It it Tuesday, which means that for most of us, sermon preparation is in full swing for the upcoming Easter Sunday.  Mark Driscoll recently posted six helpful tips for consideration as we prepare to proclaim the Word of God on Easter.  Here they are:

1. Keep your Easter message short.

2. Keep your Easter message simple.

3. Keep your Easter message invitational.

4. Keep your Easter message special.

5. Keep your Easter message personal.

6. Keep your Easter message biblical.

Pastors, read his entire explanation for these six tips, and then get back to work!

So, all the cool kids are reading Mark Driscoll these days and I guess I’m no different. The fact remains, whether you like Driscoll or not, he writes good books that are easily approachable by just about anyone, but that address really good theological material as well.  In other words, Driscoll writes as a pastor-theologian, not as an academic.

Religion Saves belongs on your shelf as another great work of Driscoll.  I picked up my Copy at Advance09 and just now got around to reading it.  I’m glad I got this read under my belt, but I was not as impressed with Religion Saves as I have been with some of Driscoll’s other works, especially Death by Love.

Though the content of the book was good, I found some of it repetitive from some other works.  For instance, his chapter on the Emerging Church, though good, is a repeat from some stuff in Confessions of a Reformission Rev. I even found that the chapters on Sexual Sin and Dating were difficult to differentiate from one another (maybe he should have seen those as one question and tackled another).

However, his ability to take some difficult issues (like predestination and the regulative principle) and write about them in such a way that lay people will both understand and enjoy is absolutely worthy of praise. I thought the chapter on Birth Control was the best chapter in the book and maybe the best treatment of this difficult issue I have ever read.

In the end, if you have read other works by Driscoll, you will no doubt find some of that material in Religion Saves, but you will still enjoy the read and will grow from it. I would recommend this book, just not as highly as some of his others. If you want to read only one Driscoll book, pick up Death by Love.

“For us as missionaries in culture, the tip of the spear for our war against Satan, sin, and death is the sermon, if rightly preached with authority for the purpose of gathering God’s people for instruction before sending them out on mission with passion.”

-Mark Driscoll & Gerry Breshears,Vintage Church (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008), 101.

“Preaching is not sharing or chatting but rather proclaiming with authority and passion the truth of God’s Word about Jesus.”

-Mark Driscoll, Vintage Church (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008), 91.

As a follow up to our previous post, here is a sermon excerpt from Mark Driscoll. This is from a sermon from the book of Ruth, in which he explained in a little more detail the reasons why he hates religion. Pastors preach the Gospel of Redemption not Religion!

I picked this up from Joe Thorn, and I think it is worth your time as a preacher to hear what Mark Driscoll has to say on this sticky subject.  Driscoll has come under alot of scrutiny because of his offensive and crude language at times–especially in his early years of ministry–but he is not alone.  Even John Piper, the reknowned pastor of Bethelehem Baptist Church recently apologized for his choice to use offensive language at a college conference (see his apology here and Wayne Grudem’s response here and Tim Challies’ comments on both here).  Pastors and preachers, the necessity always exists for us to speak the word of God contextually and powerfully, but let us examine our motives closely if we choose to use strong languge as God’s mouthpiece.  Are you saying something that you truly believe would have come from the mouth of the Christ?