I have found gold online! Mljtrust.org is the website of one of the greatest expositor's of the 20th century, Martin Lloyd Jones. There are some profound quotes that he said in the lecture:

My immediate thought was "Evangelism is the primary task of the Church"; however, evangelism takes place through preaching the Word! In his lecture, Lloyd Jones showed from the Gospels, Acts, and the Epistles that preaching was the primary task of the church. He argued that preaching was the primary task of the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to preach good news. Miracles and Healing was secondary to preaching. He also commissioned his disciples to preach the Word. In Acts, the apostle Peter preached at Pentecost (Acts 2). When there was a crisis of the distribution in Acts 6 concerning the Jews and the Greek Jews, the apostles chose seven men so they could devote themselves to prayer and preaching the Word (Acts 6:4). As the disciples were scattered because of persecution in Acts 8, the went about preaching the Word (Acts 8:4). In his final letter to Timothy, Paul told Timothy to Preach the Word! (2 Tim. 4:1-5). These reflections strengthen my conviction to faithfully preach the Word of God! Lord, help me be a faithful expositor of your Word! Help me declare only what You have spoken in Your holy Scriptures! For your glory. Amen

With the upcoming Spring semester at The Master's Seminary, I am taking two preaching classes to help refine and improve my preaching skills. With that in mind, I just want to review my sermon process.

1. Read the Text

This is obvious. I pray that God would give me understanding and it His Word would saturate my soul.

2. Analyze the Text

I normally print out a Greek and English translation on Mondays and make a preliminary translation. I am not that skilled in Greek yet, so I must confess I use Bible Works to check my parsing and words I do not know. After translating the text, I ask questions, mark the text, and reread the text. This happens ideally on Tuesday.

3. Observe the Text

After a preliminary translation, I have about five or six commentaries I dive into. Some of the commentaries I often use are John MacArthur's New Testament Commentaries, anything by John Stott, commentaries by John Calvin, and NIV application commentaries because they are easy to read. Commentaries help me look at cultural information, word studies, grammar, geography or any other relevant information. This happens ideally on Wednesday.

4. Outline the Text

After a rough translation and looking at several commentaries, I try to create a simple outline that will be easy to follow. I confess that my default outline is a three point sermon, however, I have preached sermons with five or six points. This ideally happens Wednesday or Thursday.

5. Memorize the Text

As I continue to examine the text, I try to memorize the Scripture I am preaching from. I will recite it my head while driving to School or before I go to bed. I think about how my points comes from the text (or doesn't) and constantly rehearse in my head what I'm going to say. This happens throughout the whole week.

6. Manuscript the Text

On Friday Mornings, I write out my manuscript. My basic manuscript outline consists of an: Introduction, Biblical Background Information, Main Proposition, Scripture Reading, Main Points, Summary, and Conclusion. With that Skeleton, I fill in the blanks with my outline and studies throughout the week. After filling stuff in and distracted by facebook, thegospel coalition, and other things, I look for illustrations on the internet or my personal journal to help explain my main points. My introductions are not as strong, but I will normally write it during this time. Same with my conclusion.

7. Pray Over the Text

After my manuscript is done, I pray that the Lord would use me to preach His Word. I get feelings of anxiety, depression, excitement, sorrow, discouragement, and comfort every week before I preach. I get anxious because I think, "Man I hope this is clear...." I get depressed at times because I don't live up to God's standards or dealing with personal sin throughout the week. I get excited by reminding myself of the gospel. I get discouragement from various trials of life and ministry. I find comfort from reminding myself that God converts the heart and I am merely an instrument who is called to be faithful. I also find great comfort from my wife.

8. Deliver the Text

Sunday morning comes and I am ready to go by 8:30. I teach Sunday School at 9 and print out my manuscript that morning. 10 minutes before the service starts, my wife prays for me and tells me, "My love, be simple, be clear, use illustrations! I love you!" As the hymn of preparation begins, I walk up to the pulpit asking that God would be glorified and Christ would be exalted by the power of the Holy Spirit. As I preach, the Lord uses me as his instrument and he has always been by my side.

9. Rest

After the closing prayer, I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I trust God for the whole process and ask my wife if I was clear and if it went well. And of course, my wife always encourages me and tells me the Lord used me. I go home for my traditional afternoon nap and normally eat dinner with my wife and parents as I try to gospelize them. Monday morning comes and I repeat the process.

1. Preaching and Preachers by Martin Lloyd Jones

2. Preaching: How to Preach Biblically by John MacArthur, ed.

3. Between Two Worlds by John Stott

4. Preaching the Psalms by Steven Lawson

5. Christ-Centered Preaching by Bryan Chapell 

6. Toward an Exegetical Theology by Walter Kaiser

With the upcoming presidential election, I decided to purchase Politics According to the Bible by Wayne Grudem. Here are my reflections.

Grudem argues that there are five wrong views concerning government.

1. Force Religion

The first wrong view is that government should compel religion. In other words, the nation should follow a specific religion. An extreme case is Muslim countries who practice Sharia law. This is not the view of the Bible.

2. Exclude Religion

This view states that religion must be completely excluded from the public sphere. The Ten Commandments should be removed from government buildings, holidays such as Christmas must be removed, prayer in classrooms, etc.

3. Government is Evil

This view states that government is of the devil. We should have nothing to do with government because it is ruled by Satan.

4. Do Evangelism, Not Politics

This view states that the church has nothing to do with politics. In other words, preach the gospel and let the nation burn.

5. Do Politics, Not Evangelism

This view goes to the opposite end of the spectrum of the previous view. It states that salvation will come from political involvement. This is the theology of the "social gospel" or "liberation theology".

