The Expositor’s Life

Before you preach, you must live before God. These articles encourage a life of prayer, holiness, humility, and love — the inner life of the pastor that shapes all ministry.

Holy Awe

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The Expositor’s Life

Holy Awe

Why the preacher must guard a trembling joy before the God who speaks.

Faithful Ministry
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By An Expositor

The closer we draw to Advent, the louder the world becomes. Yet for the expositor, these weeks invite not frenzy but awe—a renewed trembling before the wonder of the God who took on flesh. Preachers need more than clever outlines and polished delivery. We need holy awe.

The Quiet Disappearing of Awe

Ministry can make us efficient but empty. The relentless pace of preaching, pastoral care, administration, and spiritual burdens can slowly diminish our sense of wonder. We grow accustomed to holy things. Familiarity becomes a kind of dullness.

There is a danger here. When awe evaporates, preaching becomes mechanical. The pulpit becomes a place we perform rather than a place where we tremble. We handle the Bible with professional confidence instead of reverent joy. The loss is not only ours; it is our congregation’s as well.

The people of God are helped most by preachers who have first been humbled, stilled, and astonished before the face of God.

We cannot manufacture awe. But we can neglect it. And neglect is often the first step toward spiritual dryness.

The God Who Inspires Awe

Advent reminds us that the God of majesty descended into frailty. The eternal Word became flesh. Angels rejoiced; shepherds trembled; Mary pondered. The world did not receive a theory or a theme but a Person. The incarnation is the great rebuke to every preacher who has grown casual with holy things.

This season confronts us with the staggering truth that the One who spoke galaxies into being became a child upheld by a young mother. The holy God drew near—not as we might expect, but in humility, weakness, and mercy. If anything can restore awe, it is this.

True awe is rooted not in emotional surges but in beholding God as He reveals Himself. Awe is the fruit of revelation. It grows where the Word is opened, pondered, and believed.

Awe in the Life of the Expositor

Awe changes us. It slows us down. It steadies us. It rescues us from the restless ambition that quietly fuels so much ministry. Awe takes our eyes off ourselves—our abilities, our weaknesses, our comparisons—and fixes them on the glory of Christ.

When a preacher recovers awe:

  • His sermons gain weight—not heaviness, but gravity.
  • His tone gains warmth—truth spoken with adoration is different from truth spoken with mere accuracy.
  • His heart gains peace—because awe draws him nearer to the One who holds all things together.

Awe does not make us theatrical. It makes us genuine. People can sense the difference.

Practices That Cultivate Awe

1. Slow Down Before the Word

Read until something arrests you. Sit with the text until you feel its weight. Do not rush to outlines or commentaries.

2. Pray Beyond Utility

Ask not simply for a sermon but for a sight of Christ. Awe rises when prayer deepens beyond requests into worship.

3. Confess Cynicism

Weariness breeds unbelief. Name it before the Lord. Awe grows where honesty opens space for grace.

4. Embrace Silence

Quiet is not a luxury but a necessity. Awe cannot survive constant noise. Resist the urge to fill every moment with motion.

A Prayer for Holy Awe

Lord, restore in us a trembling joy before You. Rescue us from the dullness that comes with familiarity. Let Your Word arrest us, humble us, soften us, and renew us. Make us preachers who tremble at Your Word, who proclaim Christ with sincerity, and who shepherd Your people with reverent compassion. Give us holy awe as we enter this Advent season.

Warm Hearts & Cool Heads

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The Expositor’s Life

Warm Hearts & Cool Heads

Why the preacher must cultivate affection and stability together.

Faithful Ministry
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By An Expositor

Pastoral ministry demands more than competence. It asks for something deeper—something forged by Scripture, testing, and the steady kindness of the Lord. Faithful expositors need hearts warmed with love for Christ and His people, and minds kept cool under pressure. These two qualities, affection and steadiness, must grow together.

The Preacher’s Heart: Warmed by the Gospel

A cold-hearted expositor can preach accurate sermons that achieve nothing. Truth without love may be technically correct, yet spiritually inert. Christ did not entrust His sheep to men who merely understood doctrine; He entrusted them to men who loved Him (John 21:15–17). Warmth in ministry is not sentimentality—it is the fruit of a heart shaped by grace.

Pastors are often tempted to live on the fumes of their study. But the soul grows thin when the Scriptures are only handled and not savoured. The preacher must first be mastered by the Word he will proclaim. This is not optional. It is how affection is rekindled, how joy rises again, and how tenderness is restored toward difficult people and difficult seasons.

A preacher who delights in Christ will preach Christ with life-giving warmth.

