Preaching and Your Heart

The following text was transcribed from the introductory message to the Pastors College preaching conference on February 12, 2008.

The Battle of Preaching

We need to recognize that preaching and preparing to preach is not some neutral task. It is not just a matter of getting it done—as if you go through the right steps, a good sermon will come out. It is not so simple.

Just stop and think of what is at stake in preaching.

Your soul is at stake. The souls of your people are at stake. The reputation of the gospel is at stake. The health of a local church is at stake. There is so much at stake in your preaching. And nothing of consequence goes unchallenged. So there is a battle being waged for preaching.

I find the following C.S. Lewis quote useful: “There is no neutral ground. Every square inch and every split second of your life is claimed by God and counter-claimed by Satan. There is no neutral ground.” And certainly your preaching and your preparation to preach are not exempt from challenge. In fact, I think they are more vulnerable.

Later in this conference I will be sharing a particularly pitched battle that I faced for an extended period of months linked directly to this task of preaching. The battle had nothing to do with the challenge of finding illustrations, or organizing the message, or developing an outline, or even text work. It was all about the fight for faith and the fight for joy and the fight against self.

“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). And dying is no fun. And the preacher dies all the time. Nothing in preaching goes unchallenged.

In a recent survey of Sovereign Grace pastors on the question, “What are your two or three biggest challenges in preaching?” one pastor’s answer that most struck me was very simple: “Not being discouraged after I preach.” After reading this one I paused for a moment. Who of us doesn’t deal with this discouragement? Sometimes some point in the sermon doesn’t go well, but mostly our discouragement after the sermon is a matter of the heart.

Nothing of consequence goes unchallenged.

Naming the Struggles

So we are going to start with heart issues. First, I want to give you the opportunity to simply recognize some struggles by name. There is great value in naming things, in being able to say, “Yes, that is what I struggle with.”

I have a distinct memory of lying in my bed next to my wife. I was reading and she was over here scribbling something. I didn’t even know what she was doing, but she was writing. And after a half an hour of this I heard my wife’s little voice, “Well, there’s the truth of it.”

For that half-hour she was trying to name a particular battle of her heart. And she was taking the time to put it in words. There is value in naming and defining struggles specifically. And then after I heard her say, “Well, there is the truth of it,” I heard her say, “And for this Christ died.” She was preaching the gospel to herself, and taking the time to get clarity on a heart issue.

First, I want us to name things so that we are not dealing with fuzzy emotions or experiences that are hard to deal with if we don’t identify them. Second, I want to equip you with weapons to fight with, to wield the word with reference to these heart issues.

Heart Battles in Sermon Preparation

This session was a very interesting session to prepare. It required reflection, the kind of reflection we ought to be doing all the time. These struggles grow out of my own analysis of my own experience and I suspect that there is going to be, to some degree, a correspondence with your experience as well. So here are some things I want to share with you, and mostly bring God’s word and its ability to speak, convict, instruct, and encourage us.

Listen to these quotes in light of sermon preparation.

Bruce Theileman writes, “The pulpit calls those anointed to it as the sea calls its sailors; and like the sea, it batters and bruises, and does not rest. To preach, to really preach, is to die naked a little at a time and then to know each time you do it that you must do it again.” In fact, real soon.

You can get yourself worked up into a lather. On Saturday night you start thinking, “I got to do this again in eight days, and then again in 15.” And you can really get yourself worked up because you have got to keep doing this. Sundays are relentless. They are like waves on a beach. They just keep coming.

I have come to value this other quote as well. E.M. Bounds writes, “Life-giving preaching costs the preacher much—death to self, crucifixion to the world, the travail of his own soul. Crucified preaching only can give life. Crucified preaching can come only from one who has been crucified.”

Now I want you to think of these quotes in terms of your sermon preparation because it’s in sermon preparation where the real dying happens. It is in sermon preparation where the real travail takes place. Therefore it’s in sermon preparation where the greatest heart challenges are experienced. It is not that there are none happening when you are actually preaching. But it’s amazing what goes on emotionally and psychologically and spiritually (even moments of inexplicable terror) in sermon preparation.

The Five Heart Challenges

We need to pay attention to these words of Solomon: “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23). And it’s from the heart flow the springs of your preaching, too.

