Jamaica Preaching Course
Johnis Burton is student from Jamaica taking preaching at Christian Leaders Institute. This Jamaica preaching course ends with a reflection what he learned. This is his reflection:
By: andresumida
The weeks of training in different skills areas and the formulation of sermons have brought a whole new rage of concepts and ideas to mind. The art of constructing a proper sermon is dependent on the individual for one, the type of people that we are target to get the message across and the varieties of format style that can be used to present the message. The information presented in this class have open new avenue to something that I have never done before and so all the knowledge that I have gathered have become useful for future reference.
I have learnt the different types of sermon that are available and how they are used depending on your audience or your preference. These different type of sermons approach ranges from topical, exegetical, expository, testimonial etc. I have also grasped the idea that Jesus’ ministry was one in which His parching style uses illustrations and stories to reach and appeal to the mind of the wider sect. This is a form of preaching that may appeal to people who sees and remember thing by such means. Examples of this preaching style was demonstrated if further weeks using power points to drive the message home.
An effective sermon presents a problem and gives solution that will help. When the audience see that there is a problem and a solution is forth coming they will listen to the end of the entire sermon. Sermon construction teaches how to introduce a problem to your audience who might not even have a problem until you present one. People who go to church go there to find spiritual guidance or for a peace of mind. They are searching for love and a sort of carefree comfort that will allow them to forget about the care of the world at least for a few hours. And so presenting them with a problem (may be theirs) will help them to see that through God all things are possible. The elements that can help to introduce a problem are: The fallen condition focus; an illustration that makes you audience feel the fallen condition; the propositional statement. With these three key elements the preacher can set the stage for the sermon and in doing so may help someone who is in desperate need of a word. As the weeks progresses I started to understand more to the point that preaching takes more than meet the eyes. Preaching and sermon construction is something that take focus on our part and the intervention of the Holy Spirit to write and deliver the message but most of all the Holy Spirit have to open the hearts of the audience to receive the message. This is where prayer, fasting, and the skills associated with speaking techniques comes into play. CLI does a great job by incorporate this method into almost each class to help learner to understand the importance of speaking when presenting a sermon. Even though it can be used in whatever speaking occasion may arise. The speaking and presentation techniques that Karen Friedman and Andrew Bryant presents was clear cut and brought new insight to how a presentation should be done in order to capture and engage your listeners.
Jamaica Preaching Course Video Reflections
There was one video presentation by John Piper that spoke to me as he dealt with the outlines of what Expository Exultation is and how to use them effectively. According to Piper the aim of this exposition is to help you eat and digest biblical truth that will:
- make your spiritual bones more like steel
- double the capacity of your spiritual lungs
- make the eyes of your heart dazzled with the brightness of the glory of God
- and awaken the capacity of your soul for kinds of spiritual enjoyment you don’t even know existed.
There were a few other videos that showed parching style along with sermon format. One such was the preaching style that made it seems like one is singing (whooping). Funny enough I have heard it before but didn’t know what it really was. The bottom line though of all this is that it is suggesting that it not necessarily about the styles of preaching but the individual bringing the message. The focus is not of the man that gives the message but from who the message is originated – which is God.
It then dawned on me that this (sermon construction) takes more work than I thought. In the first place there is a level of thought that have to be put in to come up with what sermon is to be preached on Sunday. Not a sermon with the frills and cosmetic touches that is beautiful and no effect but one directed by the word of God that will ministers to the hearts of the hearers. The next step is to begin the sermon. According to Henry Reyenga to begin a sermon one must adhere to these three simple guidelines: The word of God; Does the message come out of the truth of your own walk? Is it true to you? With these simple guideline one can begin to formulate a sermon that for the most part be a testimony of your life or in my case my life. The message must be taken by you/me before it can be taken by others. I have realized that people identify with someone when they have been there or down that path. Do you believe what you are preaching or saying? Have you even been to the doctors and he/she proscribes medication for you in hopes that you would take it according to the correct dosages? If yes I believe then that is how a pastor should minister to his/her congregation who for the most part be spiritual sick and need a dose of spiritual Madison.
The anticipation of constructing a sermon got heighten as I begin to grasp the concepts needed to set a foundation of a well-organized sermon. There was more to learn and it would take the commitment of a child of God to venture in to that aspect of kingdom building. The type of kingdom building that would need keys to making a good sermon. Professor Michael Regness gave seven essential keys to a good sermon. These keys are:
- A good sermon engages the biblical text
- A good sermon proclaimed the gospel
- A good sermon connects God’s word to the lives of God’s people
- A good sermon is well organized and easy to understand
- A good sermon engages the imagination of the hearer
- A good sermon is delivered well
- A good sermon orients hearers to life in God’s world
These keys make a sort of personal connection between speaker and listeners. That sort of delivery that make the listener feel like they are the one God is speaking to (in most case whether good or bad) yet is speaks and appeals to all who listens.
