Pastor Al recently purchased a number of copies of this wonderful little booklet and gave me one. It’s based on a lecture delivered at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, on behalf of the Homiletical Society by J.C. Ryle (who Spurgeon called “an evangelical champion . . . One of the bravest and best of men.”)

What a great (and quick!) read. As the title suggests, it is a very persuasive appeal for preachers to strive at being simple in our preaching. Not “simplistic” or childish, but to avoid complexity that tends to encumber the message with clutter that works against clarity.

Ryle makes his case under 5 headings:

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With one week to go, we have 139 people signed up ready to start the S.O.S. 31 Day Challenge on October 1st. Already that means a minimum of 4309 people will be presented with the gospel in some form in October. Even more importantly, we’re believing for all the believers who are participating to be mobilized to make witnessing a part of their lives after the October challenge is finished.

139 people deployed. Exciting! … but we still have another week to increase the size of our army. YOU can help us!

To spread the word, just do one or both of the following:

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Each Sunday we post a short classic piece from someone signally used by God down through the history of the church. Our focus today is on Daniel Rowlands (1713-1790).

This follows up on yesterday’s post when we offered a brand new Free eBook – “Daniel Rowlands” by J.C.Ryle. It’s an outstanding short biography that everyone should read. Get it from our DOWNLOAD PAGE – CLICK HERE.

The Voice of the Turtle

by Daniel Rowlands

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.” (Revelation 3:20)

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We have a brand new free eBook ready for you to download. Let me say a few words of introduction as to what it’s about.

From time to time you will hear people talking about “the Welsh Revival”. When I hear that I immediately want to ask “Which Welsh Revival are you referring to?”  The fact is that there have been no fewer than 18 significant revivals in the small principality of Wales stretching over a period of several centuries.

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Spread Truth Ministries have just released an excellent resource called “The Story”.  It’s a 12-page tract (booklet) in a very striking and contemporary design that gives a good, accurate presentation of the gospel. It would be really great one to order and hand out in October as part of our “31 Day S.O.S. Challenge”.

But in addition to the printed version, Spread Truth are making “The Story” available for FREE in an electronic format which you can embed straight onto your blog or web page (check it out over on the right hand side of THIS blog right now.) Not only that, but they provide full tracking so that you can see how many people are reading it on your site.

What a great, easy way to preach the gospel from your site! You can set it up in minutes.

Check out the promotional video below, then sign up for a free account at Spread Truth Ministries and get your embed code.

Phil

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The preaching of God’s Word is a sacred act. When it is faithful to the Scriptures and done in dependence on God, He speaks through it. The moment does not belong exclusively to the preacher, but in fact it belongs to the whole church, to whom it is a means of grace.

Every Christian, accordingly, needs to hold a high view of preaching. We must make sure that we continuously attend where the Scriptures are being preached, and we should come with an expectancy that God will use it in our lives. We ought to train ourselves to be good listeners.

How exactly do we do this?

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My copy of this much anticipated DVD finally arrived in the mail Friday. It was worth the wait.

Go Stand Speak: The Forgotten Power of the Public Proclamation of the Gospel is about the too often neglected evangelistic method of open air preaching. In many quarters of the church today this DVD will unfortunately go down like a lead balloon. There is a widespread inocculation against all forms of confrontational evangelism; “soft-sell” is the order of the day. Add to this the common idea that our generation is somehow uniquely different from all that have gone before (in spite of the fact that every single generation in history has believed this about themselves).

So let’s just understand up front that this DVD is not likely to outsell “Your Best Life Now” any time soon. But if, by God’s grace, it can be used to stir the hearts of even a few more to join the ranks of faithful street witnesses, it will be a great blessing and of eternal value. I thank God that these ranks ARE swelling today. God has been raising up an extraordinarily vibrant and robust movement to once again faithfully proclaim the gospel.

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The footage shown in the video is real, provided by Voice of the Martyrs.

It ought to make us evaluate for a moment …

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Each Sunday we post a short classic piece from someone signally used by God down through the history of the church. Our focus today is on Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758).

The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards

by Jonathan Edwards

[Edwards made this now famous list of resolutions, and committed himself to reading them every week to keep his mind focused on his duty before God. Reportedly he wrote resolutions 1 through 21 in one sitting in New Haven, CT. in 1722. Then he added further resolutions over time.]

Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake.

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We’re pleased to release a brand new eBook available for instant download (just CLICK HERE).

“Union and Communion” by J. Hudson Taylor is a wonderful devotional classic based on the Song of Solomon.

It’s just 50 pages long, but it is so full of rich content you will want to read it more than once. I urge you to download it, and spend some time with it in your daily devotions.

Taylor wrote this in 1893. He views Song of Solomon to be “a poem describing the life of a believer on earth.” Divided into six short chapters, the book describes the believer’s return to God, the “King of Love”, in order to be in union and communion with Him.  It will remain available here on our download page.

Enjoy!

Phil

Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was one of the finest Bible expositors of the 20th Century. His books and recordings continue to bless the church and be an inspiration to preachers around the world though he died almost 30 years ago in 1981.

Terry Virgo recently blogged some personal memories of listening to the Doctor preach at Westminster Chapel. Everyone I’ve ever spoken with who had the privilege of hearing him in person has similar impressions to speak of. I encourage you CLICK HERE and read Terry Virgo’s post, and then maybe get some of MLJ’s recordings to listen for yourself, and every preacher should read his classic book “Preaching and Preachers“. (His 2 volume biography by Iain Murray is excellent also.)   Enjoy, Phil

Each Sunday we post a short classic piece from someone signally used by God down through the history of the church. Today we look to a classic sermon preached by Dwight L. Moody (1837-1889).

Qualifications for Soul Winning

by Dwight L. Moody

God had no children too weak, but a great many too strong to make use of. God stands in no need of our strength or wisdom, but of our ignorance, of our weakness; let us but give these to Him, and He can make use of us in winning souls.

“And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” Daniel 12:3.

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This video has been around for a while, but it’s well-worth posting it again here for anyone who hasn’t seen it. It’s an extraordinary challenge to Christians. This young man has uncommon clarity – he understands what a life consistent with a profession of faith in Christ must mean. Watch it:

Why don’t so many Christians get it so plainly?

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by Al Van Geersdaele   

What’s in a day?  Have you ever really thought about it?  What did we do with the time we were given by the Lord yesterday?  We all were allocated the same amount; 24 hours, 1,440 minutes, 86,400 seconds, and in that time we needed to take care of sleeping, working, eating, shopping, etc.  Oh yeah, and 150,000 people will have to take care of dying today, and tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, well, you get the idea.  That boils down to about 104 per minute!   

What can WE do about it?  It is a shocking reality that most of those who went off into eternity yesterday went down the broad road to destruction.  We can’t stop the onward march of souls that perish, but we can do something about where they go to spend eternity when they perish.  We can follow the example of one the great evangelists in American history …   

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