As we look at these challenges know that these grow out of my own reflection. I recognize I am not alone. So even though this is somewhat idiosyncratic, I believe this is going to apply to all of you and I believe the challenges (in some form) are common.

I have organized five challenges from the least to the greatest, although I suspect that some of you will find one or two of these as your greatest. So don’t automatically take my ordering of these as reflective of your situation as well.

And just an encouraging note here, guys. I have seen growth in every one of these five challenges over the past 10 years. I am so grateful for that. And even though there is a little bit of reluctance in saying that (I am not taking any credit for it), I want you to be encouraged by the fact that there is growth, evident growth in each one of these. So do not give in to helplessness.

1. LAZINESS VS. HAPPY LABOR

In any important work, there is a temptation to avoid the work—and especially when the task is a multifaceted type of task (like preaching). Preaching is not a simple thing. There are multiple levels and that itself can induce a little trepidation because you might be good at one dimension and not at another. So it is not just a challenging task, an important work, but a multi-layered work that demands all sorts of things from you. And because of that there can be a temptation to avoid the work.

As a student at Trinity, I have a distinct memory of hearing someone say, “Pastoral ministry is a place where lazy men can hide.” And for some reason I saw the truth of that and I saw the potential of that for myself. It scared me. It scared me then and that possibility scares me now. Pastoral ministry is a place where lazy men can hide.

In the face of this there must be a conscious purposing to work, to labor, to find a certain Pauline purposefulness—“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed” (1 Corinthians 15:10-11).

Or think of what Paul said to Timothy—“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). Notice the emphasis in this verse. Paul does not content himself with making this point once. Or later—“Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you” (1 Timothy 4:13-14). To “devote yourself,” of course, doesn’t mean to try them but to do them with regularity.

I’m reading through Preach the Word: Essays on Expository Preaching: In Honor of R. Kent Hughes (Crossway, 2007) and John MacArthur has an essay on this topic. Listen to what he says.

“Since nothing is as important as the word, no energy expended by anyone in any field should surpass the effort of an expositor seeking to rightly divide the word. Yet this is too seldom the case as Jay Adams correctly observes, “I have had the opportunity to hear much preaching over the last few years, some very good, some mediocre, most very bad. What is the problem with preaching? There is no one problem, of course. But if there is one thing that stands out most, perhaps it is the problem I mentioned today. What I am about to say might not strike you as being as specific as other things I have written, yet I believe it is at the bottom of a number of other difficulties. My point is that good preaching demands hard work. From listening to sermons and from talking to hundreds of preachers about preaching, I am convinced that the basic reason for poor preaching is the failure to spend adequate time and energy in preparation. Many preachers, perhaps most, simply don’t work long enough on their sermons.”

Or consider this pastoral evaluation of a young minister who has just been visited by John Wesley. Get this picture in your mind. Wesley has gone on his circuit, having established a church, and now he is going around listening to the young preachers who have been placed into pulpit ministry. He hears one particular young man preach and then goes home and writes a letter that includes this paragraph.

“What has exceedingly hurt you in time past, nay, and I fear to this day, is want of study. I scarce ever knew a preacher who read so little. And perhaps, by neglecting it, you have lost the taste for it. Hence your talent in preaching does not increase. It is just the same as it was seven years ago. It is lively, but not deep; there is little variety; there is no compass of thought. Study only can supply this, with meditation and daily prayer. O, begin! Fix some part of every day for private exercise. You may acquire the taste which you have not: what is tedious at first, will afterward be pleasant. It is for your life; there is no other way; else you will be a trifler all your days, and a pretty, superficial preacher. Do justice to your own soul; give it time and means to grow. Do not starve yourself any longer. Take up your cross and be a Christian altogether. Then will all the children of God rejoice (not grieve) over you.”

How would you like to receive that evaluation?
So, guys, with reference to this first heart challenge of laziness, purpose to roll up

your sleeves and get to work. Don’t be afraid to work. Learn to love work.
The contradistinction to laziness is happy labor. We introduced this phrase into our

life as a church a couple of years ago when preaching through Romans chapter six talking about sanctification. It is work, but it is a good work. It is a happy work. So is it with preaching. And you will find much of the time, once you dive in, it turns to very happy labor. But if it is always a chore, guys, I think you should reconsider your calling.