This class even though challenging gave me a new perspective. The learning outcome was appropriately design to capture my creativity and intellectual engagement towards the different methods and skills needed to construct a great sermon.
Whether you are in Jamaica or somewhere else, enroll at CLI. After you take the getting started class you can enroll in this preaching course.
Sweden once was alive with Christianity. Belief in God was commonplace. Today less than 10% of the population confidently believe there is a God. (Ann Arbor News Report) While many immigrants to Sweden hold to their belief in God, Swedish nationals are becoming more and more secular.
Some Swedish nationals are staying firm in their belief in God and are called to become pastors and leaders. God can use these leaders to bring revival to Sweden.
Biblical Education is needed in Sweden!
Much of the clergy training in Sweden is even shifting away from theological training (Christianity Today). Biblical education is becoming rare in Sweden. In this setting, students like Mats Jonsson are looking for Biblical education.
Mats Jonsson is a follower of Jesus Christ. He is married to Sarah. Together they have one son named Linus. He’s called to minister in Malmo, Sweden.
Mats Jonsson has sought Biblical education online at Christian Leaders Institute. Here is his story.
“I a volunteer as an Assistant Pastor/Leader for an international Christian Fellowship for more than 7 years now and I love the diversity in our community but a diversity unified in the love in Jesus Christ.
“We live in the very south part of Sweden in an area which is one of the most secularized parts of Sweden. Around 30% of the people living in Malmo, the third biggest city, are foreign. Mainly people from Denmark, Irak, Bosnia, and Polen, but overall 171 nations are represented in Malmo. Many of these people are coming from Muslim countries, have never heard of the Gospel, are coming from horrible backgrounds, war and conflicts. It is hard reaching these people but we are doing what we can, reaching out, building bridges, connecting.
“My ministry dream is to continue to grow in the knowledge of God in order to be able to help, guide and mentor people in our community.
“I want to continue to build bridges from our ministry/church out into the the society and then create pathways back to our fellowship, I dream and hope to do that here in Sweden or at any other place on earth God wants us to go.”
Biblical education is very important to Mats. Mats wants to use his Biblical education to be prepared to lead in the planting of churches and fellowships.
Mats says, “We, as a family, want more than ever not only to plant churches/fellowships but also to ‘be’ the church. I want to continue to study and get educated to make sure I have a good and strong knowledge in the word of God and get equipped so that I can be able to face the many challenges on the way.”
Mats found the Lord through his wife. His wife brought him to a church that preached Christ as Savior and Lord.
“I was drawn in to the ministry and got saved through my wife. She was the one who took me to church and showed me the way many years ago.”
Now together they are growing in Christ. Mats is getting the Biblical education online that he needs to prepare himself to lead others to the Lord. He is also being prepared to plant churches and bring revival to the nation of Sweden.
Note From Henry Reyenga, President of Christian Leaders Institute (CLI):
The spirit of revival was in the air in 2006. That is the year CLI began offering free online Biblical training. The Azusa Street Revival included peoples from many nations. CLI is raising leaders for an international revival back to God. Thanks Dr. James J. Zoblisien for his submission of this wonderful eye witness account of the Azusa Street Revival.
Azusa Street Revival
by Dr. James J. Zobisien
By: James Cridland
Many out there that I have encountered has asked if the Holy Spirit is still effective as it was in the upper room during the Pentecost outpouring. We tend to see the devastation that is around us and lose focus about the power and the authority that we have through the Holy Spirit and question about God’s sovereignty. Unless you experience the Holy Spirit it would seem impossible to understand His magnificent presence and glory. The characteristic of the Holy Spirit doesn’t alter through out time, only that born of flesh is able to change.
Now, it has been some time since that day I attended the Azusa Street Revival in 2006 located in Las Angeles California, but the memories of that week is still refreshed in my heart and mind like it was yesterday. I can relate to those who were in that upper room with the disciples when the Holy Spirit descended upon the one hundred and twenty that was gathered in one accord. There sat upon them was a life changing experience…and so was for me. The Holy Spirit is at work for all of us today as He was the day of Pentecost.
We need to allow the presence and the anointing of the Holy Spirit to work in each of our lives that we can enjoy all what God has in store for us upon this earth. There are those who live out their lives traveling throughout the world hoping to experience something miraculous, where I had the opportunity in one week. Allow me to share with you that time I encountered the world.
Azusa Street Revival
1 When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it
filled the whole house where they were sitting.
3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as
the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4 NKJV)
It has been many years since the last Pentecostal movement I attended back in 2006 in Los Angeles California during the Azusa Street Revival. I became a witness of one in thousand individuals who partaken this incredible mass movement.
This is the event that I had experienced and observed with my own eyes the week of the Azusa Street Revival Centennial in Los Angeles, a life-changing experience that has dramatically altered and transformed me into a different person in Christ. It was a week when the whole world united under one house (they were all with one accord in one place-verse 1), for one purpose.