The view Grudem endorses is that Christians should influence the government. In other words, we must be responsible citizens in seeking the well-being of society. Jesus did not only preach the gospel, but he healed people physically. God has instituted government as a divine institution to punish evil doers and enforce justice (see Rom 13). There have been many historical examples of Christians influencing government for good: (1) abolition of slavery, (2) the Roman Gladiator games, (3) education reforms, (4) infanticide in the Roman Empire, etc.

A common question gets raised during this election among Christians: Should Christians vote for a non-Christian? John MacArthur and even Wayne Grudem have argued that it is ok to vote for a non-Christian because you are not voting for the pastor of a church, but an official who will exercise justice for the nation by punishing evil.

Taken from John Stott's Contemporary Christian...

1. Know the Sheep

Know them by name. Open your home to them. Greet them. Acknowledge them. Pray for them.

2.Serve the Sheep

This means strengthening the weak, healing the sick, binding up the injured and bringing back the straying.

3. Lead the Sheep

Walk in front of them, call them, and lead by example. We must set a consistent and reliable example.

4. Feed the Sheep

Feed them through the Word of God. Pastors eat, live, and breathe Bible. And Pastors are suppose to give the Sheep Sound Doctrine from the Bible. Jesus told Peter to "Feed my sheep."

5. Oversee the Sheep

Sheep need guidance. They need direction. Be a pastor of vision.

6. Guard the Sheep

Shepherds watch out for false prophets. He is aware of wolves dressed in sheep clothing. Pastors protect people from error. They guard sound doctrine.

7. Seek Lost Sheep

In other words, do evangelism! Christ seeks the lost, so must we!

I'm currently reading the new nine marks journal on Discipling in the Church http://www.9marks.org/journal/discipling-church, and here are some great ideas I want to implement in being a better disciple-making disciple:

1. Give Ministry Away

In other words, DELEGATE. I like this acrostic, Determine the ministry, Examine the duties, Lay out the leadership selection, Educate the leader, Guide the leader, Authorize the leader, Trust the leader, Evaluate the leader (taken from Pastoral Ministry, pg. 244, Alex Montoya's Article on Leading). I should let some of the younger men lead the discussions on Friday Bible Study, let some of the elders lead the Prayer meeting, and let other mature godly men teach the Sunday School.

2. Celebrate Grace in the New Disciples

Encouragement goes along way. Look for evidences of grace in people's lives.

3. Be a "gospel-father" and by discipled by a "gospel-father"

Imitate your leaders. Paul imitated Christ. Timothy imitated Paul who imitated Christ, and so on (Heb 13:17; 1 Cor. 4:15). We look for men to "gospelize" and men to "goseplize" us. Find a godly man in the church and imitate his example. My example is my very own Pastor Ed.

4. Teach Other Elders to Model Disciple-Making

Exhort other Elders to teach and preach the Word (2 Timothy 4:1-2), show hospitality (love of strangers) to church members and strangers, counsel and shepherd people in difficult situations with the Word of God, and let others see their lives in the "everyday" so that they can see how the grace of God is at work in them not only in the church, but also in the home and workplace.

On my vacation in San Francisco, I have been reading through Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians. Romans 11:36 stuck out to me, "For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." In Galatians, Paul reminds us that we should not abandon the gospel of grace. We have been saved and justified through faith alone in the sacrifice of our savior. In Galatians 6:14, Paul says that he will not boast in anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The cross is a symbol of death to sin, our sinful flesh, our separation from the world system in rebellion against God our Creator.

But tonight in my devotions, I read Ephesians. A church member recently has come up to me asking for insight into the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I am blessed that this member seeks wisdom and wants to live by the power of the Holy Spirit. So I've been thinking lately on what a Spirit-filled believer looks like in everyday life. Ephesians 5:15-21 gives us the answer:

    [15] Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, [16] making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. [17] Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. [18] And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, [19] addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, [20] giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, [21] submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:15-21 ESV)

1. A Spirit Filled Person understands the will of the Lord (vv. 15-17)

He seeks to know the mind of Christ through the Word of God. In other words, he lets the "word of Christ" dwell in him richly (Col. 3:16-17). The Holy Spirit is the One who guided the process of revealing divine scripture (2 Pet. 1:21, 2 Tim. 3:16-17). If we want to be spirit-filled, then we must be Bible-saturated believers.

2. A Spirit Filled Person exercises self-control (v. 18)

Paul says in Galatians 5:22 that a Spirit filled person exercises self-control. Here, specifically, it is applied to abstaining from alcohol.

3. A Spirit Filled Person sings praise to God with church community (v. 19)

Instead of putting down people, gossiping, or slandering others, a spirit-filled person communicates words of truth. Specifically in this passage, singing hymns and spiritual songs to one another. When is the last time I sang a hymn or spiritual song while driving with my wife? Or sang some hymns out of spontaneous praise to God with other church members?

4. A Spirit Filled Person Gives Thanks (v. 20)

It says give thanks always and for everything. I need to thank God for good times and bad times. Right now, I thank God for vacation in SF. I thank him for new friends in Oakland. I thank him for giving us the gift of marriage. I thank God for celebrating the union of Brian and Irene Lum. I even thank God for my own marriage and my precious wife. On the other hand, I thank God for conflicts in marriage. I thank God for burdens in ministry to grow me in patience. I thank God for brokenness. I thank God for showing me my sin so that I can repent.

5. A Spirit Filled Person Submits (v. 21)

A Spirit Filled Person submits to others. I need to submit to Christ first and foremost. Then I need to submit to my wife in loving her and cherishing her. Then I need to submit to my parents in honoring them. I need to call them more often and think about evidences of grace in their lives instead of putting them down (Eph 6:1-2).

These are the marks of a truly Spirit-filled person. Amen.