2. SELF-PITY VS. JOY

I think all of us to some degree or another are tempted to self-pity. I remember early on when the waves of the constantly recurring Sunday would be sinking in, I would find myself driving on Saturday morning to the place where I study, and seeing all the men out doing what men do on Saturdays. All of the sudden mowing the lawn looked really attractive. I wanted to do that. Or I would park next to somebody at the stop light see a father with a son, and I would think, “I think he is going to Home Depot. I could be going to Home Depot.” All of the sudden there was this, “I want to fix that door that I haven’t wanted to fix for three months.” Whatever they were doing, I wanted to be doing it. And it was a form of self-pity.

Later in the week the temptation became stronger to go into the office with the intention of just quickly getting something and three hours later I’d still be in the office. There were phone calls that came in and emails that needed immediate response.

Now, I recognize these tendencies differ from what I am going to share with you from Acts. I am arguing from the greater to the lesser because if it is true here, how much more should it be true with something that is not quite as taxing as persecution.

... they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.” Acts 5:40-42

There ought to be a sense of privilege to our labor. To help us, meditate upon 2 Corinthians 4:7-15. You know the context there, where Paul is perplexed and distraught, but then he answers in each case. Read and reflect on Paul’s responses.

If at some point the joyfulness over your privilege in preaching doesn’t kick in, likely there is self-pity that needs to be addressed.

3. MANIPULATION OF SCRIPTURE VS. INTEGRITY

There is a strong temptation—sometimes a remarkably strong temptation—to suit texts to your purposes. Sometimes there will be a temptation to suit a whole message to your purposes. More often you will find moments in your preaching where you will want to make a text do for you what it’s not intended to do.

I don’t think I have ever prepared a sermon where at some point I don’t face that particular temptation of wanting the word to suit a particular purpose or a particular trajectory.

I get a sense that something is not right. For me it registers in the gut. I feel some dissonance. Guys, pay attention to that. Ask, “Why am I feeling uncomfortable right now?” Well, it is because you are doing something you ought not to be doing. It is your conscience kicking in. And you have got to stop and pay attention to that dissonance.

Listen to Lloyd-Jones from his book Preaching and Preachers (which should be on your short list of books to read).

“I well remember the first time I heard a certain famous preacher on the radio. He told us that he was going to preach on turning the place of your crucifixion into a garden. One wondered immediately as to the possible source of that theme. He soon told us that his text was to be found at the beginning of the 18th chapter of John’s gospel where we read, ‘In the place where he was crucified there was a garden.’ That was what the text said. But, you see, the sermon was on turning the place of your crucifixion into a garden. But there was nothing about that in the text. There was a garden there. The garden was there before the crucifixion. It was not the crucifixion that produced the garden. However, in order to give himself the opportunity of preaching a very sentimental sermon about how people suffering from illnesses could and should react to their trial, he did violence to his text. He told us that good people who took it in a beautiful spirit and never grumbled and never complained turned their place of crucifixion into a garden. We were then treated to a series of affecting sentimental stories of such people for about 25 minutes to a half an hour. Now there is only one thing to say about this. That is utter dishonesty.”

In fact, in the same context he uses a much stronger word for it—“prostitution.” We may be motivated to address a certain situation in the congregation or (even worse) to make our sermons look better. Lloyd-Jones continues,

“We must be honest with our texts; and we must take them always in their context. That is an absolute rule. These other men do not observe that; they are not interested in that, they are always looking for ‘ideas.’ They want a theme, an idea; and then they philosophise on that, giving expression to their own thoughts and moralising. That is utterly to abuse the Word of God.”

I recognize the situation to which Lloyd-Jones refers is a bit extreme, but the temptation is very real. We need to seriously consider the warning in 2 Corinthians 4:2—“But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.”

However frequently you preach, there remains a temptation to tamper with the word of God. We can read 2 Corinthians 4:2 and conclude, “Nope, I don’t do that.” But we need to ask ourselves the question: What does tampering with God’s word look like for me? Or, where am I tempted to tamper with God’s word?

We are talking about a trust issue. Paul says, “by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience.” By your handling of God’s word you build trust in your people. And that trust can be compromised. Most of pastoral ministry is about trust. The trust that takes so long to cultivate is so easy to break by tampering with the word of God. And the little trust you think you gain by tampering with God’s word is nothing compared to the quiet, steady building of trust by an open statement of the truth.

