The month of April at ITA witnessed a new season of training commencing. We are in year 2 of a three year cycle that is focused on training Italian churchmen how to preach an expositional sermon. Our first level training, of which year 2 is a part, is basic boot camp in expository preaching. Year 2 trains the men by way of practice. Students take the theoretical and interpretive tools (principles) they learned in year 1 and apply them to actual passages of the Bible. In so doing, the men exegete a specific passage of scripture. The ultimate aim is to draw forth the authorial intent of the passage. What does the text say? What does God intend?
There is increased enthusiasm in this phase. The practice, the discovery, the work, the challenge, at understanding and unearthing the single God-intended meaning of a particular passage of God’s Word is simply beyond description. The men learn not only a methodology at approaching God’s Word but they learn so much more about devotion, devotion of mind, heart, and soul, passion; they grow deeper in their understanding of dependence, dependence on prayer, on the Spirit (and His illuminating work within us through the Word), on Christ, and God ultimately. The process of study is without a doubt transforming for the man of God that applies himself to… cutting it straight.
This is what in the end makes for divinely authoritative and life changing preaching. This is what produces strong pulpits and robust Christians, local churches. There is no alternative to this…
Please continue to pray for ITA as it strives to continue building into more and more Italian church leaders the principles and practice of sound biblical preaching.
We praise God for a new location that began its training this April as well, Perugia, Centro Evangelico Battista. ITA held its first hermeneutics class there at the beginning of the month.
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