Was it his great learning? There is something often overlooked about each of the truly great preachers that made them great, especially the Apostle Paul, : they prayed – but not how you might think. 

The universal trait of every great preacher is that they were unusually intense pray-ers. You would be forgiven for thinking that great preachers often prayed to be a great preacher. But the evidence suggests that this was never their prayer focus. Using Paul as our model, we can see from his epistles just how this great preacher prayed. Reading his epistles, one thing becomes very clear about how Paul saw the connection between prayer and preaching: he saw them as a partnership, a dual partnership. This dual partnership was firstly between prayer and preaching, and secondly, his support community and him. Note these two Scriptural examples.

At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—
Colossians 4:3

¶ Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you,
Second Thessalonians 3:1

LOOKING FOR PRAYERFUL PARTNERS

If you have ever heard a great preacher, you can be certain that there is a team of people praying constantly for them and the effectiveness of their message. When the Apostle Paul sought prayer from those he turned to, he didn’t seek it so much for himself, rather, he sought it for its effectiveness of the preached Word when it was preached to those without Christ (note the two examples above). Down through the ages whenever God raised up a preacher, He also raised up their support team who would pray for the effectiveness of their preaching. Perhaps the most recent and clearest example of this would be the one they called,The Prince of Preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He became a preacher at the age of 16. By the age of 19 he was pastoring a small Baptist church near the Thames in London. His friends and family back home in the countryside where he came from were praying constantly for the young preacher with the strange country twang to ears of Londoners. By the time he was 26, his church had grown far bigger than their building could hold. A public building was leased while the church constructed its new facilities in Elephant and Castle (inner London). Over 30,000 people gathered in that building to hear the young preacher and thousands of them made a commitment to Christ over the coming years. When Spurgeon opened ‘Metropolitan Tabernacle’, it could hold 6,000 people and they could hold up to five services a Sunday to fit the crowds in. This tabernacle was built with a furnace room downstairs and whenever Spurgeon preached there was always hundreds of people down there praying for the effectiveness of his message! 

Today, I’m praying that God will raise up both great preachers and great pray-ers. In next week’s post, I’ll discuss how these great preachers prayed for those who responded to their preaching. For now, I pray that God may stir you to be either one who preaches or one who prays for those who preach and what is preached to bear fruit for Christ. Let’s pray.  

Your Pastor,

Andrew Corbett

FOR THE LOVE OF PETE!

How many chances should you give someone who continually let you down! I think John Mark might think the Apostle Paul would say “One!” Some of us might be a bit more forgiving and extend the ‘Once bitten – twice shy’ policy out to two chances. And some very patient souls may even be prepared to give someone threechances before they said enough is enough. Before assuming that you would show plenty of grace and generosity to a perpetrator of disappointment, put yourself in the shoes of a spouse whose partner had betrayed them, not once, not twice, but repeatedly – all the while apologising profusely each time. How easy would you find it to give them another chance? 

for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.
Proverbs 24:16

WOULD YOU HAVE GIVEN THESE PEOPLE A SECOND CHANCE?

Even good people make bad mistakes. Proverbs tells that even ‘The righteous falls seven times‘. Nearly everyone of the major characters in the Old and New Testaments whom God chose to use in His redemption plan, made a disappointing mistake. Think of Adam. We rightfully blame him for the fall of the human race from innocence into sin. But Scripture only records him sinning the once. Think of Noah whom God used to preserve the human race. After the floods waters subsided he sinned by getting drunk and shaming himself (Gen. 9:20-23). This was his only recorded episode of sin. Think of Abraham who denied that Sarah was his wife when he sought refuge with the Gerarites (Gen. 20:1-3). His half-truth nearly caused the violation of his wife! Think of David who committed adultery, lied, and then arranged the murder of a man (2Sam. 12:7). All of these received a second, third, fourth, (and more) chance. And these were the people who formed the human lineage of the Christ! (Matthew 1)    

¶ Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
Matthew 18:21

NEED A SECOND CHANCE?

Even though the level of offence and disappointment is immeasurably greater (than any disappointment we could ever experience), God’s ability to forgive and give people another chance is literally breathtaking. The one who asked Christ how many times should I forgive my brother who sins against me, would centuries later be described by Roman Catholics as their first ‘Pope’. Not only after he asked this question about how many chances he should give those who disappoint him, he would provide the Christ the greatest source of disappointment. This of course happened on the night of the Christ’s trial before the High Priest.

And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” … And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how He had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.”
Luke 22:55-57, 61

The depth of disappointment that Peter committed is difficult for any of us to appreciate. Peter was the first of the Christ’s disciples. He was meant to be their leader in the Church that Christ was about to establish. He was the one who first declared that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt. 16:16). If anyone ever needed a second chance, it was Peter. 

And he went out and wept bitterly.
Luke 22:62

REDEEMING THE ‘POPE’

It is one of the most beautiful portions of Scripture. Days after the resurrection of Christ, Peter and the other disciples begin to doubt. They go fishing. Out all night, they caught nothing. From the shores of the beach someone calls out to them to cast their net on the other side of their boat. Soon their net is breaking with the abundance of fish. Peter recognises that the one on the beach was the Christ. He dives into the water to swim to the Saviour. When he arrives he finds that Jesus has already prepared a fish breakfast. Having previously denied Jesus three times, in a matter of minutes, Jesus asks him three questions about his devotion to Him. 

