WHERE DO I COME UP WITH WHAT I WRITE ABOUT SCRIPTURE AND THEOLOGY
LEARNING TO SAY WHAT YOU HAVE READ IN YOUR OWN WORDS.
SAYING THE SAME THING IN DIFFERENT WORDS !

I can talk from Ohio to Texas without notes, Charity tells me, so why do I use notes when I preach? I generally don’t say, "Charity, I got this point from MacArthur, Spurgeon and Edwards." But when I preach I am trying to be correct. And when I write on the blog, I do try to be as correct as possible.

Can I say up front in blogging, I am generally not the first person to come up with what I say.
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When I am speaking of theology, there are far too many good people out in the Blogger and Wordpress and Com. etc that do a far better job then I, and will address the issues of the day. If I were to give credit for what I say, I would have to say, every article I write has the flavor of what I have read in some book or article on the Web.

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I have no problem giving credit to anyone. I love to drop names of those who I am reading. As much as I read Blogs, I note that there are a lot of the same quotes, from the same folks. You can quote Spurgeon, the Puritans, Calvin, Edwards, Packer, MacArthur, Luther, and all those folks.
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From the very start of my ministry, I have said up front in my teaching, I study from those who know more than I do. I am not your typical fundamentalist who claims he only reads the Bible for his sermons. I remember trying out for a church in Texas when I was in Seminary and I used notes when I preached and the committee said they didn’t believe preachers should use notes. I do not think I have taught many lessons or preached sermons that have not being bathed in a lot of research and study.
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I believed when I was called to preached that God would give me an extra ability to know the Scripture without research and study and prayer and learning. I believed I would have a better ability to write and think and a skill of better interpretation of Scripture. As a matter of fact I have felt guilty that I have not been able to.
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Instant interpretation of any verse in the Bible has never been something I have had the ability to do.
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Of course, now after some forty years of study, I have retained some of what I have read and studied and have been able to assess and build a frame around what I believe about the Scripture. Today I most likely could give you an opinion on just about any subject in the Scripture. But I have not stopped learning.
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So when someone says "Charles, what do you think?" I will gladly say what I believe. What I believe has come with a lot of study. What I hope is happening in my mind, is that the Holy Spirit is helping me have the right direction in my thinking.
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So when you read this blog about theology in Scripture, remember it’s from a lot of study and research from those who I trust the most to learn from over the last few decades. What I write is not in a total vacuum, where I get it just from my own mind without study.

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HOW MUCH SHOULD THE AUDIENCE BE INFORMED ABOUT YOUR SERMON MATERIAL

part two

What expectation does the membership have about the content of the preacher’s sermon? What is their belief about how the preacher prepares his sermons? What has the preacher said about his sermon’s preparation?

There are a lot of factors in this matter of preaching. I can only speak from my experience. When I was pastor of my first church and even my second church, the congregation’s idea of what preaching should be like was formed by the previous preachers they had. Their expectation of style, content, methods, etc. of preaching was established by their own thinking as well.

People have a concept of what they believe is preaching and what is teaching. They have their idea of how a sermon should be preached. They form their ideas of how a sermon should sound and what a sermon should say. Some think that a sermon should be humorous, intelligent, interesting, and contemporary. Some think a sermon should be loud and simple. Some think the preacher should just talk to them and not at them. There is not a consensus but a multiplicity of expectations from the preacher and his sermon and his style.

One church elder said "Our congregation is used to one manner and sound and method of preaching, and we are looking for an associate of like manner."

What I have learned about people in our churches in general, (from my experience only) they really don’t understand the ministry of preaching the Word of God. Now you would expect new converts not to know, but mature believers should at least have an idea about presenting the Word of God on Sunday Morning. Generally the people had to learn to listen with a new mind set when hearing me preach, because they were not used to hearing my style of teaching.

FOOTNOTE: There are many churches who have been well disciplined in the art of preaching.
I thought I knew the art of preaching. After all, I had heard Jack Hyles preach and Earl K. Oldham preach. Actually, I have heard hundreds of preachers and I knew their mannerisms. I developed a style of preaching as a result of who I studied. That is not always a good idea. I know.

As I learned this craft of preaching/teaching, I would teach the membership what I was trying to do. "Why are you preaching the way you do, Pastor Charles?" Or at least they were thinking that question. Everyone has their idea about preaching and how a preacher prepares his messages. So I have always tried to tell the people how I go about preparing my messages.

