[Our DSL service was down for much of this afternoon and evening, and therefore this site. Sorry to those of you who attempted to visit, and thanks for your perseverance in doing so! Hopefully we don’t have any more such outages in the near future…]

It’s been a longer day, so to speak, today, with 2 general sessions in the morning in addition to two full seminar sessions. And tonight looks to be no less intense, with the respected Al Mohler bringing the keynote. This is my first time hearing him in person, and I’m looking forward to his insights (from Scripture); I always appreciate his exhortations for Christians to be in the world, yet not of it.

My goal, by the way, in including notes on the music is to help provide the sense that conferees have expressed over and over; that the glory of these sessions isn’t just from the excellent preaching, but the musical offerings and corporate praise as well.

The session began with an organ prelude of “Holy, Holy, Holy” and “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise.” It’s interesting that the organ doesn’t sound so nearly as antiquated when played by a gifted organist. Clayton Erb then called us to worship with an exhortation to sing to the Lord. We opened with “Come Thou, Almighty King.” We were then blessed with a musical offering from The Master’s Chorale, singing the gospel spiritual, “I Woke Up This Morning with My Mind Stayed on Jesus.”

They then sang, a cappella, another beautiful meditation, “You are the light we seek,” highlighting the centrality of God as the one we adore, seek, glorify, sing to, pray to, and honor. Wow, how lovely was that. Can I just say, I love a cappella ensemble music? =-)

This was followed by yet another piece, with piano accompaniment, the hymn “The King of Love My Shepherd Is,” whose lyrics, as sung, were:

The King of love my Shepherd is,
Whose goodness faileth never,
I nothing lack if I am His
And He is mine forever.

Where streams of living water flow
My ransomed soul He leadeth,
And where the verdant pastures grow,
With food celestial feedeth.

Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,
But yet in love He sought me,
And on His shoulder gently laid,
And home, rejoicing, brought me.

In death’s dark vale I fear no ill
With Thee, dear Lord, beside me;
Thy rod and staff my comfort still,
Thy cross before to guide me.

And so through all the length of days
Thy goodness faileth never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing Thy praise
Within Thy house forever.

This was done with a subtle, light piano between verses, but a cappella for the actual verses. Beautifully sung, almost a lullaby. It really conveyed the peace that comes with having the King of love as our tender shepherd. It didn’t hurt that the song is set to the same beautiful tune (St. Columba) as my favorite hymn, “How Sweet and Awesome Is the Place.” I’ll definitely have to add this one to our church’s repertoire.

John MacArthur stepped up to the podium, greeted the choir, and then offered praise for the beauty of the music, and led us in the reading of God’s Word in Revelation 1:9-20 before leading us in corporate prayer.

The Master’s Chorale then sang a song in Swahili. Josh Maseko, a student studying biology at TMC and yearning to be a doctor so he could go back to his home of Uganda in Africa to plant hospitals, gave some context on his country’s situation. He came to the U.S. which is unusual for a Ugandan boy, and even more unusual going to the Master’s College. He’s learned the wonders of God’s grace esp. since coming to TMC, and seeing so many at the conference who love the Lord excites His heart. It’s very exciting to see that we see a very big God. The chorale then commenced to sing “All Creatures of Our God and King” in Swahili, with an African responsive chant style.

Clayton Erb then took to the pulpit and thanked the chorale for their music, and Dr. Plew, the director, for the beautiful music; and then invited us to sing together “All People That on Earth Do Dwell,” based on Psalm 100.

John MacArthur then came up and expressed his joy at his privilege at serving as president of The Master’s College (among whose students he’s known as “Johnny Mac”), and the chance to influence the students there for the cause of the kingdom and the cause of the gospel. He then introduced Al Mohler, who has ministered at this conference and to Grace Church over the years. Mohler’s story is amazing, and per MacArthur has lived a full and influential and impactful life. At age 32, he became president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He encouraged conferees to tune into Al Mohler’s radio program, and to read his blog; you’ll have someone who articulates the issues we face today better than anyone he knows. Mohler’s finishing a book, He Is Not Silent, which is a theology of preaching. He’s finished the book, except for one chapter, which will be done after tonight — which will be the first chapter of that book.

