God Answers Prayer.pdf

On Biblical Exegesis

In his small pamphlet on Biblical Exegesis, John Piper - Pastor of preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church says:

"Thus, we need three things to be careful interpreters of the Word of God. First, we must admit we need help and that we will die without it. Left to ourselves, and our own unaided human reason, we are hopeless. We need revelation from above. Our eternal life hangs on this! Secondly, we need faith in the sovereign goodness of the Author. This faith not only frees us to go where the Bible leads us, but it impels us to go where the Bible leads us. It is, as Wesley said, "the Book of God!" Thirdly, we need to learn how toread with the kind of care that corresponds to the preciousness of the Book."

As Jeremiah says in Lamentations 3:40.  We cannot rely on our own faculties to search and examine ourselves but must rely on God' reliable, unchanging, timeless principles of His Word! So "Left to ourselves, and our unaided human reason, we are hopeless." That Word of God will provide that standard by which we will search out and examine our ways with.

Pst Onesmus Kibera

Mt. Kenya Baptist Church

PO Box 483, Nanyuki, 10400

Kenya

+254733600213, +254724626720

www.okibera.blogspot.com

Of The Holy Spirit In Biblical Exegesis

It is precisely at this point that I believe the Holy Spirit performs a crucial role in the
exegetical process for the reliant believer. He does not whisper in our ears the meaning of
a text. He cares about the text which he inspired and does not short circuit the study of it.
The primary work of the Holy Spirit in exegesis is to abolish the pride and arrogance that
keep us from being open to the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit makes us teachable because
he makes us humble. He causes us to rely wholly on the mercy of God in Christ for our
happiness so that we are not threatened if one of our views is found to be wrong. The
person who knows himself finite and unworthy, and who thus rejoices in the mercy of
God, has nothing to lose when his ego is threatened. - John Piper
Biblical Exegesis: Discovering the Original Meaning of Scriptural Texts

The First Indispensable Quality (Kevin De Young)

The First Indispensable Quality (Kevin De Young): "

What is the first indispensable requisite for gospel ministry? I’ll let Spurgeon lead off:

That a teacher of the gospel should first be a partaker of it is a simple truth, but at the same time a rule of the most weighty importance. We are not among those who accept the apostolic succession of young men simply because they assume it; if their college experience has been rather vivacious than spiritual, if their honours have been connected with athletic exercises than with labours for Christ, we demand evidence of another kind than they are able to present to us. No amount of fees paid to learned doctors, and no amount of classics received in return, appear to us to be evidences of a call from above. True and genuine piety is necessary as the first indispensable requisite; whatever “call” a man may pretend to have, if he has not been called to holiness, he certainly has not been called to the ministry.

Bang on Chuck! The call to ministry begins with the call to holiness. Even if you have taken your classes, earned your degree, memorized your paradigms, and logged your internship hours, you may not be ready to teach the gospel. School loans and paper work a pastor does not make.

Spurgeon is absolutely correct: the first indispensable quality for pastoral ministry is Christlikeness. I’ve always loved that line from Robert Murray M’Cheyne: “What my people need from me most is my own personal holiness.” I believe this with all my heart. I don’t live it like I want, but I believe it. 2 Peter 1:8 promises that if we are increasing in godly virtues we will not be “ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” As Spurgeon put it: “Sanctity in ministers is a loud call to sinners to repent, and when allied with holy cheerfulness it becomes wonderfully attractive.”

All this means I need to be with God more than I need to be with it. I need to be godly more than I need to be gifted. No matter how much I may stumble—and we all stumble—I, as the pastor (and anyone engaged in ministry really), must strive to “set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity” (1 Tim. 4:12). I must keep a close watch on myself on my teaching (1 Tim. 4:16). When it comes to ministry effectiveness, piety is praxis.

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