Many preachers want the people to think that everything they say is original and all comes from the Holy Spirit at the moment they open their mouth to preach. (Well, some independent Baptists do)

I have spent a lot of time teaching those who hear me preach I am up-front with how I go about studying the Word of God for a message that I preach. Thus I was able to help new converts develop an open mind set toward my style of preaching. I shared with them the methods I use to develop a message. I have always tried to educate people how they can know the Word of God and how they can test what I am saying to be the truth.

How should a sermon sound biblically? Good question? How long should a sermon be? How much content and application should be in a message? How much originality should go in to a message? How much study should you do in researching the text? Do you use Greek or Hebrew words in your message? Should you give credit to every thought and quote you use in your sermon when you are preaching?

These are very important points that I would share with the people in our churches.

I heard John MacArthur say, "The most important thing that I can do for my people is to open the Word of God and proclaim His word with clarity."

Of course at first the people didn’t think preaching was the priority of the preacher/pastor of their church. They had their ideas about that as well. They had to be taught biblically what God had called the preacher/teacher to do in the church. That was usually a shock to the members.

What I have discovered too, every church has their own expectation of what a preacher should preach and how he should preach his sermon. When I have been asked to preach in view of a call to that church to pastor, or to send a tape of one of my sermons, they have an idea of what they desire in a preacher preaching. Most of the time my idea and what they expect are worlds apart.

Drafted by Charles E. Whisnant and Proof TRUTH Check by Charity Whisnant
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THE QUESTION OF PLAGIARISM IN THE PULPIT

PART ONE

As I write this article my mind reflects on what I have read on this subject. My wife say "How is it possible that you can write so much on one subject and never look at a single book or note?" It’s called recalled memory. I read a lot and from reading I can, most of the time, retain what I have read. When I type on a given subject the thoughts are on my mind and they reach my finger tips while I type (I have to stop to ask Charity how to spell a word, then find a synonym.)

When I preached through Ephesians, I read over fifty books on Ephesians. I use many technique reference books. I am not a scholar, fundamentalists usually don’t even preach expositionally, thus my early training in Greek or Hebrew was limited.. My linguistic study was limited as well, but I have learned that should not stop me from studying the scripture. Even if my fundamentalist friends tell me I only need the Holy Spirit and the KJV.

As I preach verse by verse, explaining word by word, I have learned to find the meaning of the words in reference books.

The point here, the congregation that I taught for over sixteen years, generally was not impressed with my giving credit for my thoughts. I would love to say, "As John MacArthur has said." or Martin Lloyd Jones would say. After awhile they were wondering if I said any thing.

I would go to the linguistic key to the Greek NT to learn the meaning of terms like "saints". I wouldn’t say, in the Linguistic Key to the Gr NT they say the term "saints" means. But I would footnote the quote on my sermon manuscript.. I might go to Colin Brown for help, I might go to Spiros Zodhiates’s study Bible lexical aid on "saint."

If your assembly in your church was only interested in your preaching, and wasn’t interested in all your credit giving for every quote you quoted by someone else. What would be your suggestions to this? If the church believed that every thing you said came directly from the Holy Spirit, you are really in trouble.

As a fundamentalist (I use that term lightly) I could speak from my hip, and not use anyone’s quotes or help. But that to me is not preaching biblically.

Nor do I believe using others who have the scholarship in Biblical language is plagiarism. I do not think when you at times quote others and fail to mention the source that you diminish the trust of your flock.

Let me say all this another way.

Do you believe using others who have the scholarship in Biblical language is plagiarism? Even if you do fail to mention the source of the quote or help? Do you believe that if you do you diminish the trust of your flock?

I would love to preach an entire sermon with my KJV Bible only, and be totally biblical in what I am saying about the texts. I certainly can say what I think the text says. If I don’t care to be accurate in the dispensing of the Word of God, then I could just give my own personal thoughts about the text.

The issue arises when do we plagiarize in our preaching/teaching? If it’s not an original thought and we write it down or mention it while we preach is it plagiarism if we don’t give credit to the source?

What is the definition of "an original thought?"

When in Seminary, I asked my professor, "Dr, how do you preach such a wonderful message?" He said, "Charles, find a text, and ask the Holy Spirit to give you a message?" I was a first year seminary student, well six weeks into the first semester. Was that really possible? Well, yes I preached a Lee Roberson sermon, or one of my dad's sermon. Plagiarism first class. I don't remember hearing that term in 1966!

More later....

Drafted by Charles E. Whisnant 02 13 07 Proof Checked by Charity 02 14 07