The Preacher and his Work, Wendell Winkler, c. 1987

Your Personal Spiritual Life

What Motives Prompt You To Preach?

  • Love for the Lord.
  • Love for the Bible.
  • Love for the lost.
  • Never for money (Acts 20:24).
  • Never for glory.
  • Never for easy living.
  • Never for prestige. Philippians 1:14-­18; 2 Corinthians 2:17; Matthew 6:1ff

Personal Prayer­ Life (Romans 12:12).

You cannot make it without prayer.

It’s not a burden, but a privilege.

After James A. Harding died, the undertaker found that he actually had callouses on his knees.

It’s hard to stumble when you on your knees.

We are not worthy to stand before men until we have knelt before God.

You cannot do the work of God without His help.

Personal profit Bible Study (1 Timothy 4:15).

H. Leo Boles read 1 Timothy and Titus every week of his preaching life.

Gus Nichols in his early years as a Christian had no electricity in his house so he read by firelight. It was not very bright and strained his eyes. After they began to burn, he would cover one eye with his hand to let it rest while he read with the other eye. Then he would switch eyes.

Self-­examination (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Keep your

  • Thoughts pure.
  • Attitudes correct.
  • Motives holy.
  • Conscience clean.

Am I doing my work?

  • Evangelize the lost.
  • Edify the saved.
  • Enlist others to preach.

Periods of Meditation (1 Timothy 4:15).

A preacher’s meditations should include the psalms.

Preachers need to think.

Your Marital Life.

Read:

  • Your Marriage Can Be Great by Thomas Warren and
  • Marriage is for Those Who Love God and One Another by Thomas Warren.
  • Man of Steel and Velvet by Aubrey Andeline.

Frequently read 1 Corinthians 13 and use your name for the word love.

Love your wife.

  • Assume headship of her (1 Corinthians 11:3), but not dictatorship over her.
  • Put your wife first in your life (cf. Matthew 19:9). It’s easy for a preacher to violate this. For instance, do not change family schedules all the time for the church. An elder’s meeting is not important enough to miss a boy’s ballgame. Don’t make your wife feel like a “second fiddle.”