Paul’s Blueprint for a Praying Church

A distinctive gathering for prayer has a special warrant in the New Testament, where we see distinctive prayer meetings described in Acts chapters 1, 4 and 12. These were not preaching meetings, but prayer meetings, convened to besiege the gates of Heaven with specific needs.

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Six Biblical Steps for Guidance

This article presents the traditional view that we are to seek guidance from the Lord in all the major decisions of life, and he will clarify our thinking, or overrule our circumstances. ‘Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me.’ (Psalm 25.4-5)

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Remedies for Problems in Prayer

We may have a lack of assurance, coldness in prayer, little sense of God, and small desire to pray. Isaiah 50.10 is a good solution – ‘Who is among you… that walketh in darkness, and [yet] hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.’

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Paul’s Blueprint For An Evangelistic Church

In Britain, countless churches have closed and others have dwindled to a handful. Some, in panic, have yielded to contemporary worship, hoping that this will save the day. But none of this was necessary! If only pastors and officers had inculcated in their people a thirst for evangelism.

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Should Christians Love Life?

‘He that will love life’, says the Apostle Peter. We learn that we are supposed to love life. This may surprise us, because it sounds ominously close to loving this world. But the two ideas are not the same. We do not love this world, ruled by Satan and full of sin. But we are to love our life here.

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Are There One or Two Natures in the Christian?

The idea of two ­natures is, of course, only a portrayal or model or representation. It is invisible to us and mysterious, but to consider it as divided into two conflicting parts is scriptural, enabling believers to see themselves corrupted by sin, yet at the same time substantially renewed by the converting power of God.

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The Biblical Grounds For Divorce

When problems are brought to a pastor, our first aim is the preservation of the marriage bond, and the keeping of husbands and wives and families together. This must be our first objective: a much better and happier relationship. But sometimes this is not possible.

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God’s Love in a Pandemic

These are momentous days when we find ourselves in the midst of a worldwide ‘discipline’ or warning from God, calling us to acknowledge and seek Him. And although we shrink from the thought, this is the reason for all unexpected catastrophes, whether epidemics, floods or vast fires. The Bible says these things will come more often in the ‘last days’, when atheism abounds and people generally have no thought or…

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Recent Race Demonstrations

In the light of recent Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstrations might I offer these comments.  All manifestations of racial disrespect are disgraceful to sincere Christian people. They flow obviously from the Fall of man. All hatred, all superiority, all disdain, all persecution of ‘other’ ethnic groups and religions, together with all ideological persecution (which is the greatest killer in modern times), and all class prejudice is forbidden by the sixth…

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Should churches comply with government instructions about coronavirus?

Current coronavirus restrictions deeply affect our worship, our fellowship, our Sunday Schools and our outreach. No one likes them or wants them. Recently, a British evangelical periodical asked the question – Should we have a debate about this? Are we doing the right thing? Should the churches, ruled by Christ, surrender so easily to the state – the kingdom of this world?

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The ‘Evangelical Covenant’ of Moses

This article will sweep through Deuteronomy 29 – 30 to demonstrate that it records how Moses presented an ‘evangelical covenant’ which was set beside and distinct from the covenant of Sinai, the latter being a ‘works’ covenant that could only condemn. (This is how Paul expounds it in Romans 10.) Chapter 29 verse 1: ‘These are the words of the covenant, which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the…

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Features of Apostate Behaviour

In Paul’s prophecy in 2 Timothy 3, he identifies nineteen prominent sins which will take over society, with the first five being about self. People will unashamedly focus their attention on themselves, being ‘lovers of their own selves’, so that self-service will become the approved goal for all people.

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All articles by Dr Masters

The Sword & Trowel Magazine

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Sword & Trowel 2024 No. 1

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by Dr Peter Masters

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Article excerpts by Dr. Peter Masters

From Regeneration and Gospel Persuasion

WE BEGIN with Paul disputing with people at Athens (Acts 17), meaning that he laid out his case to convince people of their need of Christ. He presented arguments and reasoned with them. At Corinth also he reasoned and persuaded constantly (Acts 18.4), eventually being charged with persuading people to worship God (Acts 18.13). Apollos also mightily convinced people (lit: with well-stretched arguments, utterly proving his case).

