by Bret Capranica | Feb 23, 2011 | Featured Articles, Pastoral Ministry, Worship
MidWeek2-23-11 from Summit Woods on Vimeo. Sun AM-The Uniqueness of Jesus Sermon Manuscript The uniqueness of jesus 5.1 5 View more documents from Summit Woods Baptist Church Expanding This Week’s Sermon Sun PM-Adam Naylor...
by Bret Capranica | Feb 22, 2011 | Biblical Studies, Featured Articles, Preaching
For the past few weeks I have been preaching from Revelation 4 and 5, the throne-room scene of heaven. I have been challenging myself and my church to think about how heaven should impact our own corporate gatherings. I have received some wonderful responses from people, particularly over the fact that I am methodically teaching through a very neglected portion of Scripture: the book of Revelation. I plan to preaching through another section of Revelation later this year also. In light of my recent time spent in studying and teaching Revelation, here are the commentaries I have been using with a few comments on them. Detailed Exegetical Commentaries Word Biblical Commentary, Revelation, David E. Aune. 3 Volumes. Amillennial in perspective. This is a solid commentary on the exegetical side of things. Aune tends to miss the impact the book should have on the Christian community in his conclusions, however. The New International Greek Testament Commentary, The Book of Revelation, G. K. Beale. Beale is eclectic in his approach, landing on the futuristic side of things at times while preterist and idealistic in other sections. His exegesis is excellent throughout and is the best commentary in showing Old Testament connections. While I don”™t agree with many of his conclusions, his arguments are thorough and detailed. I never missed reading this one. The New International Commentary on the New Testament, The Book of Revelation, Revised, Robert H. Mounce. Ecclectic in perspective. Not as detailed for this series as I would have hoped, but good exegetical insights in places. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Revelation, Grant T. Osborne. I usually...
by Bret Capranica | Feb 20, 2011 | Biblical Studies, Featured Articles, Pastoral Ministry, Preaching, Worship
You can listen to this week’s sermon through our church”™s website: Heaven Help Our Worship ““ The Uniqueness of Jesus ““ Revelation 5:1-5 How can you respond to this week”™s sermon? Know Take some time this week to read through the breaking of the seven seals (Revelation 6:-8:1). Record what you learn that is unique about Jesus and his involvement in the initial stages of God”™s wrath revealed on the earth. Read through Revelation 1-3 and make note of the differences between the vision of Jesus seen in these chapters and what you seen in Revelation 5-6. Download the lyrics from this week”™s music and make a list of how we exalted the uniqueness of Jesus this week. Download Song Lyrics pdf Be Are there any ways in which you have minimized the supremacy of Jesus in the ways you have responded to situations in your life this week? How could this message affect your attitude and thinking toward your own participation in our public worship gatherings? Do Write down a few things that you learned from today”™s message or the main ideas that struck you and why. Colossians is a book that describes the sufficiency of Jesus. Take some time this week to read through its 4 chapters and write down what you see unique about Jesus and how he is uniquely sufficient for our needs. Make a list of issue you are struggling with right now ““ or are unique challenges to you. How could Jesus”™ sufficiency (from the list you created above) be a foundation for prayer and confidence to you? Who could you talk with...
by Bret Capranica | Feb 13, 2011 | Featured Articles, Pastoral Ministry, Preaching, Worship
How can you respond to this week’s sermon? You can hear the two sermons on Revelation 4:1-11 through our church’s web-site: Heaven Help Our Worship – The Atmosphere of Heaven – Rev 4:1-6 Heaven Help Our Worship – The Activity of Heaven – Rev 4:6-11 Revelation 4 is a brilliant description of God”™s supremacy and a picturesque vision of the purest worship of God. God”™s authority, centrality, mercy, redemption, judgment, omniscience, transcendence, and sovereignty are all stunningly described as the very atmosphere of heaven. The activity of heaven responds to God”™s blazing centrality with an intense, focused exaltation of who He is. Here is the pinnacle of corporate praise. The entire scene begs the question as to whether our weekly earthly gatherings mirror the emphases we see happening unceasingly in heaven. Our two sermons on Revelation 4 delved into the details of the passage and called us to consider how central God is in our affections, our vocabulary, our prayers, our music, our conversations, and our mindset when we gather with God”™s people on the Lord”™s Day. How can we grow in our worship of God on earth so that our gatherings are more reflective of the worship that happens in heaven? Something to Know Increase your understanding of who God is Simply reading through the Bible, particularly the Old Testament has helped me with this. For example, while reading through Old Testament books, underline every time the narrator (in the historical books) indicates that God did something. You will be amazed at what God does ““ and thus see His attributes on display. Read some excellent books on...
![Answering Hot Topics – How Long Should a Sermon Last?]()
by Bret Capranica | Sep 5, 2010 | Featured Articles, Pastoral Ministry, Preaching
How Long Should a Sermon Be from Bret Capranica on Vimeo. How Long Should a Sermon Be? Here”™s a long post about long sermons. I’ve never known this not to be an issue. Some could care less how long the message is, others have firm convictions based on personal experience and contemporary studies as to how long any public address should be in order to be effectively assimilated. I want to address this issue from a number of fronts: Regular, consecutive exposition is the sort of preaching I believe is most helpful for the sanctification of God’s people. Those who know me know that I believe expository preaching is what is most helpful in the corporate sanctification of God’s people. I like to define expository preaching as sermons where the point and structure of the sermon reflect the point and structure of the biblical passage. My definition doesn’t demand long or short sermons. I think shorter sermons may be able to present the point of a passage as well, perhaps better than a longer one. However, longer sermons may prove more effective in not only presenting the point of the passage clearly, but also demonstrating how a preacher arrived at his conclusions. Nonetheless, I think, as a regular diet, moving through books of the Bible book-by-book, passage-by-passage, showing the author’s intention and clarifying the contemporary application of a text is overall most helpful in the spiritual growth of God’s people. What are the most helpful ingredients in this sort of preaching? In a typical exposition here are the elements I want to accomplish: “¢ Introduce the main idea of...
