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Mar 21

Session 3 Recap: Panel Discussion with Alistair Begg, D.A. Carson, and David Helm

2015 | by Nathan Sherman | Category: Clarus 15

Editor’s Note: Ethan Hester is the Interim Senior Pastor at Grace Bible Church, Las Cruces, NM. He is a member of the Albuquerque Chapter of The Gospel Coalition. This post is a summary of David Helm’s message from Saturday afternoon at Clarus, March 21, “Preaching: God’s Speech,” from Acts 17:16-34.

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Question: Help someone out who would say, “Where do I go to see how the Bible is put together?”

Don Carson:  The most important thing is to read the Bible. There’s a danger in reading the resources so much that you don’t read the Bible itself.  I often worry about future-pastors who go out and haven’t actually read the text but have only listened to secondary literature. However, there are  increasing numbers of books that help to see how to put the Bible together, and if you don’t know where to start ask your pastor. A few examples would be The God Who Was There and God’s Big Picture.

Question: Alistair, in your sermon, you said that we come to church to hear the voice of God. Where does the Bible claim that the preaching of the Word of God is the Word of God?

Alistair Begg: Deuteronomy 4 is a good starting point where Moses explains that God has assembled the people to listen to his voice.  And where now is the Word of God?  In the New Testament the Word of God was preached and explained and was then inscripturated.  If we want to know what God has said, we look to what was breathed out in Scripture.  There is also this mysterious work of the Spirit where the skeptic can’t fully explain the effectiveness of the Word in terms of the skill or effectiveness of the preacher.  The skeptic has always tried to understand the book that he is reading, but in the Bible he often finds that the Book understands him. The best argument for the authenticity of the Bible is the Bible.

Question: This weekend is about expository preaching.  David, you’ve written a book on it.  Could you give us a definition of what expository preaching is?

David Helm: Expository preaching is empowered preaching where the shape and emphasis of the sermon is rightly submitted to the shape and emphasis of the text.

Question: Doesn’t that presuppose a singular text?

David Helm: Tomorrow I will try to answer that, but generally speaking that answer is yes.