Daniel Rowland And Preaching for Divine Impression, Part Two

 By Al Baker - Posted at Forget None Of His Benefits:

Preach the word. . . do the work of an evangelist. -2 Timothy 4:2,5

Do you ever fall asleep at church as you listen to your pastor preach? If you watched the movie Saving Private Ryan, did you fall asleep at the opening scene as U.S. troops stormed the beach at Normandy? You probably answered “yes” to the first question and “no” to the second one. Why? Perhaps the preaching puts you to sleep because it does not grab your heart while the tension of the opening of Saving Private Ryan grips your heart with a deep impression of fear and amazement at their heroism.

Wouldn’t you love to see your own congregation caught up in glorious worship of Christ as they hear your preacher proclaim His excellencies? We all know how the charismatic churches are able to evoke great emotion from their congregations through music. I am not saying that is all bad, but certainly it can easily lead to manipulation. How much more glorious if a genuine response of heartfelt worship came from those who heard the preaching of the word and were moved to awe, wonder, amazement, love, fear, and tears of rejoicing!

Thomas Charles, another of the great late 18th century Welsh preachers, in seeking to describe Daniel Rowland’s preaching, wrote to a friend saying, “Rowland preached repentance until the people repented; he preached faith until men believed. He portrayed sin as so abhorrent that all hated it; and Christ so glorious as to cause all to choose Him.”

Continue here.