How Has Your Preaching Changed Over the Years?

For expositors of God’s Word, revisiting early sermons can be an excruciating and embarrassing exercise. Thankfully, pastors H. B. Charles, Bryan Chapell, and Ray Ortlund were up to the task. In this eight-minute roundtable, these three veteran pastors reflect on the ways God has matured their preaching over their many years in ministry.

Charles (pastor of Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida) pinpoints two areas in particular that transformed his preaching: growth in his understanding of the gospel and spiritual maturity in his own personal walk with the Lord.

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Chapell (senior pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Peoria, Illinois, and TGC Council member) remembers his early days of only preaching what he calls “systematic lectures” and “practical instruction,” that is, until the writings of Sidney Greidanus changed his understanding of Scripture.

Ortlund (senior pastor of Immanuel Church in Nashville, Tennessee and TGC Council member) talks about his years of preaching clunky academic sermons that did little to apply God’s Word to his congregation. Though diligent in studying the text, he struggled to translate it in such a way that would help people.

Is there enough evidence for us to believe the Gospels?

In an age of faith deconstruction and skepticism about the Bible’s authority, it’s common to hear claims that the Gospels are unreliable propaganda. And if the Gospels are shown to be historically unreliable, the whole foundation of Christianity begins to crumble.

But the Gospels are historically reliable. And the evidence for this is vast.

To learn about the evidence for the historical reliability of the four Gospels, click below to access a FREE eBook of Can We Trust the Gospels? written by New Testament scholar Peter J. Williams.

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Bryan Chapell (MDiv, Covenant Theological Seminary; PhD, Southern Illinois University Carbondale) is a founding council member of the Gospel Coalition and is Pastor Emeritus of the historic Grace Presbyterian Church and President Emeritus of Covenant Theological Seminary. He now leads the Administrative Committee of the Presbyterian Church in America. His preaching and teaching are broadcast in many nations through Unlimited Grace Media, and are also available at unlimitedgrace.com. He is the author of many books, including Unlimited Grace, Each for the Other, Holiness by Grace, Praying Backwards, The Gospel According to Daniel, The Hardest Sermons You’ll Ever Have to Preach, Christ-centered Worship, and Christ-centered Preaching, a preaching textbook now in multiple editions and many languages. He and his wife, Kathy, have four adult children, and a growing number of grandchildren.

H. B. Charles Jr. (Master’s Seminary and Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary) is pastor of Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, and a Council member of The Gospel Coalition. He is the author (or contributing author) of several books, including It Happens After Prayer. He and his wife, Crystal, have three children.

Ray Ortlund (ThM, Dallas Theological Seminary; MA, University of California, Berkeley; PhD, University of Aberdeen, Scotland) is president of Renewal Ministries and an Emeritus Council member of The Gospel Coalition. He founded Immanuel Church in Nashville, Tennessee, and now serves from Immanuel as pastor to pastors. Ray has authored a number of books, including The Gospel: How The Church Portrays The Beauty of Christ, Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel, and with Sam Allberry, You’re Not Crazy: Gospel Sanity for Weary Churches. He and his wife, Jani, have four children.