4. PRIDE VS. “CONTEMPT OF PRAISE”

These last two struggles are the big ones. The first three are real. Laziness is real. Self-pity is real. Manipulation of Scripture is real. But I think we take a quantum leap from three to four.

So now we reach pride. I recognize it is a huge category and I am thinking of a particular form of pride here—the desire for recognition. I don’t know what was behind that guy’s comment who said, “The greatest challenge I face is the discouragement after I preach.” But I know for me, behind that statement would be pride—the desire to be recognized, to get some credit, to be acknowledged. There is a remarkably strong and, I think, a remarkably persistent temptation to want some recognition, some credit, some acknowledgement. And this usually comes after you have been preaching for a few years.

Usually, during your first year or so of preaching, you are occupied with looking for feedback. It’s not as if this heart issue isn’t operating, but it’s after you have been preaching for a while that this particular sin starts to kick in. You begin desiring to be recognized as responsible for the change happening in the church. Something unusual is happening in a person’s life, and you want to know that that somehow this change is the product of your preaching. There is a great desire to be recognized by your people, by your peers, and by those who lead you.

Listen to this bluntly realistic assessment from John Chrysostom. It captures preaching in a nutshell.

“It is impossible to acquire this power [of preaching] except by these two qualities: contempt of praise and the force of eloquence. If either is lacking, the one left is made useless through divorce from the other. If a preacher despises praise, yet does not produce the kind of preaching which is ‘with grace, seasoned with salt,’ he is despised by the people and gets no advantage from his humility....”

Let me translate that into familiar language—it’s impossible to acquire power in preaching, except by these two qualities: humility and a preaching gift. If one is lacking, the other is made useless through a divorce from the other. If a preacher is really humble and he despises praise, yet doesn’t produce the kind of preaching seasoned with salt, he is despised by the people and gets no advantage from his humility. In other words, you might be the most humble guy in the world, but if you can’t preach there is no sense in just being humble in the pulpit.

However, Chrysostom continues.

“... And if he manages this side of things perfectly well, but is a slave to the sound of applause, again an equal damage threatens both him and his people, because through his passion for praise he aims to speak more for the pleasure than the profit of his hearers.”

Now in battling this, nothing has been more instrumental for me than Paul’s words: “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself” (1 Corinthians 4:3). Another translation has it, “It matters little to me.” That is the phrase that I have put in my heart. That phrase is a weapon for me. Paul says, “I am not even controlled by my own evaluation of myself.” Think about that for a moment. My assessment of myself is virtually as irrelevant as the assessment of anyone else. “It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart” (vv. 4, 5).

Now here is another little phrase that I use as a weapon. One word—“Then.” Not now, but “Then each one will receive his commendation from God” (v. 5).

From the beginning of this chapter in Corinthians, categories of stewardship, faithfulness, and the approval of God are all built around God’s perspective. This will help you to remain fully invested in the task, while sitting very loosely to yourself. That is hard to do. But this perspective will help because you can’t solve the problem by just withdrawing. So the way to solve the problem is by preaching 1 Corinthians 4:3-5 to yourself.

For clarity, I want to unpack a couple of things.

First, when Paul says, “It is a very small thing,” he doesn’t say, “I don’t give a rip what you think.” Paul is not removing himself completely from human accountability. As Christians we are instructed to walk in integrity and pastors are instructed to maintain a good reputation so our conduct adorns the gospel. But here Paul speaks of what I call the virtual irrelevancy of human praise.

Secondly, Paul is not assuming a full acquittal. A clear conscience is a wonderful thing. There is a sweet serenity and energy in having a clear conscience. But Paul still recognizes that though he is not aware of anything against himself, he is not thereby acquitted. He is not elevating anyone’s opinion of himself (including his own) because it’s not reliable and, more importantly, it carries no authority.

So what is the liberating truth that sets us free from wrongly elevating what others think of us? It is right there. God is the one I answer to. What counts is God’s evaluation. So Paul says, verse five, “Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God” (v. 5).

One day—both as believers and as pastors—we will stand before God. Before long, guys, this life is done. It is a vaporous breath compared to eternity. And on that day when this short little life ends, eternity will stretch out forever in front of our eyes and the only thing that will matter is God’s opinion.

Success is faithfulness

Success is faithfulness. Draw an equation between those. Success is faithfulness and that is what God is looking at. What a sobering truth!

