Dr. Denzil R. Miller has written an important and timely work that will be a great tool for pastors and teachers of the Pentecostal persuasion.

This small e-book lists all the ingredients that are necessary for a much neglected subject. Miller begins by addressing what he calls a “troubling decline in spiritual experience”, which can be reversed as there is a “reawakening among Pentecostal preachers”. He makes compelling arguments for preaching and teaching on this important subject.

This brief introduction followed by Miller addressing four preliminary considerations—priority, context, focus, and preach with faith, and three important goals—create desire, inspire expectant faith, and bring to clear understanding—gets the reader ready for the meat of his message—the sermon itself.

Miller provides the reader with an abundance of Scriptures to support his writing, which will be beneficial to the pastor and teacher.

He concludes by giving detailed information on conducting an altar call.

Pastors and teachers who have neglected preaching and teaching on this subject will be most grateful for this practical work.

Reviewed by Larry Russi

Find How to Preach on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit on the Decade of Pentecost free download page: http://www.decadeofpentecost.org/booklets/

John Lathrop interviews Finny Philip about the new South Asia Bible Commentary.

John Lathrop: Please give us a brief history of the development of this commentary.

Finny Philip: The South Asia Bible Commentary (SABC) is a project of Langham Partnership International and partners. Langham is the organization founded by the late evangelical scholar, author and leader John Stott.

John R. W. Stott (1921–2011), “started Langham in 1969 with the vision that every pastor in every church is equipped to preach the Bible.”
Image: Langham Partnership International / Wikimedia Commons.

The project started in 2008 when a few Langham scholars in India came together for fellowship in Kolkata. The project is led by Brian Wintle (New Testament scholar), three Old Testament theological editors (Drs. Paul Swarup, J.B. Jeyraj, Havilah Dharmraj) and two New Testament theological editors, Dr. Jacob Cherian and myself.

Who are the contributors to this volume and what countries are they from?

Finny Philip: The writers are all South Asian—scholars from India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka contributed to the volume. The commentaries have been written by over ninety scholars. This resource represents the first effort of its kind written by South Asians.

What denominations do the commentators come from?

Finny Philip: Pentecostals, Baptist, Methodist, Brethren, Church of North India, Church of South India, and the rest are evangelicals and charismatics. Of the 92 scholars who contributed to SABC, 18 are Pentecostals including the two New Testament editors.

What are some of the main theological concerns facing the church in South Asia at this time?

Finny Philip: There a lot of issues that the commentary deals with.

To speak to South Asians powerfully and with relevance, the commentary uses local metaphors and imagery and helps its users apply the Bible to the challenges in their culture. In addition to the commentary, more than 100 topics are explored from a biblical perspective, including:

Bribery & Corruption

Caste

Children At Risk

Christian Bhakti (devotion) in South Asia

Death and Life after Death

Human Trafficking

Jesus in South Asia/ South Asian responses to Christ

Karma and Fatalism

Living as the People of God in South Asia

Mission of God in South Asia

The Finality of Christ

The Holy Spirit in South Asian Spirituality

Violence against Women

Witchcraft and Demons

Yoga, Gurus and God men

Preaching has always been central to the life of church life, and especially following the Reformation of Luther and Calvin. However, preaching can take on a different hue in the Pentecostal revival that has and continues to bring about change to the entire church world-wide.

In his book Preach the Word: a Pentecostal Approach, 2004 Aldwin Ragoonath makes the assertion, “Pentecostal and Charismatic preaching is a type of preaching that is different from all other forms of preaching.” He links this form of preaching back to Jesus and his apostles and in this book seeks to convince the reader of the uniqueness of the kind of preaching instinctive to the Pentecostal world and experience.

Aldwin Ragoonath

His definition of Pentecostal is a classic view: those who have what he calls “a Spirit worldview that includes ‘dreams, visions, revelations, curses demons roaming the world, spiritual guidance, angels guiding us, people speaking in tongues, miracles, exorcisms and things we cannot explain.'” For him it is important that Pentecostals understand the difference this form of preaching is to other forms for it is “through preaching that their doctrines and emphases are communicated.”

The book covers a rather wide selection of topics meant to encourage those of Pentecostal persuasion. He begins with what is called “Theology of Pentecostal Preaching” in which he moves from the preacher and message to the traditional feature—especially of older Pentecostal churches—the altar service.

In his chapter on the History of Pentecostal Preaching, the author takes us back into the lives and sermons of those who were instrumental in the early beginnings of the Pentecostal movement, at the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles of the early 1900s. He provides an analysis of the way Parham and Seymour preached and how they handled the Biblical text in their preaching. As well he provides suggestions on how to go about building a sermon from a text.

