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Holly A.J.'s avatar

Excellent observations.

I would add that such a pastor

needs to know Scripture, backwards and forwards and be able to connect its parts cohesively. I have just left a situation where a new pastor was beginning to teach extra-Biblical ideas. The first inkling I had that something was wrong was this preacher was always neglecting the obvious cross references (the ones you find in the margins where the Bible is quoting itself) and instead making very odd connections to passages that were talking about unrelated concepts. Those disjointed connections eventually led to the introduction of extra-Biblical claims.

The best pastor I ever had the privilege of learning from was not a good speaker. His voice was gravelly and monotone, his speech pattern halting, he sometimes reversed words. But not only did he meet the I Timothy qualifications, he also knew the Scripture very well, and his exegetical sermons were filled with cross references that enhanced the passage from which he was teaching.

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