But what I want you to see this morning is that this truth is not just sobering—it is also liberating. There is a marvelous freedom in those who don’t live for the approval of others because they are focused on their accountability to God.

Let’s be clear. If you are in Christ you are standing before God on that day. God’s acceptance and his love for you is absolutely secure. The Bible is clear. But faithful stewardship is expected from “each one” (v. 5). Stewards are required to be found faithful to the call of God. And the wonderful thing is that when we live under this truth, God helps us to be faithful. What marvelous freedom! This truth will help you work hard as a faithful steward every day and sleep like a baby at night, not consumed with what other people think about you.

5. UNBELIEF VS. BELIEF

Finally—and the greatest heart challenge, I believe—is the issue of unbelief versus simple belief.

Men, this is a weekly battle you will fight until you die. We can grow here, and I mentioned at the outset I am thankful for growth. God has been so kind. But God will never bring you to a place in this lifetime where the exercise of faith is not necessary.

Now I’m very encouraged by the fact that you don’t need a lot of faith. I love the image of a gear—your faith as a gear. You might have a tiny little gear. Or you might have a bigger gear through years of walking with Christ, praying, and reading your Bible. But God’s grace is an even bigger gear. See, the size of your gear is not the most important factor. All that matters is that your gear is engaged with the gear of God’s grace. Unbelief disengages. So whether your gear is tiny or huge, just make sure it’s engaged.

I remember at a leadership conference Mark Dever preached on the first chapter of Ezekiel. At the end of that message Mark used a sentence that, when I first heard it, my eyes opened in shock. Mark said, “someday we can throw aside this wretched faith.” And I thought, “This sounds kind of blasphemous. This wretched faith?” A moment later I realized he was comparing faith with sight. We will see in the future, now we walk by sight.

We must exercise faith in two areas—during sermon preparation and in the preaching event.

Faith in Sermon Preparation

First, you must exercise faith in your sermon preparation because every Sunday you will come to a point where you face a wall. You will either think, “I must choose another text,” or “I wonder if so-and-so can preach this Sunday?” Or you will struggle with the question, “Am I even called?”

Of course, the futility of that is if you go to another text you are just going to have the same experience, but with a lot less time to deal with it. These are places you must push through by faith.

There will come a moment, a crisis of faith. And here you still have to exercise faith. By standing on particular theological convictions about the objectivity of God’s word, you can exercise your faith. He said something and he intends this truth for the good of his people. And by the way, he called you to speak it. These are all theological convictions upon which you stand to exercise your faith with reference to sermon preparation.

Faith in the Preaching Event

Secondly, we need faith for the preaching event. Regularly we will be faced with situations like Ezekiel faced when the sovereign Lord took him down into that valley with all those dry bones and said, “Son of man, can these bones live?” (see Ezekiel 37:1-14).

What would you have said? “I don’t think so.” Ezekiel actually speaks in a way that is very diplomatic. “Only you know, sovereign Lord.” The rest of that passage is a wonderful instruction for your heart in preaching. Not only does God say, “Speak,” but then Ezekiel gets the privilege of watching the bodies come together. But they are still dead and God says, “Keep preaching. Prophesy to the wind.” And then the breath comes in and they come to life and form a mighty army. The word of the Lord accomplished this. What a great reminder.

Another passage I regularly call to my mind is Isaiah 55:10-11.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

I think this passage is the clearest statement of the efficacy of God’s word in Scripture. I love the expanding of that metaphor to build your faith. What a great thing to remind yourself as you are walking up to the pulpit—“but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

What does belief look like? I think faith in preaching takes the form of peace, the absence of anxiety. And I think it will also take the form of trust which takes the form of ardent, expectant prayer all throughout your sermon preparation and in special desperation as you step up to the pulpit.

We have recently been singing as a church the song “Speak, O Lord” by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. Our church started singing this several months ago, and I want to sing this every Sunday because it gives our people a chance to pray what you have been praying all week long—“Words of pow’r that can never fail; let their truth prevail over unbelief.”

Things I Have Found Particularly Helpful

Let me end with a few things I’ve found particularly helpful in battling these heart challenges. I’ve broken them down organizationally, strategically and spiritually.

