Paul Tripp

Paul Tripp

CP Guest Columnist

Latest

  • The Craft of Life-Changing Preaching

    The Craft of Life-Changing Preaching

    It is important to understand the two essential parts of effective preaching and how each requires its own discipline of preparation. First, there is the content part of preaching. Preaching is all about accurately exegeting and understanding the truths of the gospel as they unfold in a particular passage of Scripture. I cannot rush this aspect of my preparation.

  • Don't Settle for Your Mediocre Preaching

    Don't Settle for Your Mediocre Preaching

    I want to examine one place where there is entirely too much mediocrity in the church of Jesus Christ: preaching. For about 40 weekends each year I am with some body of Christ somewhere in the world. Often I am not able to get out on Saturday, so I will attend the service of the local congregation (when I am not scheduled to preach). What I am about to say will probably get me into trouble, but I am convinced it needs to be said. I am saddened and distressed to say it, but I am tired of hearing

  • Awe of God's Glory Leads to Commitment to Excellence

    Awe of God's Glory Leads to Commitment to Excellence

    If your heart is in functional awe of the glory of God, then there will be no place in your heart for poorly prepared, badly delivered, pastoral mediocrity. We should all be shocked at the level of mediocrity we tolerate in the life and ministry of the local church.

  • Pastors: Ambassadors of Glory for a Beaten-Down Church

    Pastors: Ambassadors of Glory for a Beaten-Down Church

    I wondered how many congregations around the world are plainly and simply being poorly fed by unprepared pastors. I wondered how many sermons end up being boring restatements of favorite commentaries or little more than impersonal, poorly delivered theological lectures.

  • 4 Things Pastors Can Do About Fear

    4 Things Pastors Can Do About Fear

    Fear is a daily battle that everyone in ministry is called to fight. Because we all tend at points to suffer from God amnesia, because we live in a fallen world and do not write our own stories, being ruled by fear is always a clear and present danger. There are moments when all of us get captured. When all of us get sidetracked.

  • 4 Fears That Every Pastor Faces

    4 Fears That Every Pastor Faces

    Few things better reveal the full range of sin, immaturity, weakness, and failure than ministry. Few things will expose your weaknesses so consistently. Few endeavors will put you under such public expectancy and scrutiny. Few things are so personally humbling.

  • When Pastors Should Be Fearful

    When Pastors Should Be Fearful

    In a sin-broken world that doesn't function as God intended there are reasons for every pastor to be afraid. It would be silly and unwise not to be. But you must guard your heart against being ruled by fear. So let's take an honest look at fear and pastoral ministry.

  • The Fearful Pastor

    The Fearful Pastor

    He carried with him the dirty secret that many pastors carry; the one that is so hard for a "man of faith" to admit. The dirty secret was that much of what he did was not done out of faith, but out of fear.

  • 6 Traits of a Pastor in Awe of God

    6 Traits of a Pastor in Awe of God

    What traits does the awe of God produce in the heart of a pastor that are vital for an effective, God-honoring, and productive ministry? Here is a list of six.

  • Ministry Is Shaped by the Condition of the Heart: Awe Puts Us in Our Place

    Ministry Is Shaped by the Condition of the Heart: Awe Puts Us in Our Place

    It is hard to overstate the importance of functional awe of God to your ministry. Awe of God is one thing that will keep a church from running off its rails and being diverted by the many agendas that can sidetrack any congregation.