This event brought thousands of people from different parts of the world gathering together in harmony, each searching what others crave with their lives. It was a time when the world put aside their differences in which your color, denomination, clothing, style, language, or origin did not matter. I was amazed to witness south meets north, east meets west, in agreement with people they never came into contact with before in their entire lives. All people from different continents came under one agenda, to seek out the same Pentecostal movement, that spiritual awakening, which first started in the upper-room in Jerusalem that later took place with one man named William Seymour.
Since the last out-pouring of the Holy Spirit that started one hundred years ago on the streets of Azusa in the year of 1906, many individuals have searched frantically for revival to come into existence, starting with their church, reaching through their cities eventually throughout the world. As I have read and seen many books that offer ways that lead into this great outpouring I have noticed that people waiting for revival will keep searching and waiting for maybe another one-hundred years. God said, “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh” (Joel 2:28). I feel that Christians today are looking to far and to hard for revival promises and the Spirit to be poured out and just claim what the Word of God declares. The same Pentecostal movement does not have to be put off or wait another century which the world can experience the here and now. William Seymour stated, “The Lord Jesus is ready to fill the hungry, thirsty soul. Receive Him and He will fill you.” Could it be that simple and all we need is a hungry and thirsty soul to be filled by the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit and be willing to receive?
It was that first meeting of a Tuesday morning that we all congregated at the Los Angeles Convention Center to start our journey not only back in time but also for a renewal. Thousands assembled with their Christian family and joined in unity simultaneously as if all were closely knitted together. Hands from Russia joined with those from Africa, Asia with Canada and the United States linked with those from Iran. Rage of hate and anger was being replaced with embraces of love and encouragement. It’s as if heaven came down and rested right on earth and there was final peace between all of mankind. All hands extended towards heaven, praising and worshipping the true and living God, to the Almighty, the Ancient of Days. Voices rang out in harmony as if hymns of angels were being proclaimed saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Who was and is and is to come!” (Rev 4:8). Reverence to the Father was rising from the children of God as if where a sweet fragrance that engulfed all of heaven from the “Altar of Praise”. I felt like God was observing from heaven, looking down upon His children and gleamed with delight as if He Himself was waiting for this time in eagerness.
Tears that rolled down the faces of many burdened people where not of anguish due to opposition but of peace, hope, and the pure and holy love of God. Afflictions were being lifted, souls surrendering, nations being restored because of the lives being totally transformed in an instant from the old self to the new, due to the Power of the Holy Spirit.
The first sermon delivered on that blissful California morning, pertained to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit Himself anointed and took rest upon the guest speaker as he delivered this powerful homily that created raves of cheer that echoed throughout the Convention center. Many relished as the air thickened with the presence of the Most Holy One (and it filled the whole house where they were sitting), weaving in and out of each person that was willing and hungry to receive. Nations burst into tongues that were unfamiliar to their primitive language (Then there appeared to them divided tongues) that only the Spirit could decipher. Different cultures were hearing their own language spoken by those from another continent, distant from their own country or nation. It was language that was created and ordained only by God that would fill His ears with splendor.
People from the world came to repentance as they wept under the weight of their sins as the Holy Spirit brought upon strong convictions. They were of young and old age, strong men of statue to fragile children who felt their hearts being beckoned back to the “Old Rugged Cross.” Besides the miracle of salvation, in one day there were three hundred people that received Baptism in that Pentecostal Holy Spirit. Others who have witnessed this miraculous event realized how it felt on that day in the upper room as well with William Seymour in that old house that now resides only the memories of past historical events.
That whole week of the Azusa Street Revival was filled with life changing, spirit filled sermons, inspirational worship that took all to different heights, and lectures from inspirational people who took you out of your seats to a newer pinnacle. Thousands hit the streets to be a witness of our Lord Jesus Christ daily to win the souls who where once in a lost and dying city. Los Angeles had no idea that it would be changed, transformed from the hand and grace of the Almighty God. The fog that once hovered over Los Angeles was replaced by the awesome and powerful presence of the Holy Spirit.
The world would soon be submerged in the Pentecostal revival as each countryman/woman takes what they have encountered back to their nation thanks to one mans desire for a Pentecostal movement in a small house who dwelt people with a hungry heart.
On a personal note, I myself will never be the same as I traveled the world in one week meeting the people that I will soon spend eternity with. I touched all seven continents of the world in this short week as we all were engulfed in the continual presence of the Supreme God. The nations had one interest, one desire to either bring earth closer to heaven or heaven closer to earth. I feel as though both were successful. If this is just a touch of heaven that I have encountered then I can’t wait for the real thing. My only prayer is that I hope that revival doesn’t stop where it ended but starts where it began.
It was an event that will remain in my mind as well in my heart for the rest of my life.
You can contact Dr. James Zoblisien for any details concerning this article.
Dr. James J. Zoblisien
Emmanuel Ministries International
Preparingyourway@gmail.com
(716) 206-8441