In Acts 19.8-9 there are two references to disputing and one to persuading, showing the degree of reasoned convincing and remonstrating carried out by Paul at Ephesus. Before Felix, Paul famously ‘reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come’, until Felix trembled (Acts 24.25). This was typical apostolic preaching. Even when a prisoner, Paul turned the dock into a pulpit and persuaded his hearers. At the very close of Acts (28.23), Paul was still persuading and reasoning – to the very end.

Are we preachers? Have we cultivated our skill in reasoning? Paul goes so far as to say – ‘Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men’ (2 Corinthians 5.11). We are called to make a persuasive presentation of the Gospel because it is God’s way of bringing the redeemed into his kingdom. When we are gathered into eternal glory, our cry of gratitude will be, ‘I was humbled to the dust; I felt my spiritual emptiness and need; I saw my desperately sinful state; I grasped how evil and foolish I was; I saw the Christ of Calvary, and I came to him longingly, willingly and freely for salvation.’

It is the will of God that preachers, witnessing believers, and the printed page, should be instrumental in this. Of course, the vital work is performed by the Lord, so the apostle rises no higher than saying, ‘we are labourers together with God.’ But we are his spokespeople.

Do you wrestle with souls as a preacher? It is a wonderful calling to search the Scripture, foraging for evangelistic arguments and parallels to salvation in both Testaments.

The hallmark of the Reformation was evangelistic preaching. And soon afterward the Puritans  reasoned with, appealed to and expostulated with souls. Evangelistic preaching was a defining characteristic of the rise of the Baptists, particularly through the golden age of Baptist expansion. We may read the classic sermons of John Bunyan to see the tender affection for souls, and the striving to gain them.

It was also the hallmark of preaching in the 18th-century Great Awakening (read the sermons of George Whitefield), not to mention the revivals of the 19th century and the high era of the Victorian pulpit, with all its persuasiveness.

From Expository Preaching – Benefits and Pitfalls

WHAT EXACTLY is ­expository preaching? It is preaching that draws the message from the biblical text, clearly and methodically, honouring the sense of the text, and the style of communication employed. Before looking at classic examples from sermons of C H Spurgeon, here are some of the benefits and common mistakes of consecutive expository preaching.

Firstly, if the preacher works through a book of the Bible week by week it becomes obvious to everyone that the Word of God is the supreme authority for all that is taught. The preacher is clearly in captivity to the Bible. Consecutive expository preaching is the greatest witness to biblical ­authority.

A second virtue of consecutive expository preaching is that it helps the preacher to suppress his personal opinions. Because he is dominated by the Scripture, and bound to follow its presentation of information and its arguments, the preacher’s personal style of reasoning should be helpfully subordinated to that of God’s Word.

A third virtue of consecutive expository preaching is that it obliges the preacher to present ­everything that is in the Scripture. By nature, most preachers will tend to emphasise a certain group of subjects and to neglect others. But by proceeding through a book they are bound to address every topic that presents itself, and so preach on a comprehensive range of vital themes.

A fourth virtue of consecutive expository preaching is that it shows the people of God the plan and the purpose of a whole Bible book, which would probably not happen if the preacher darted from book to book selecting individual sermon texts. Think of the immense advantage to the people of God of becoming familiar with the overall scheme of entire books of the Bible. It is a very great help to private study.

Fifthly, consecutive expository preaching also enables the preacher to bring out the themes that often run through one or more chapters. He pays more attention to the context, and this delivers him from many mistakes. Would the so-called ‘holiness movement’ have developed if its proponents had been consecutive preachers? Would they not have hesitated to preach sanctification-by-faith when they saw that the whole chapter or passage was speaking about justification?