Preaching and Holy Hypocrisy

Posted on February 4, 2009

Ministers are noteworthy of their calling. All preachers are vulnerable to the charge of hypocrisy. In fact, the more faithful preachers are to the Word of God in their preaching, the more liable they are to the charge of hypocrisy. Why? Because the more faithful people are to the Word of God, the higher the message is that they will preach. The higher the message, the further they will be from obeying it themselves. ~ R.C. Sproul, The Holiness of God

Are you teetering closely to the edge of holy hypocrisy or are your sermons doable bits of moral advice? Are we pressing into the Word of God to encounter his holiness and grandeur or finessing deliveries to impress men with our personal insights? We have to ask ourselves, are we preaching higher and higher messages that threaten our discipleship with the promise of sanctifying joy or are we preaching lower messages that promote a numbing nominalism?

Role of Counseling in Mission

Posted on February 3, 2009

The Lausanne movement is a historic expression of evangelical mission. Some of the world’s finest theologians, missiologists, and practioners have contributed to the Lausaunne movement. In a recent article, a task force reported on the role of counseling in mission. Counseling is traditionally viewed as a critical part of pastoral ministry. How might it be missional? Have you experienced missional counseling?

Also check out:

Fight Club: Peer Discipleship Groups

Posted on February 2, 2009

Less than a year ago I preached a sermon on Gospel-centered Fight Clubs vs. Eckhart Tolle’s higher consciousness. As I closed the sermon I dreamed out loud that one day our city would be filled with lots of little fight clubs, gendered groups meeting to help one another beat up the flesh and believe the promises of God. The response was remarkable. People started asking for tools and methods right away. I wrote up a “how to” piece and then published an article on Fight Clubs. They became viral in our community. As a result, people are fighting sin and treasuring Christ more than before.

We vowed that Fight Clubs would remain an organic, viral thing that is relationship based and would not compete with our primary community structure—City Groups. No sign-ups. Now that our church has grown considerably, I preached another message on Gospel-centered Mortification this Sunday from Colossians 3:5-11. Again, the response was remarkable. Even unbelievers are interested.

Our minister of Missional Community will be leading a three week discussion group on Porn Again Christian at a local bar for the next three weeks to help guys fight sexual sin in particular. Our hope is that this will serve as a stepping stone into Fight Clubs. We’ve seen a lot of fruit from this peer-based discipleship. Not only does it fit our generation, it promotes Christ-adorning discipleship, and it can be missional.