May 2015 Ordained Servant

From the Editor. What a curious world we live in. Recently I received a secondhand book on preaching, John Stott’s I Believe in Preaching. I learned that proceeds from the sale would go to 4apes.com, with the request “Please donate to help apes around the world.” While I’m sure the apes are grateful—and while the Bible teaches us to treat them humanely—it seems a strange charity in a world that aborts children in the womb and sells the young into slavery. And that isn’t all of its cruelties.

So in this issue we focus on the one source of truth that helps us make sense of a fallen world, full of injustices and ironies. Paul exhorted Timothy, “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2). It is not just reading the Bible but hearing the Word of God preached that enables us pilgrims to navigate the dangerous terrain of this present evil age.

Dennis Johnson emphasizes this with great clarity in his article, “Expository Preaching: What Is It and Why Should We Do It?” Continuing on this theme, T. David Gordon reviews David Helm’s Expository Preaching; and Sherif Gendy reviews an important new book by Gregory Beale and Benjamin Gladd, Hidden but Now Revealed: A Biblical Theology of Mystery

Matthew Kingsbury reviews liturgics scholar Melanie Ross’s latest offering, Evangelical versus Liturgical? Helpful especially in light of the return of many OPC ministers to the liturgical treasures of our Reformed heritage.

I briefly review Logos Reformed Platinum, which offers a mind-boggling array of Reformed and biblical resources.

Don’t miss the cautionary poem by Emily Dickinson “The Broad-minded Preacher (No. 1207).”

Be sure to check out the rich trove of articles on preaching in “From the Archives,” below.

Blessings in the Lamb,
Gregory Edward Reynolds

FROM THE ARCHIVES “CATECHISM”

Subject Index

• “About Good Preaching.” (Andrew H. Selle) 14:1 (Mar. 2005): 4–7.
• “About Preaching.” (Mark Larson) 13:2 (Apr. 2004): 31–32.
• “A Brief Defense of Manuscript Preaching.” (Matthew Cotta) 20 (2011): 38–41.
• “The Divine Voice.” (Gregory Edward Reynolds) 17 (2008): 144–46.
• “Editorial [on Preaching].” (G. I. Williamson) 1:2 (Apr. 1992): 25–26.
• “Editorial [on Preaching].” (G. I. Williamson) 2:4 (Oct. 1993): 73–74.
• “‘Especially the Preaching of the Word’.” (Larry Wilson) 9:2 (Apr. 2000): 30–34. [reprinted 15 (2006): 46–51]
• “God Still Speaks: The Power of Orality.” (Gregory Edward Reynolds) 17 (2008): 25–31.
• “Hearing the Word in the Modern World.” (Gregory Edward Reynolds) 19 (2010): 16–21.
• “Help in Using the Original Languages in Preaching.” (Jay E. Adams) 3:1 (Jan. 1994): 23.
• “John Calvin: Servant of the Word.” (Glen J. Clary) 18 (2009): 77–92.
• “The Necessity of Preaching in the Modern World” (Robert Letham) 22 (2013): 32–45.
• “On the Matter of Notes in Preaching.” (Gregory Edward Reynolds 20 (2011): 16–20.
• “An Outline of Jay Adams’ Preaching With Purpose.” (D. Patrick Ramsey) 11:2 (Apr. 2002): 35–39.
• “Preaching and Fiction: Developing the Oral Imagination” (Gregory Edward Reynolds) 16 (2007): 14–16.
• “Preaching and Poetry: Learning the Power of Speech” (Gregory Edward Reynolds) 16 (2007): 17–22.
• “‘Reading as Risk’ Means Preaching at Risk.” (Gregory Edward Reynolds) 15 (2006): 9–12.
• “Rudiments of Preparing an Expository Sermon.” (Larry Wilson) 11:2 (Apr. 2002): 33–34.
• “Some Thoughts on Preaching.” (G. I. Williamson) 3:2 (Apr. 1994): 42–43.
• “The Voice from the Pulpit: John Calvin and Preaching.” (Steven Doe) 17 (2008): 60-66.
• “Without a Manuscript?” (F. Allan Story, Jr.) 20 (2011): 35–38.

Ordained Servant exists to help encourage, inform, and equip church officers for faithful, effective, and God-glorifying ministry in the visible church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Its primary audience is ministers, elders, and deacons of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, as well as interested officers from other Presbyterian and Reformed churches. Through high-quality editorials, articles, and book reviews we endeavor to stimulate clear thinking and the consistent practice of historic, confessional Presbyterianism.