1. Organizational: Rhythm of weekly preparation

The first is organizational. Establish a rhythm of weekly preparation and prioritize long- range planning. I will develop one entire chapter on each of these areas, but I just want to mention them in this context because I’ve found them to be helpful not just in getting the work done, but also in battling these heart challenges. I think failure to establish a rhythm of weekly preparation will regularly put you in a place of vulnerability. You are going to be tired. Spurgeon’s Lectures To My Students includes a chapter titled, “The Minister’s Fainting Fits.” At first this chapter title gives me images of an English woman fainting. But Spurgeon is talking about faintheartedness, what he calls “soul trouble.” In that chapter he gives five reasons why you will experience this and six occasions when you will experience this (and many of those have to do with the work in preparation). So if you don’t have a rhythm of weekly preparation you will put yourself in a position of vulnerability to these heart issues. This lack will tempt you with every one of the heart challenges. It will tempt you to laziness. It will tempt you to self-pity. It will tempt you to manipulation. It will tempt you to pride (although your pride in this case will take the form of fear) and it will tempt you to unbelief.

So be organized and disciplined with your time. Be tenacious about this. I think C.J. said “fiercely guard” this. Block out your sermon preparation time and then use it. God himself has asked you to devote yourself to this. Don’t neglect your study and your preparation.

2. Strategic: Take retreats

The second is strategic. Take retreats. Take them for the refreshment of your soul. Take them for soaking in God’s word. Take them for focused planning. Take them for personal evaluation. I try to include all four of these priorities in my retreats.

And if one of these five heart issues brings conviction, I would encourage you on your next retreat to set aside some time to address that issue. Likely you will not get everything solved in one retreat, but you must take time to articulate the struggle and then discover where God’s word speaks. Then you can meditate on God’s word with reference to that struggle and receive the ministry of God by his Spirit.

You must get out in front in your planning. You have got to get out in front in terms of anticipating implications of your preaching. You have got to get out in front in your praying. You have got to get out in front in your believing. And I think you have got to get out in front in your fighting.

I cannot recommend highly enough the practice of strategic retreats. For the last nine years I don’t know of any other practical thing that has been greater fuel than this rhythm of retreats. I commend them to you.

3. Spiritual: Specific spiritual mechanisms to battle temptation

The third is spiritual. Adopt and employ specific spiritual mechanisms to battle your temptations.

Know your challenges. So you read a chapter like this and you might say, “Yeah, that is my struggle.” Or maybe you take some time to discover other personal struggles. I am just encouraging you to know yourself. Don’t let these things be fuzzy internal experiences. Take some time to identify, name, and articulate the struggle.

Now, let’s keep in mind David Powlison’s message from the last leadership conference on over-introspection.3 I was so encouraged by this message and his statement that getting to the heart issue takes about three minutes to discern. You don’t need to labor long to get at the root of your sin. Don’t labor your whole retreat in trying to discover the heart issue. But don’t skip this stage either.

Know what weapons need to be wielded. This is where your growing grasp of God’s word will serve you as you continue through your Christian life, reading Scripture over and over again. Weapons are going to be put in your hands. Particularly identify the truth that speaks to your temptation and speak it. Take your thoughts captive. Let God’s word do its work of renewing your mind.

I find that immediate results may not be noticeable, but I can testify over time that God’s truth reshapes your thinking. And so rehearse, “it matters little to me ... it matters little to me... it matters little to me.” Some people will accuse you of brainwashing yourself. I have never ever heard a person accuse a fifth grader who is memorizing the multiplication tables of brainwashing. Never. Why? Because it’s true and really useful. The same thing with God’s word—it’s true and remarkably useful. So use it.

Use every battle as an opportunity for growth. Don’t just win the battle. You can have a collection of independent fights without gaining momentum. So leverage the battle for the next time. Husband the opportunity. Make sure you are not just helping yourself in the moment, but you are building momentum for the next battle.

Let me give you an example. Let’s say you struggle with unbelief. Once again you find yourself thinking, “God, I just don’t think anything is going to happen tomorrow when I preach.” And then God shows himself faithful. Now if you don’t build something with that, if you don’t put that somewhere, you’ll be exactly in the same place next week with no ground gained. Rather say, “God, you have shown yourself to be faithful once again. Forgive me. Here is another opportunity and, Lord, I think next time I will be less inclined to doubt you. Help me to remember this.”

A Workman Approved by God: Transcripts from the 2008 Pastors College Preaching Conference Copyright © 2008 by Sovereign Grace Ministries