(The remainder is from the speaker’s perspective)

What an honor to be here with you, with Dr. MacArthur. Listening to that marvelous chorale, and I thought how many have heard what has been preached from this pulpit (which disappears at times!). But there is no time when Dr. MacArthur’s voice is not heard somewhere around the world. We are drawn here because of the ministry of John and GCC and all that is represented here. Some of you have said you make it through the year to get here once again. I know as I look out at you, I see a lot of preachers who find tremendous encouragement from being here, in the company of so many other preachers. This is one of the few places where you don’t have to explain what you do for a living, or defend preaching, or when faces light up when they learn you’re a preacher (laughter).

We are living in strange times. One of the hallmarks of our time is a crisis in preaching, something we have to admit (unless we want to exercise mass delusion). How likely to you believe one is, or you would be, to hear an expository sermon when you go in and sit in an evangelical church? An honest answer says you really don’t have an assured expectation that you’ll hear the exposition of the Word of God. When you visit an evangelical church, what is your real expectation? When you consider your answer to that question, do you believe that as time goes forward that it’s more likely or less so that you’ll hear an expository message?

Look at the literature, resources, websites published in the Christian world. See how little exposition is there displayed. By God’s grace and mercy it’s not true here, or among us. But it’s increasingly true in the church at large. So we have to ask why this is the case. It seems as if there has been the unilateral disarmament of the evangelical church, exposition should be the easiest thing to understand. You have to be clever to mess it up! In Neh. 8, we see the display of what preaching is all about. It’s simple to conceive:

1 And all the people gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the LORD had given to Israel. 2 Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women and all who could listen with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month. 3 He read from it before the square which was in front of the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of men and women, those who could understand; and all the people were attentive to the book of the law. 4 Ezra the scribe stood at a wooden podium which they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam on his left hand. 5 Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. 6 Then Ezra blessed the LORD the great God. And all the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. 7 Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, explained the law to the people while the people remained in their place. 8 They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.

I didn’t say exposition was an easy thing to do, just an easy thing to understand. Look at v. 8. Just how possible is it to misunderstand verse 8?!!! What is it in those few words we are capable of misunderstanding. It’s simple: read the book and explain it. Here’s the pattern, write it down; there’s nothing hidden here: re-explain, re-explain, re-explain.

Here’s the thing about preaching & exposition: you read the text, and explain it. You go home, come back, and do the same. What don’t we understand? Instructions are really important. I’ve decided instructions aren’t really important, I don’t have the patience to read instructions. I go to Toys R Us and pay them to assemble the bicycle for me. And sometimes the instructions aren’t adequate anyway. One of my students went and bought a crib for their soon to be born baby. He committed to putting it together that night. And he did. But he missed something. He put together the crib only to discover one missing instruction: put it together in the room to be used. But there’s nothing missing from our instruction: you read the book and you explain it.

Now there’s a little bit more to it than that. But think of preaching today. How can it be so pervasively missed? There is one more thing, a calling. Turn to Ezra 7:6: ” This Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given; and the king granted him all he requested because the hand of the LORD his God was upon him.” Not just anyone is assigned to do this, to take up this instruction and give the Word. Calling is very important, indispensable. Even Artaxerxes recognized this. We understand the evidence of the call as well. In 7:10 we see “For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.” Calling and study were both very much a part of what made Ezra a preacher.

Then we look at v. 11: ” Now this is the copy of the decree which King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, learned in the words of the commandments of the LORD and His statutes to Israel.” A preacher is one called by God, a man in whom the congregation recognizes the hand of the Lord is upon him, they see his preparation, his study. Then it’s simple: read, explain, repeat.

2 Tim 4:1-2: “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” Again I ask you, how clever do yo have to be to misunderstand this? Paul used straightforward words. The English translation uses simple words, no polysyllabic constructions here: “preach the word, in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke and exhort with great patience and instruction.” Lather, rinse, repeat. Again and again.

