Preaching the Cross

In April 2006, my youth minister and I attended the Together for the Gospel conference in Louisville, KY. The speakers included Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., Dr. John MacArthur, Ligon Duncan, RC Sproul, Mark Dever, John Piper, and CJ Mahaney. I enjoyed the conference and all of the talks. I had a great time and learned a lot.

Well, recently, the lectures that were given by each speaker were put into a book format. "Preaching the Cross," is a great read and an easy read, and I highly recommend all young (and even old) ministers to read and apply it to their lives. There are a couple of the chapters that I highly recommend.

First, Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr's chapter on "Preaching with the Culture in View," is very helpful and right on the money. Dr. Mohler begins by looking at the challenge this presents and how we must approach it. He then looks at the different approaches throughout history, namely Augustine (City of God) and Richard Neihburgs "Christ and Culture." By the end of the chapter, the read has a better understanding of our culture and how to preach to our congregation that lives in the culture.

Another one I want to recommend is MacArthur's chapter of 40 years in ministry. What I really appreciated about this last and final chapter is his ten reasons for why he still does expository preaching. Each point is important and applicable. I affirm along with Dr. MacArthur that preachers today need to return to the art of expository preaching.

Finally, I must point out Ligon Duncan's chapter on Preaching from the Old Testament. This is a lost art in our day. Many preachers find it easier to preach from the NT than the OT and so never preach on some of the main aspects of OT. What Duncan does in this chapter is to give the reader a helpful guide on how they can faithfully preach from the OT and why it is important.

These three examples will suffice for now. The entire book is worth the read, and for the most part, it is an easy read. I am looking forward to next years Together for the Gospel conference, which will include many of the same speakers. And I am sure to be blessed like I was previously.

In the meantime, I encourage you all to pick up the book "Preaching the Cross," read it, and apply it to your daily ministries.