We had a great day yesterday in the house of the Lord. I got to preach twice to a packed house and I appreciate the opportunity. Tonight I will begin a meeting at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Morganton, NC where my son, Jesse Carr, is the Pastor. Please pray for these services, and if you are in the area, please come to meeting with us.

Remember the Jack Richardson family in your prayers today, Brother Jack went home to be with the Lord last night at about 10:50 PM. Please pray for his wife Ramona and his children, Dean, Todd and Jennifer. Pray that God will give this family His grace during these difficult hours. For our folks at Calvary, the services for Brother Jack will be Wednesday, with the receiving from 1:00-2:00 at the church with tthe funeral to follow at 2:00. The family wants the choir to sing, so we need as many singers as possible in the service.

Still remember Norman Tester and his family. Brother Norman is getting closer to the crossing with each passing day. He and his family stand in need of prayer.

Thanks and God bless.

Alan

I have been preaching this week at the Old Paths Campmeeting in Morganton, NC. The meeting is sponsored by several local churches in the Burke County area. The meeting has been a blessing to me. I have enjoyed tremendous liberty to preach every night and there has been some movement at the ernd of each service. While I appreciate that, I have learned over the years not to try and gage the effectiveness of my preaching by how many people come forward during the invitation. The true measure of the success of our sermons will be revealed by changed lives, not by the number of people in our altars. Anyway, the meeting ends this evening, but it has been a blessing.

We have two men at Calvary Baptist who stand in need of prayer today. Both of these men are saved and looking for a spot to cross over into eternity. Pray for Jack Richardson and Norman Tester. Both of these men are getting closer to eternity by the hour. Pray for their families. This is n;t the outcome either family wanted or prayed for, but both families are walking with the faith in the God Who makes no mistakes.

Thank you for all the kind comments about my preaching blog the other day. I am committed to biblical exposition. I hope you are! I hope to write more about that in the coming days. God bless.

Alan

I am reminded again this week of the power and necessity of expositional preaching. As I travel around and preach in Campmeetings and Bible conferences, I hear a lot of preaching. One thing I hear too little of is expositional preaching. Most preachers in these meetings tend to be topical in their treatment of the biblical text. They take a text and use it as a launching pad for their thoughts. Then they preach here and there from the Bible, stringing texts together like so many pearls on a necklace. Some of their messages are exciting and moving, Others are stale and even offensive. Sadly, most people tend to believe that this is true preaching. The preacher will shout, snort, and stomp around as he preaches through the thoughts he has strung together in his mind. However, when the sermon is finished, there is nothing of value to take away from the meeting. All we have are the ramblings of a man.

On the other hand, when a man open his Bible and does serious Bible exposition, he is giving the people meat that will nourish their souls along the way of life. The preacher who is faithful to do biblical exposition when he preaches may not get the “amens” the “hallelujahs” or the “glorys” that the topical preacher gets, but he is the true friend of the listener in the pew. He is making a serious attempt to feed the people of God. He is being faithful to the text. He is delievering the mind of the Holy Spirit. He is delivering the actual message God intended when He inspired that passage. He is speaking as the very “oracles” of God. Thank God for Bible expositors! Thank God for those who take the call to preach the Word seriously. Thank God for men who refuse to take the easy road of topical sermon preparation, and are willing to give themselves to the hard work of biblical exposition and exegesis.

One of the reasons the church lacks power and glory in our day is that she does not receive the right kind of nourishment from the Word of God. The church is anemic and weak becasue she is being fed a diet of man made thoughts and ideas. What she needs is a steady diet of expository preaching. That kind of preaching will make the church healthy, powerful, knowledgeable, and biblically literate. Preacher, the call to preach is a call to “preach the Word”, not your clever twist on the text. Let’s let the Word speak! Let’s give the people the very mind of the Spirit. Let’s determine in our hearts that we will never stoop so low as to preach anything other than what “thus saith the Lord”. Let us determine to be expositional in our preaching!

Just a thought, but it will work!

Alan

I haven’t blogged in forever. I am sure that nobody even bothers to stop by to see if there is anything new here. Well, I am here today.

I am in Alabama this morning preaching in a campmeeting at Asberry Baptist Church. Brother William Cain in the Pastor. We have had good sevrvices this week. Last night was especially good. The Lord blessed His Word in a special way. I praise Him for that. Lord willing, I will head over in a few minutes for the morning session. Please pray for the remainder of the meeting. Pray that God will be honored and that His name will be exalted by every man who opens the Word of God to preach.

Well, that’s about all I have today. I just wanted to stop by and see who was here. How about taking a moment to post a comment and let me know that you are at least looking for something day by day. I will try to do better. No promises though!

Alan