So why is it not happening? Why is the exposition of Scriptures so evacuated, missing, alien from so many of our pulpits & preachers. Mark Twain once commented, “There’s no preacher happier than a writer not writing.” I think I may know one, because there are so many. We add to this problem by discussing expository preaching as the superior mode of preaching. When we add to that pattern, we do injury to it. Because according to the Bible, exposition is preaching. If it isn’t exposition, it isn’t preaching! You may speak, you may talk, but if you do not read the text and preach it, reproving, rebuking, exhorting from the text, you’re not preaching! We have to stop saying, I prefer expository preaching. We should say, “I’m a preacher, this is what I do. I read the text and explain it. Then I go home and study. And then I come back and do the same.” It’s simple, which makes it tragically absent. The problem is not faulty technique, but faulty theology. It’s not that preaching as an art is in eclipse. It’s a deeply theological problem.

I want to center our thoughts on Deut. 4:32-40. I want us to see what is at stake, and a means of recovery, and to feel the urgency of this text as it applies to the exposition of the Word of God.

32 “Indeed, ask now concerning the former days which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and inquire from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it? 33 “Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived? 34 “Or has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35 “To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD, He is God; there is no other besides Him. 36 “Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire. 37 “Because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them. And He personally brought you from Egypt by His great power, 38 driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in and to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today. 39 “Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the LORD, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other. 40 “So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am giving you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may live long on the land which the LORD your God is giving you for all time.”

The Lord here is speaking through Moses. Moses is a prophet through whom God is speaking to His people, the first person is God speaking through Moses, and then Moses gives a commentary. Deuteronomy is so intensely theological that scholars refer to a deuteronomic theology. It’s the 3rd most quoted book in the NT behind Psalms and Isaiah. Moses is preparing them to enter the promised land, and behind them is all sorts of history. This is the generation that shall enter the land of promises, without Moses. In the great sermons of Deut, the Lord is speaking to His people that they may be prepared for the challenge before them. It is the 2nd giving of the law, because even as Moses as once again speaks the 10 commandments and the law of God; this is the 2nd time for them to be faithful unlike those who died in the wilderness. Now how will they be ready, prepared? The book of Deut is not primarily a military or geographical briefing. It’s about the Word of God. It’s about the gift that God has spoken, and the necessity of hearing when God speaks, and the regularity of hearing when God speaks, and the mandate of doing what God says. After the introductory word of the first 3 chapters, he begins chapter 4, “Now, O Israel, listen.” Deut is a word-centered theology. What Moses says here is hearing His word is not a matter of success, but of survival, of life and death. The entire logic of Deut is hearing & obeying is life, refusing to hear and disobeying is death. Moses wants them to know that life & death hang in the balance of the Word. The Word will constitute who they are because God has called them and He has spoken. I want to submit that the central problem in our crisis in preaching is somehow we believe this has changed. Somehow we must believe that in the wilderness it’s life & death; but something less in our churches. The only diagnosis I can offer that expos. preaching is in decline, is that we lost the belief that the Word of God is a matter of life and death. But it always has been, and always will be, and woe to the preacher that forgets this.

I want you to see that the true & living God is the one who speaks. We didn’t entice God to reveal himself, but out of His love & mercy He speaks to us. The true and living God is the one who speaks. Schaeffer wrote a powerful book, He Is There and He Is Not Silent. Those two phrases express the starting point for Christian theology. I’ve taken the second half of that as the title of my theology of preaching. Why are we preaching? Because He is not silent. What is our confidence in our preaching? Because He still speaks. This is the miracle of revelation, it’s God’s mercy & grace manifested. In Deut 4:10-19, this is clear:

10 “Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORD said to me, `Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’ 11 “You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud and thick gloom. 12 “Then the LORD spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form–only a voice. 13 “So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone. 14 “The LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might perform them in the land where you are going over to possess it. 15 “So watch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any form on the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, 16 so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, 18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth. 19 “And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.

Note how he lovingly reminds him that they were at the foot of the mountain.

