Preaching With Power – G. Ralph Thompson

Preaching With PowerWe have finally come to the final preacher in Dr. Clifford Jones’ book Preaching with Power. In this post we will look at the chapter that contains the interview with G. Ralph Thompson. Pastor Thompson is the former secretary of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

Understanding of Preaching

Thompson believes that preaching is having the message of God permeate the preacher to the point where the preacher can embody the message. To put it in his words, Thompson says, preaching is “God’s message by God’s men or women to God’s people.” (page 148)

Method of Sermon Preparation


Pastor Thompson described his method as reading several translations and then read the commentaries. Then he finds a thesis for his sermon followed by the creation of an outline and then he puts meat on the outline.

Pastor Thompson says that he finds illustrations from biographies, autobiographies, and from daily life. He is quick to note that he makes use of the spiritual disciplines to keep the connection to heaven. Thompson also emphasizes that we connect the time of the Bible to the present time by paying attention to the connections. Thompson believes that if you pay attention you will see that we deal with the same issues that the Bible characters dealt with and that we can connect the two times (Bible and contemporary) easily when we recognize this.

Understanding of Black Preaching

Pastor Thompson, like many others in the book, believes that Black Preaching is more about content than style. He notes that Black Preaching comes out of the context of the Black Experience. He notes that he orginally had a problem with the very idea of Black Preaching, but has come to aknowledge its existence and even appreaciate it. Once again I like how these authors seek to find a theological foundation for Black Preaching rather than the stylistic components that some would seek to say is the basis of its uniqueness.

Understanding of Adventist Preaching

Pastor Thompson emphsizes that he is not a Baptist, Methodist, or Church of God preacher and thus his messages should not sound like theirs. He attempts to preach a unique Seventh-day Adventist message that he connects to the “Great Controversy” theme.

While he wants to emphasize that he is an Adventist preacher, Thompson also wants to be known as a preacher of Christ. Thompson keeps the unique Adventist thrust as well as the Christ-Centered thrust by looking for Christ in the doctrines. This is something that many have talked about, but needs to be fleshed out a little more. How can one preach both Christ and all of the doctrines of Adventism?

I have saught to answer some of this on my blog, but I also must mroe clearly articulate this especially since many are saying this is what to do. Perhaps some of the problem is the lack of Adventist homiletics texts. There are not that many books that teach Adventist preaching and thus few have attempted to attack this question head on. It is my hope that more such resources will become available as time goes on.

Preparation Day Brain Dump on the Sabbath.

In an earlier post I asked the question, “What Bind does Adventism Get You Out of?” In it I asked the question, “What bind does our doctrines really get us out of?” I think thinking about this question can help the preacher to relate the truth of our doctrines to real questions that people ask.

I wanted to begin some discussion about the Sabbath. We really hardly ever preach about the Sabbath, but when we do, it is usually in an apologetic mode. By that I mean that we spend all of our energies defending the truth of the doctrine or attacking Sunday as not being the true Sabbath. While such preaching does have a role in the Adventist preacher’s toolbox, we also must spend some time thinking about what the Sabbath means and how it affects my living. So defend the Sabbath and show its preference to Sunday, but also look at the theological aspects of the Sabbath as revealed in the Bible.

So today I am going to do a brain dump on aspects of the Sabbath. This is not structured and should be seen as just a first step towards coming up with a homiletical theology for the Sabbath. I hope that you all will join in and help me in this endevor of attempting to discuss what we get from the Sabbath and why the Sabbath matters and what the Sabbath means for our living today.

First and foremost, the Sabbath matters because revelation reveals God cares about the Sabbath. We are told that God blessed, rested, and Sanctified the Sabbath (Gen 2:3). We are told that the Sabbath was made for humanity (Mark 2:27). We are told that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath (Matt 12:8). The Sabbath is important and it matters because God said it matters.

Sabbath Reminds us to not think too highly about ourselves

Also the Sabbbath can teach us not to think too highly of ourselves. In taking a day off once a week we remind ourselves that if we stop working the world will continue. We are not indispensible or irreplaceable. This can take a great burden off of many minds. If we don’t complete this project, someone will, or perhaps it was not that important to begin with. But on another note

The Sabbath can teach us of our great importance. The Sabbath is a time to contemplate the creation which shows God’s care for humanity. God invested in humanity a dignity and greatness that caused God to call the creation very good. So while the Sabbath reminds us that God can get what God needs done without us, it also reminds us that God does place great importance in humanity. Humanity was the last “thing” that God created before God created rest.

Sabbath attacks overconsumption

The Sabbath can teach us not to be overly concerned about consumption. All week long we have to think about and work towards buying and acquiring. We work really hard just to get more and more things, but the Sabbath is a day we take off from that weekly grind of acquiring. We simply be. It gives us a chance to just think about what is really important.

Related to what I have written earlier, the Sabbath reminds us to take off and take a break. It reminds us that rest itself is a necessary part of work. God finished creation by creating rest.

The Sabbath is a day when we are reminded that people are not to be judged by what they do or how much they acquire, but just by being created of God. The Sabbath is a day that we all do the same thing. The wall street executive is simply a “rest-er” just like the checkout counter cashier. It reminds us of the equality we should have in the church and will have in the coming Kingdom when it is fully realized at the Second Advent.

Sabbath is a Participation in the Incoming Kingdom

Related to this the Sabbath is a day to participate in the incoming Kingdom of God. We live for God unencumbered by our usual work responsibilities. We move into a time where God especially meets us. It is a foretaste of the coming Kingdom.

The Sabbath is a time to contemplate creation. To look at the greatness of Creation. And as we contemplate creation we see the power of God that is for our good. If God can make all that we see out of nothing then God can take us and re-create good out of us. Just as completely God created in the beginning God can just as completely work in re-creation. The Sabbath is a celebration of that.

We are told that the Sabbath is a day to remember that we are being sanctified. God said that the Sabbaths are a sign of the sanctification that is coming to us individually and as a people.

Structural Change and the Regional Conferences?

What will happen to the regional conferences? A little while ago I heard a rumor that the church was seeking to eliminate them. I don’t know how true that rumor is, but it is certainly plausible when looking at these possibilities for structural flexibility and realignment.

Any structure that touches the local conference will presumably affect the regional conferences. It is possible that in any structural realignment that we would simply remove them by default rather than address why they came into being and allow all sides to tell why or why they do not desire their continuance.

It may be easier to simply do away with the conference layer and never address the regional conferences directly, but that would probably leave a wound that would fester. I would hope that any plan to do away with the regional conferences would directly address these issues and not sidestep them.

I am all in favor of some sort of structural realignment. We have a bloated structure that needs some trimming in my opinion. I also think that we need to come together and talk about why we created these conferences and come up with a plan for when we will know they are no longer needed.

I don’t know if the regional conferences or any local conference is in jepardy today. But once again I thank the church for making all of these resources available on-line and I encourage all members to read and be informed. I could be wrong, but I think that some sort of structural flexibility will be more fully instituted very soon.