Some Antidotes to the Problem of Preaching

A few months ago I wrote about The Problem of Preaching and ever since I've been meaning to post some good preaching as an antidote. So, at long last, here goes.

But before launching into the sermons, just a brief note on what makes a good sermon good. True preaching is proclaiming Christ biblically, so a good sermon that will serve as an antidote to the problem of preaching must proclaim Christ biblically. And good preaching doesn't just talk about Jesus, but it offers Him to us as God's gift. So that's the sort of thing you'll hopefully find in these antidotes to the problem of preaching.

Let's start in Singapore. Dev Menon preached this sermon on the Ascension of Christ a few years ago, and you've probably never heard anything quite like it. It's biblical, he preaches Christ, and in fact, does exactly what Martin Luther said about true preaching: 'To preach the gospel is nothing else than Christ's coming to us or bringing us to Him.'

Now back to the UK. Mike Reeves (who wrote The Good God, which if you haven't yet read, you really should), is one of the best preachers in this country today. Have a listen to this sermon on Psalms 1 & 2. And here's a video of him preaching at Mobilise this year on Isaiah 61 about Christ's great love for His Church. (If you were at the preaching training last Monday night, this is the full sermon from which I showed you the clip.)



Another great preacher in the UK today is Glen Scrivener (although, he's really from Australia originally). You might recognise Glen's voice from 321. On a similar note, have a listen to this sermon from Glen on Romans 5.  And here's a video of Glen preaching on the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15.



You can find lots more good sermons from Glen here.

And here's some great preaching in a Yorkshire accent. Rich Owen comes from up this way, but pastors a church down on the south coast nowadays. Listen to him preach Christ from our Saviour's prayer in Gethsemane in Matthew 26:36-46. And here's an Old Testament sermon from Rich giving an overview of the book of Judges (zooming in on Judges 13 where we meet the Angel of the LORD).

And what about something seasonally appropriate? Here's Paul Blackham with a Christmas Eve sermon on Genesis 3 (but equally fantastic when it isn't Christmas time!).

Dev's a Presbyterian, Mike and Glen are both Anglicans, and Rich is FIEC. So does that mean I have to point to preachers outside the Apostolic Church to give us examples of good preaching? Not at all! In the past the Apostolic Church was known for its great preachers (just think of Graham Daniel, whom Martyn Lloyd-Jones considered the greatest living preacher in Britain back in his day, or Ian MacPherson). But good Apostolic preaching isn't a thing of the past, and it's encouraging and exciting to see God's blessing today in the raising up of younger preachers.

So here are a few Apostolic examples. Craig Hopkins is a pastor in Bridgend in south Wales. Craig's a great preacher and preached the Word at my ordination as a teacher last year. Here's a sermon of his on our union with Christ and another on Christ's ascension.

Here's another young Apostolic pastor, Simon Taylor in Wolverhampton, preaching from John 2 on Jesus is the Temple.

And here's Arnallt Morgan, our pastor in Swansea, preaching from Ephesians 1:3-14. (After hearing that, I want to listen to Arnallt's whole Ephesians series!)

(By the way, I'm not trying to single out some of my colleagues from among others here. These are just some good sermons that I have links for to give you some examples.)

Finally, I couldn't give some Apostolic examples without a sermon from Warren Jones. So here's a sermon from Warren from Ephesians on God's Eternal Purpose in Christ. (It was preached in Belgium, so there's French translation in there as well, and it was a weekend of apostle and prophet ministry, so he handles the prophecy at the beginning of the sermon.)

Anyway, hopefully those provide a few antidotes to the problem, and some good examples of proclaiming Christ biblically.