[At this point, I’m wondering if Al Mohler has a manuscript I could sneak up and photocopy! *grin*]

Notice the language: “you were there at Horeb.” Remember, many of those who are listening weren’t there because they weren’t born. But they were there in their fathers, and because God loved their forefathers, they were there. This is the sense in Christian preaching, this is living Word, and we too were there because by God’s gift of revelation we are there. This Word is for us, because He chose us and we were there. “You heard His voice,” Moses said, “and you saw no form. You did not see a likeness, you heard a voice.” The great danger here is idolatry. We haven’t moved past this ourselves, we’ve just become more sophisticated in our idolatry. That’s the distinction of the OT: the pagans speak to the idols, whereas the true & living God speaks to His people. Elijah would use this when he confronts the pagan priests of Baal in 1 Kings. The priests raved, but there was no voice, no one answered. Think about where we would be if God had not spoken. We’d be in the same place as those pagan priests. We could draw a crowd, but if God had not spoken we are just as damned, dead and lost. Jeremiah 10:5 compares idols to scarecrows in a field. You’ve either got the Word of God or scarecrows in a cucumber field. The scarecrow can’t speak. Paul in 1 Cor 12 tells them when they were pagans they followed mute idols. This has to be a chastening. This is different from Moses in Deut 4. Moses said remember when God spoke. Here Paul is saying the opposite. This again demonstrates to us the gift of revelation.

One of my theological mentors is Carl Henry, who said God forfeits his own personal privacy that His creatures may know Him. God is infinite in perfections, sovereign in majesty. Wow. Wouldn’t you think people who are recipients of that gift would live by it? Nourished by it? Cling to it? Wouldn’t you think that those who were called to preach that word would read the text and explain it.

Again in Deut 4, the gift of revelation, there is a revelation given to all peoples everywhere, as Paul alludes to in Romans 1 of creation. There isn’t a single human being made in God’s image who doesn’t have a conscience that cries out the knowledge of a creator and a moral sensibility that one has violated the law. But Paul also says in Romans 1, the problem is perpetually idolatry. And also that the consequence of the fall who by general revelation is going to come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. this is where we are dependent on special revelation. And we know this comes as God speaks.

I fear that there are many evangelicals, pulpits that think that God spoke (past tense only!). But if you think that God’s speaking is all in the past, then resign. If you do not believe that God now speaks, what are you doing? If you haven’t the confidence that God is speaking through because God is speaking through His word, then quit. We are completely dependent on spiritual revelation. Even as God spoke in the past, we have this God-breathed revelation, we have in Scripture God speaking to His people now even as in time past. This is inspired Scripture, the inerrant and infallible Word of God. If you believe anything less, you believe that God speaks haltingly. That His voice is “somewhere,” rather than in every word of Scripture. But Hebrews 1 makes it clear that God has spoken to us in His Son. That’s why we are here as Christian preachers. It is a matter of life & death. We have to ask, “What if God had not spoken? What if He hadn’t called Moses from the burning bush? What if God had not spoken at the mountain, through the Law, through the Prophets, and finally through His Son?” We would lost in a meaningless nihilistic cosmos. If God does not speak, eat drink & be merry for tomorrow we die.

Let’s admit there is no middle ground between these two positions. Let’s have nothing to do with those who are trying to come up with meaningful messages that are not true: if not true, the only meaning is diabolical. But God has spoken and it makes all the difference. Let us see clearly that if God has spoken it is life to those who hear, and death to those who do.

The second point you should see is that God speaks to His people. Have you noticed that hearing is tied directly to election? That God spoke to Israel is indicative of their election: “You’re the people to whom God spoke!” If not physically there, you were the seed. He didn’t speak to everyone, He spoke to you. Not to produce an arrogant, self-confident people; but a humble people who know it’s only by grace and mercy that God chose to speak to Israel and not the rest of the nations. That’s exactly the thrust of vv. 32ff.

32 “Indeed, ask now concerning the former days which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and inquire from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it?

No, there hasn’t! No, Israel is along among the nations.

33 “Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived? 34 “Or has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

How did Israel become captive? Because God intended to redeem them!

God intended to show His mighty arm to them and to the nations. Later on, we’re going to see that when their sons ask them, “What do these things mean?” In Josh 4 he tells his sons that the stones show us that God brought us out that we come in.

The primary focus is v. 33: “Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived?” How does Israel know that it’s God’s people? How do they know they’ve been chosen, that they are His? It’s because God spoke to them, and they’re alive to talk about it! No other people get to hear God speak through the fire, the omnipotent God, and survive.