That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off. ¶ When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread…¶ When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
John 21:7-9, 15-17

This beautiful transaction between the Redeemer and the one in need of redemption is one of the most touching scenes in the Bible. Peter had been sifted like wheat and nearly lost everything in the process if it wasn’t for the prayers of his Messiah (Luke 22:32). In a little under two weeks he would be assuming his appointed role as the lead apostle an standing before thousands upon thousands of pilgrims in the temple precinct and summoning them to repent and to turn to their Christ (Acts 2:38-41). He would be imprisoned for preaching the Christian gospel and then released by an angelic visitor in response to the prayers of the believers in Jerusalem. He would travel to the northern limits of Asia Minor to preach and plant churches, and then in 64 AD stand before Caesar Nero, King of Rome, and courageously bear witness to the redeeming mercy of the King of the Universe. 

Peter’s testimony stands as a glorious reminder that our God is the God of another chance – not just a second chance! Who knows who God will bring across our paths or through our doors whom God will redeem by giving them another chance? But what we do know is that we live at a time when the need and the numbers have never been greater for people needing another chance. Perhaps you’re one of them? In Christ you will find the One who can put Humpty Dumpty back together again and give you another chance. You may feel all hope is lost. But it isn’t. No matter what you’ve done – how many timesyou’ve done it – or who knows what you’ve done – God’s breathtaking mercy is available to you if you will receive it. It just takes one prayer to reset your life. 

A HORRENDOUS MISTAKE

Sometimes we Christians look at good people and think, “Now they would make a good Christian!” And other times we look at people who seem to care little about religion and God and think, “This person’s heart is so cold and indifferent, they could never be converted to Christ!” Both points of view are horrendous mistakes! God gave Peter another chance when he probably thought he’d blown it for good. His nemesis, Saul of Tarsus, the first and most violent persecutor of Christians, received mercy and another chance from God and ended up writing two-thirds of the New Testament! Let’s not make this horrendous mistake that thinks it’s easy for a ‘good’ person to become a Christian – and impossible for a ‘bad’ person to ever become a Christian. God is so unimaginably merciful that He is continually transforming both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ people into His adopted sons and daughters (and more often than we realise it’s response to another mercy-recipient’s prayers!). Maybe some of us need to repent of such horrendous thinking and ask our Heavenly Father for another chance.     

“God, please forgive me. Help me to live the way I should. I need Your mercy and Your help.” 
Amen.

A simple prayer like that can change the rest of your life and put you back on your God-ordained destiny track – and for the love Pete, I should know!

Your pastor,
Andrew Corbett

DOES THE LION SEEM BIGGER TO YOU?

“Aslan” said Lucy “you’re bigger”.
“That is because you are older, little one” answered he.
“Not because you are?”
“I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”
C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian

In the Chronicles of Narnia instalment, Prince Caspian, C.S. Lewis creatively depicts Aslan as appearing to the Pervensie children in differing sizes. Having longed to see Aslan for some time, Lucy encounters him at long last and remarks to The Lion that he appeared to be bigger. In effect, Aslan tells her that the bigger she gets, the bigger he will appear to be to her. In one sense C.S. Lewis has beautifully portrayed the believer’s relationship with Christ in a way that shows that when the believer grows, their vision of Christ also grows. It reminds me of the time when Kim wanted me to walk with her over the Ironbound range (a part of the famous South Coast Track). After a few hours of trekking, I made it near the top of the peak and thought, “That wasn’t so bad.” I’d heard how others had talked about how the Iron Bound was so difficult to trek up. And just as I was congratulating myself I reached the peak and looked up and to my horror realised I had just trekked the foot-hill of the Iron Bound – not the Iron Bound! (see the illustration below)

WHEN THE LION APPEARS

And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that He can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
Revelation 5:5

(Note how the Director of this scene cleverly portrays how Aslan appears to differ in size depending on who is looking at him)

Aslan says to Lucy in The Voyage of The Dawn Treader, “In your world I have another name. You must learn to know me by it. That was the very reason you brought to Narnia. That by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.” In this scene, C.S. Lewis has powerfully phrased what it is like to come to know Christ. He has taken the wealth of the Bible’s revelation about GOD in Christ and distilled it: 

(i) Christ has a Name that represents who He is 

(ii) We must learn to know Him by it 

(iii) The very reason we live is to come to know Him better

Christ’s name first appears to us as Saviour. Did you that the name ‘Jesus’ (Yeshua in Hebrew) means Saviour? 

She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for he will save His people from their sins.”
Matthew 1:21

But there is more to His name than Saviour and as we learn to know Him better we come to realise that His name encompasses exactly what every person needs and longs for.

LEARNING TO KNOW HIM BETTER

My mission as the pastor of our church is to minister the richness of Christ to you. It may appear that I am simply ministering His Word each Sunday as I stand before you. This requires study, research, preparation and presentation. But if this is all it seems I am doing then you may be missing my real intent. My intent is not merely to minister the Written Word of God to you – but to minister the Living Word of God to you. (see the illustration below for a fuller explanation)

If all I did was just minister the Word of God as a collection of facts, we would be at risk of drying up. If all I did was minister in the power of the Holy Spirit, we would be at risk of blowing up. The power of the Word of God ministered in the power of the Spirit is that it not just fills our minds, it heals our souls, and makes Christ bigger to us. 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:1

Since Christ is the Word of God, when we gather on a Sunday to worship Christ and receive His Word, we are receiving Him. That’s why my preparation for a Sunday is not just my study of His Word but also my time with Him. I hope this Sunday that it is not just your minds which are enriched in the knowledge of God’s Word, but that it is also your hearts which are cleansed by the washing of the water of His Word (Eph. 5:26) and also your souls which are infused with a greater love for Him as the combination of our praise, reflection, teaching, and fellowship draws us to behold Him – and by beholding Him we are made more like Him.

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Second Corinthians 3:18

Does the Lion seem bigger to you? I hope so. If not, there’s more to your Christianity than perhaps you realise – there’s an invitation to behold Christ in a way that transforms your world and priorities. See you in the den this Sunday.

Your pastor,
Andrew