Book of the Month

I have heard stories from Spurgeon to Jim Cymbala about the effectiveness of their preaching being directly related to the prayers of their church members. I think that there is truth to this line of thinking. God, through prayer, inflames the affections of His people with with His own passion. Because God has seen fit to reveal Himself through the folly of preaching, He works into His saints a love for preaching. We should then expect to be a people who pray for our pastors and their sermon each week.

That brings me to the book of the month this month. "Praying for Sunday" by Dr. Michael Fabarez is a challenging little book. In it we are exhorted to pray earnestly for the transformational proclamation and eager reception of God's Word each and every Sunday. Bryan Chapell, President of Covenant Theological Seminary, says "When God's people pray for their pastor to be equipped for such moments, then preaching becomes something truly supernatural. The preacher will be strengthened by such prayer, and the people will hear sermons as they have never before have."

So this is not just a book for my benefit, as the Pastor, but for the entire congregation. My hope is that every member of our church would get a copy of "Praying for Sunday" an put it into practice. We will be a deeper, healthy, more mature, in love with Jesus, preaching loving church for it.