This is where Calvin reminds us that it’s a good thing that God lowers His voice when He speaks to us so we’re not annihilated. Remember the sweet, “God spoke to us as a father to His children.” We see in the OT that Israel got to see its privilege, its place in God’s economy & covenants. But it’s also in the New Testament.

In Matthew 13, Jesus says, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.” Not so the disciples would be arrogant, or because they were so sharp. How do you know you’re Mine, Jesus asks. Because it has been granted to know! What does he say later? “Blessed are your eyes because they see, blessed are you ears because they hear!” In Deut 4, Moses makes clear that God’s purpose for speaking to His people (v. 35): “To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD, He is God; there is no other besides Him. Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire.” How do you know you’re a believer? It’s all of grace. And how does that happen? Because it’s by grace you heard! It has been granted to you to know, but not them. That’s hard to hear. It’s no different than when God spoke to Israel. It’s not about Israel’s power, their glory, their wisdom, their talents, their potential. God chose this tiny little people who couldn’t even draw a straight line through the wilderness in order to show His glory as the redeeming saving God who is faithful to His promises.

Why did God choose us? Why the grace of revelation to us? Paul says God chose the weak, the foolish things to shame the strong, the wise. It’s all about the grace and mercy of God. We find out who God’s people are because they hear his voice and obey. This shouldn’t lead to arrogance but humility. And it should lead to witness as well. Deut 4:6-8 says “So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, `Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 7 “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the LORD our God whenever we call on Him? 8 “Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?” It’s not about you, it’s about my glory what I’m going to do through you. When you follow my statutes, the other nations are going to say, “What’s going on there? What nation has a God so gracious as to give them such just laws, that has heard from the one true and living God and survives?”

God’s saving, electing purpose is to create a people by the blood of His Son for His glory, and we in parallel with Israel are identified by the fact that we hear.

Third, see that God’s people hear and survive by hearing His Word. We see this in Deut. 30:11ff:

11 “For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. 12 “It is not in heaven, that you should say, `Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ 13 “Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, `Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ 14 “But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.

Israel didn’t find the Word. It was given to them. Preacher doesn’t say, “Guess what I found!” The Word is near.

15 “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; 16 in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. 17 “But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. 19 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, 20 by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

For Israel the Word was like manna. Had to have it every day, fresh every day to survive. Every day they lived as God’s people by His Word. This word became health & life & blessing & identity. That’s why if we had time we’d look at Psalm 19, 119:89-112. How do I survive? By the Word of God! Israel cannot survive without the constant presence of God’s Word. And we again see that this is NT as well! Paul in Romans 10 that saving faith comes by hearing, and that by the word of Christ. In 2 Tim. 3:16-17, we have an eloquent testimony that the man of God is equipped for every good work by the Word of God. This is a testimony not only to the excellency of the Word but to its sufficiency. We have to live by the Word as much as Israel. That’s how we know who we are, who God is, who Christ is. Jesus himself testified to the lasting perfect nature of Scripture: “Not a stroke shall pass from the law til all is accomplished.”

How are we going to know who we are, we are His, how we are to live, that crucial life & death issue of obedience? How are we going to grow in grace? Only through the ministry of the Word.

Fourthly, preaching is always a matter of life & death. Therefore preaching had better be the exposition of Scriptures. Not just how are we going to grow our churches, ins pire our people; it’s a question of whether they’re going to live or they’re going to die. I believe it’s the entire logic of Scripture. It is a matter of life and death, blessing and curse. So it is always with Christian preaching. If the Bible is the perfect Word of God, it comes to the question of who’s going to speak: the preacher, or God? But when it’s the Word of God speaking through the preacher, then it is God who speaks, and that’s the difference between life & death. Do we arrogantly think that God’s people can live on our words? Obviously not. Life is only found in the Word of God. We live only because He is there and He is not silent. We have been called to this, and this is what we do. We obey the call, we study it, we get in front of God’s people, then we explain it. We preach, we reprove, rebuke, exhort & patiently teach and do it again until Jesus comes or we die.

Here’s what we hope for. This is what happens when God speaks. Here’s what we yearn for. When people leave a service and they walk out the door until they come back again; and as they walk out saying to one another, “Did we really hear the voice of God speaking through the midst of the fire and survive?”