Reformissionary

Keller | Questions for Sleepy or Nominal Christians

Helpful post today from Tim Keller on revival and the Spirit's work on sleepy and nominal Christians. Here's a teaser...

So how do you wake up sleepy Christians and convert nominal Christians? Let me give you what I would call my modernized American versions of the kinds of questions I would ask people if I was trying to get them to really think about whether or not they know Christ. These questions are adapted from The Experience Meeting by William Williams, based on the Welsh revivals during the Great Awakening. He would ask people to share about these types of questions in small group settings each week...

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Have you been finding Scripture to be alive and active? Instead of just being a book, do you feel like Scripture is coming after you?

You are going to have to go to Tim Keller's blog to read the rest of the questions. This is an issue near and dear to me as I think there are few things more important for the American church than to work for the conversion of "Christians." You have to ask questions that will show them who they are, and who they aren't.

5 Characteristics of Gospel Renewal Preaching

I listed the three basic traits of frontline prayer yesterday from chapter 6 of Tim Keller's Center Church. Chapter 6 is "The Work of Gospel Renewal." Today, from the same chaper, Keller's five characteristics that define preaching for gospel renewal. He explains all five in some detail, so pick up the book. 

1. Preach to distinguish between religion and the gospel
2. Preach both the holiness and the love of God to convey the richness of grace
3. Preach not only to make the truth clear but also to make it real
4. Preach Christ from every text
5. Preach to both Christians and non-Christians at once

(Center Church, pages 77-79)

Three Basic Traits of Frontline Prayer

In chapter 6 of Center Church, Tim Keller discusses "The Work of Gospel Renewal." The first means of Gospel renewal Keller mentions is Extraordinary Prayer. There he lists the three basic traits of frontline prayer (as contrasted with "maintenance prayer")...

1. A request for grace to confess sins and to humble ourselves
2. A compassion and zeal for the flourishing of the church and the reaching of the lost
3. A yearning to know God, to see his face, to glimpse his glory

Keller then states, "If you pay attention at a prayer meeting, you can tell quite clearly whether these traits are present."

Use these 3 traits as a guide when you lead times of focused prayer in your church, small group, and prayer meetings. As Keller writes, "To kindle every revival, the Holy Spirit initially uses what Jonathan Edwards called 'extraordinary prayer' -- united, persistent, and kingdom centered."

(Center Church, page 73)

The Secret of Whitefield's Success

The Secret of George Whitefield's Success, five points (via)...

1. Natural eloquence -- a gift from God - used by the power of God's Holy Spirit.
2. Fellowship with God -- Whitefield gives us a glimpse in his Journal of his walk with God. 'Early in the morning, at noonday, evening and midnight, nay, all day long, did the blessed Jesus visit and refresh my soul. At other times I would be overpowered with a sense of God's Infinite Majesty'.
3. Godliness -- 'Above all he was a great saint, and Wesley and others bore tribute to this during his life and his death. This was the ultimate secret of his preaching power' (Lloyd-Jones).
4. Concern for the lost and the conviction that sinners are in danger of an everlasting hell
5. Wholehearted commitment to God -- 'If ever a man burnt himself out in the service of God, it was Whitefield. He was tireless and relentless in his efforts to win souls. Throughout his life he enjoyed the presence of God in his preaching. Even on his last day in this world he preached, though he was very ill. He was a man whose sole desire was to preach Christ crucified' (Nigel Clifford, Christian Preachers, Bryntirion Press).

Read the rest of the article/short bio at Banner of Truth. Check out my George Whitefield Resources page.

The Sermons of George Whitefield

Lee Gatiss has edited George Whitefield's original 57 published sermons into two large volumes (976 pgs, Crossway). You can get the hardcover set for $40+ from WTS or $33+ from Amazon...OR $9.99 FOR KINDLE! That's a deal! From Crossway...

Gatiss includes careful and extensive footnotes detailing the historical and theological background to Whitefield’s preaching, which puts the man and his messages into context for a new generation of readers. The text has also been updated for the twenty-first century with modern grammar, spelling, and punctuation - revised in a manner that leaves Whitefield’s distinct voice intact and coherent for today’s reader. 

Emotions That Correspond With the Weight of Reality

John Piper on George Whitefield again, on the acting of preaching as "real acting" (bold is mine)...

If a woman has a role in a movie, say, the mother of child in a burning house, and as the cameras are focused on her, she is screaming to the firemen and pointing to the window in the second floor, we all say she is acting. But if a house is on fire in your neighborhood, and you see a mother screaming to the firemen and pointing to the window in the second floor, nobody says she’s acting. Why not? They look exactly the same.

It’s because there really is a child up there in the fire. This woman really is the child’s mother. There is real danger that the child could die. Everything is real. And that’s the way it was for Whitefield. The new birth had opened his eyes to what was real, and to the magnitude of what was real: God, creation, humanity, sin, Satan, divine justice and wrath, heaven, hell, incarnation, the perfections of Christ, his death, atonement, redemption, propitiation, resurrection, the Holy Spirit, saving grace, forgiveness, justification, reconciliation with God, peace, sanctification, love, the second coming of Christ, the new heavens and the new earth, everlasting joy. These were real. Overwhelmingly real to him. He had been born again. He had eyes to see.

When he warned of wrath, and pleaded for people to escape, and lifted up Christ, he wasn’t play-acting. He was calling down the kind of emotions and actions that correspond with such realities. That’s what preaching does. It seeks to exalt Christ, and describe sin, and offer salvation, and persuade sinners with emotions and words and actions that correspond to the weight of these realities.

If you see these realities with the eyes of your heart, and if you feel the weight of them, you will know that such preaching is not play-acting. The house is burning. There are people trapped on the second floor. We love them. And there is a way of escape.

Read or listen to the rest of Piper's powerful talk on Whitefield. A great example and explanation of what preaching should be like. I don't think we do this well, not nearly well enough. Maybe this kind of preaching would change the face of Christianity in America and the western world today. Maybe it's not just the *how* of preaching but the *where* that would enact this change.

What do you think?

Should We Do Spontaneous Baptisms?

Good discussion between Mark Dever, Darrin Patrick, and Matt Chandler on whether or not we should do spontaneous baptisms. Important time to have this discussion...

(Via) Thanks to The Gospel Coalition for helpful resources and discussions for the sake of the church.

Two Steps to Gospel Wakefulness

Two steps to Gospel Wakefulness: It's simple...& impossible for you to do...

Gospel Wakefulness, page 35.