In preparation for preaching at healing and deliverance services he offers his logic as to the value of such services along with organization of the services. From there he provides counsel on outlining sermons and their delivery.

Throughout his writing, the author asserts that Pentecostals are not traditionally from educated classes: “Pentecostalism was born from working class people and reflects a simple view of the Word of God.” With this in mind then, his material may best refer to those Pentecostals who preach to people with limited education.

Aldwin Ragoonath has obviously spent much time considering the importance of preaching to those who serve within the Pentecostal and Charismatic community. As a world force, it is important that preachers from this community be equipped so as to impact this wider world with the power of Gospel of our risen Lord.

I am grateful for this opportunity of reading and reviewing Preach the Word.

Reviewed by Brian C. Stiller.

Aldwin Ragoonath, a Canadian pastor and homiletician in the Pentecostal tradition and a participant in the Academy of Homiletics, has written a book that is shaped as a basic preaching textbook but that also serves as an apologetic for a distinctively Pentecostal approach to homiletics. Ragoonath, who is informed by the standard works in the field (e.g. Craddock, Lowry, and Buttrick), nevertheless insists that “Pentecostal and Charismatic preaching is …different from all other forms of preaching.” As such, he desires to wean his approach away from contemporary homiletical and rhetorical theory and to base it essentially on what he understands to be biblical principles and on preaching models provided by Jesus and the apostles.

Ragoonath winds his way through all the basic loci—exegesis, form, delivery, etc.—putting his own Pentecostal stamp on each. He calls for preachers to be prepared to spend much time in prayer and fasting, for a process of biblical interpretation “not encumbered by higher criticism” that seeks to re-experience both the “truths and the feeling” of a text, and for a preaching of the “full gospel,” namely that “Jesus saves, sanctifies, heals, baptizes in the Spirit and is coming back to this world—soon.”

Even for readers unpersuaded by Ragoonath’s approach to homiletics or his Adventist theology, this book provides a fascinating glimpse into Pentecostal practice. He provides a concise guide to the history of Pentecostal preaching and discusses such matters as dress codes (“It’s always safe to have a suit with you in case you have to use it.”), the logistics of “healing and deliverance” services, the practice of “tarrying” (a prayer-like waiting for divine action), and signs that a preacher is truly anointed by the Holy Spirit (e.g. the preacher preaches with boldness; the sermon is accompanied by “signs, wonders, and miracles,” and the preacher often speaks in “a higher pitched voice” and “his facial expression begins to glow”).

Reviewed by Thomas G. Long.

Jack W. Hayford, “Practicing What We Preach” Ministries Today (Nov/Dec 2003), pages 22–27.

Jack Hayford sees the church in a moral crisis. “Favoritism, greed, shoddy morals and shady ethics have found a comfortable home in the church. At the same time, both inside and outside the church there is a rise in intolerance towards leaders who have been allowed to compromise with impunity their various institutions’ self–declared moral and ethical standards” (pg. 22). Despite this laudable intolerance the evangelical church, with its many denominational and independent groups, has no unified voice when in comes to confronting unethical leaders. “… there has been no standard policy guiding the body of Christ as it deals with its mavericks—the small but growing number of leaders who make their own rules and flaunt the ethical demands of a disciple of Jesus Christ” (pg. 22). It is in this context that he proposes a solution: “… I want to propose the establishment of an International Council for Ethical Accountability (ICEA)—or something with another title, but serving the church with what those words represent … Such a council could provide a starting place for an internationally agreed–on standard concerning basic ethical and moral issues as they pertain to church leadership” (pg. 23).

Jack Hayford / The King’s University

Hayford believes that such a council would allow the church to express a “collective voice” when responding to leadership failings: “While any one of a field of leaders may answer a reporter’s question … without a broad consensus, the public is left with the notion that every spiritual leader is basically a law unto themselves” (pg. 24).

Noting that luxury and extravagance has replaced self denial in many places (pg. 24), and that he has had to quietly withdraw from participation in two ministries because of their “law unto myself” attitudes (pg. 24), Hayford sees the need for judgment to come from within the church, lest it come from outside (pg. 27). “This isn’t a proposal for doctrinal agreement beyond basics, or for ecclesiastical or liturgical conformity. But written on all our hearts is a set of ethical principles that we intuitively know are right, and God’s word affirms a fundamental body of moral expectations that we all affirm. So the question is, do we believe that it possible that we can find a consensus on how we can strengthen one another by speaking with one voice where ethics are involved?” (pg. 27)

Hayford believes the answer is “yes.” How many others feel the same is yet to be seen. I look forward to seeing the responses to his proposal from evangelicals in the United States and abroad.

Reviewed by Mike Dies

Read the original article: http://ministrytodaymag.com/index.php/ministry-leadership/ethics/8215-practicing-what-we-preach