Light and Heat

I just finished reading Light and Heat: A Puritan View of the Pulpit by Dr. R Bruce Bickel. I would give this book 4.5 stars out of 5. This was an excellent book. For me as a pastor, the content was very applicable and spoke to many issues that I face in the ministry personally and as I look at the church I pastor.

A few quotes from the book:

[The Puritans] were firmly convinced that by the faithful preaching of the message of salvation God would call out the elect everywhere-not because of the gifts or methods of the preacher, but by reason of God's sovereign operation. p. 33

[Puritan preachers] reveled in the task to which God had set them apart. This sense of vocation demanded a deep concern for personal piety in order to be faithful to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. . . The weight of the load on them was as great as on any mortal man because of their understanding of who God was and the office He had sovereignly given them. p. 38

The proper motivation for ministry is not expected success or fear of failure, but a love response to what God has done to one personally. . . Motivation was a love response to the mercy and grace of God. p. 75

The Puritan believed and preached that no sinner was ever saved by giving his heart to God, but by God giving His heart to the sinner. Salvation was a majestic display of the grace of God because the Puritans viewed it as a work of God. p. 100

To preach Christ meant to present the person of Christ as well as His finished work of satisfaction. p. 119

If you are a pastor, this is a great book to help consider and think through your responsibilities to your congregation and what you are leading that congregation to live and believe. Doctrine and theology drives what you teach and the ministries of the church.

Get the book and read it.