Warmth protects us from the hardness that ministry can produce. It keeps the ministry human. It makes the shepherd approachable. Most of all, it reminds the congregation that the gospel is not mere information but good news.

The Preacher’s Mind: Kept Cool by Sound Doctrine

If warmth keeps the heart soft, stability keeps the mind clear. Ministry exposes pastors to constant pressures—criticism, comparison, expectation, and spiritual attack. Without a cool head and a rooted steadiness, emotions can govern decisions, and fear can shape the pulpit.

The Scriptures call us to “sober-mindedness” (1 Pet. 4:7; 5:8), a quality that keeps the preacher anchored when circumstances churn. A cool head is not indifference. It is the disciplined refusal to be ruled by panic, ego, or frustration. It is the quiet fruit of a mind trained to think God’s thoughts after Him.

Doctrinal clarity produces emotional clarity. When God is sovereign, the pastor need not be frantic. When grace is sufficient, he need not be defensive. When Christ is building His Church, he need not control outcomes. A cool head is the product of deep theology applied in real time.

Sobriety in the pulpit is not detachment—it is trust.

When Warmth and Stability Grow Together

These qualities are not competitors but companions. A warm heart without a cool head can turn ministry into emotional impulsiveness. A cool head without a warm heart can make the pulpit sterile. But when the Spirit cultivates both, the preacher becomes a steady, joyful instrument for Christ.

This kind of ministry produces congregations that feel both loved and led. People sense that their pastor is not driven by mood or fear, yet deeply moved by truth and grace. They recognise a shepherd who loves them enough to be gentle, and loves Christ enough to be firm.

Warmth draws people near. Stability holds them fast. Together they form the rare beauty of a pastor who reflects the gentleness and strength of the Chief Shepherd.

A Prayer for This Week

Lord, warm our hearts again with the gospel we proclaim. Restore tenderness where ministry has made us tired. Anchor our minds in Your Word, that we may lead with clarity and courage. Make us shepherds who are steady, joyful, and kind—men who carry both affection and conviction into the pulpit. For the honour of Christ and the good of His Church. Amen.

When The Word Becomes Work

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When the Word Becomes Work

Reflections for those who teach, study, and love the Word.

There are mornings when the Scriptures feel heavy in the hand. You sit before an open Bible, sermon notes spread, coffee cooling — and yet the spark that once leapt from the text seems to have dimmed. The joy of discovery is replaced by a sense of duty. The Word, once alive with promise, now feels like another item on a list.

If that sounds familiar, you are not alone. Every pastor, teacher, and serious student of Scripture meets this quiet fatigue. We love the Word, but sometimes that love grows tired beneath the weight of constant use. What was meant to feed our souls begins to feel like labour — and we wonder why the task that once thrilled us now feels like toil.

Revived by the Word

“My soul clings to the dust; revive me according to your word.” — Psalm 119:25
“Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” — 2 Timothy 2:7

The psalmist does not turn from study, but presses deeper into it, praying for life to return. The Word itself becomes the means of renewal. In Paul’s charge to Timothy, reflection and revelation meet: think — but trust the Lord to give. The expositor’s work is both human discipline and divine partnership. We think, pray, study, and labour — and the Lord gives light.

When Study Feels Heavy

There are seasons when the text seems unyielding. We may prepare faithfully, yet find no immediate insight. The temptation is to believe that something is wrong — with us, or with the process. But perhaps God is simply teaching us patience. He is forming character, not merely content.

When the Word feels like work, remember that such weariness often precedes renewal. In those quiet, difficult hours, the Lord humbles us — and humility is the soil in which illumination grows. A preacher who depends on grace will always preach more faithfully than one who depends on gifting.

Recovering the Wonder

Sometimes what we need is not a new method, but a new heart. Step away from the desk, walk, pray, sing. Remember that the Word you study is not an object of analysis but the voice of the living God. Let the text speak devotionally before it speaks exegetically.

Ask the Lord to restore the wonder — that moment when Scripture burns again within you, not because of your cleverness, but because the Spirit has once more warmed your heart. The God who called you to teach His Word will not leave you to study it alone.

The same Spirit who inspired the Word renews the weary expositor who studies it.

Keep Going

The labour is holy, even when it feels hard. Every note you write, every cross-reference you trace, every late-night wrestle with the meaning of a phrase — these are acts of love, even when they do not feel like it.

Take heart: the same Spirit who inspired the Word renews the weary expositor who studies it. Keep opening the text. Keep seeking His face. The joy will return, perhaps quietly, but certainly — for God always honours those who labour in His truth.