In the book of Deuteronomy, we meet the speaking God. “Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, and survived?” Mercy and grace meet here. This is, in its own way, a proto-gospel. Christopher Wright makes this comment concerning what happened at Sinai, saying what really mattered there was not that there had been a theophonic manifestation of God, but that there had been a verbal revelation of God’s mind and will. Sinai was a cosmic audiovisual experience, but it was the audio that mattered. It is the audio that matters, for God has spoken. In light of that, Dr. Mohler suggests several realities that should frame our thinking as Christians.

Deuteronomy chapter four is one of the great touchstone passages in all of Scripture. As we come to this passage, my heart and soul are absolutely struck by the question–a rhetorical question, but a very real question–asked in verse 33: “Has any people heard the voice of the Lord, the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, and survived?”

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity. . .” With those famous words, Charles Dickens introduced his great novel A Tale of Two Cities. Of course, Dickens had the two cities of London and Paris in mind, and much of his story revealed that the tenor of the times depended upon where one lived. In some sense, that remains true as we consider the state of preaching today. To a large degree, this depends upon where one chooses to look. On the one hand, there are signs of great promise and encouragement. On the other hand, several ominous trends point toward dangerous directions for preaching in the future.

I am honored to be with John MacArthur and so many others at the 2006 Shepherd’s Conference at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California. Thousands of preachers are here, and it is so encouraging to see such fervor for biblical preaching and the Gospel. I will be preaching on Colossians 1:24-29 at the Thursday evening session and I will also speak at the Saturday morning session on “Postmodernism and the Question of Gender.”

My convocation address for the new academic term was entitled “The Preacher as Servant of the Word,” taken from Colossians 1:25-29. The address is available online here and here.

In her Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, Gilead, author Marilynne Robinson writes in the voice of Rev. John Ames, a 77-year-old preacher in Gilead, Iowa, who is writing a massive and final letter to his beloved 7-year old son. The novel is set in 1956, when the pastor knows he is dying, and wants to leave an explanation of his life to his young son, born so late in his long life. The preacher offers a wealth of wisdom to his son, including a fascinating testimony to his calling — a life of study and sermons.

John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis and teacher at Desiring God, preached a message entitled “Prayer and the Victory of God” on Sunday, January 1, 2006.

The preacher stands before the congregation as the external minister of the Word, but the Holy Spirit works as the internal minister of that same Word. A theology of preaching must take the role of the Spirit into full view, for without an understanding of the work of the Spirit, the task of preaching is robbed of its balance and power.