Benedictions are pronounced by ministers at the close of worship services as an expression of hope and encouragement to God's people to face whatever their future might hold. This makes them a Biblical norm for the end of worship - something we should consider doing each time we leave God's presence and go out into the world. If you are involved with leading worship in the church or in the home your next question will be 'Where do I go to find them?' Fortunately Robert Vasholz has done the legwork for you. He has collected in this one book the benedictions found in scripture along with some additional scripture enriched blessings for use during worship. Use them to help Christians have a greater effect on the world.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, James Macdonald of Edinburgh purchased a box of old papers which had belonged to a preacher of around sixty years earlier. The contents might have seemed of little value, but to some they were altogether priceless. They were the notebooks and sermon notes of Robert Murray M'Cheyne, the godly and devoted minister of St Peter's Church, Dundee. From these papers, lodged in the library of New College, Edinburgh, Dr Michael D. McMullen has transcribed the sermons found in this set of three volumes. They are indeed a precious treasure. Whether based on Old Testament or New, every sermon is full of Christ: the sinners need of Him, the fullness of His grace, the happiness of those who come to Him, and the danger of stopping short of genuine faith in Him. They will remind preachers and ordinary Christians alike that to preach Christ aright, one must first know Him, and live in the atmosphere of His love.

The fourteen sermons contained in Saved By Grace Alone were preached in Westminster Chapel, London, on Sunday evenings between 15 April and 15 July 1956. They are a fine example of preaching evangelistically from a consecutive passage of the Old Testament. While they are firmly based on the meaning of the Scripture text in its original setting, they are not overloaded with historical or exegetical detail. The larger themes of Ezekiel's message to the people of his own day are kept prominently in view.

"Now in paperback!
"
Revivalist and preacher George Whitefield was born on December 16, 1714, in Gloucester, England. The youngest of seven children, he was only two when his father died. He eventually finished grammar school and enrolled at Oxford at the age of 17. Those university years became the turning point of his life. Drawn into a group called the Holy Club, he met John and Charles Wesley and was converted to Christ in 1735. Whitefield was ordained in 1736 when he completed his Oxford degree.
The first of his many trips to America was made in 1738, when he spent a short time in Georgia in the mission post vacated by John Wesley. Returning to England, Whitefield found that his connection with the Wesleys and the evangelical character of his preaching had erased his popularity with Church of England clerics. Excluded from their pulpits, Whitefield began a series of open-air meetings in Bristol, moving on to exhort tens of thousands of people in London s Moorfields and Kennington Common. He persuaded John Wesley to carry on the work, and he returned to America, where he was an influential figure in the Great Awakening.
Whitefield was an astounding preacher from the beginning. Though slender of build, he stormed in the pulpit as if he were a giant. It was said that his voice startled England like a trumpet blast. His messages were gospel-focused, simple and clear, bold, descriptive, earnest, and filled with pathos and emotion. Some calculate that he preached more than 18,000 sermons and fewer than ninety have survived in any form. Among those, most notable are The Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent (Genesis 3:15); Walking with God (Genesis 5:24); Christ, the Believer s Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30); The Potter and the Clay (Jeremiah 8:1-6); and The Temptation of Christ (Matthew 4:1-11).
"

Throughout his long ministry in Geneva (1536"€"38, 1541"€"64), Calvin was a tireless preacher. He spoke of course to a specific congregation and at a particular point in time. Even so his sermons have travelled well across both time and space. God's word is not bound by history or geography, and Calvin's French has a robust plainness and directness which allows it to cross barriers of language and culture with relative ease.

Of the 101 sermons which the Reformer preached in 1554"€"55 on the Pastoral Letters, thirty, on Paul's second letter to Timothy, are presented here. They have been newly translated from the original French. They offer a clear, forthright exposition of the biblical text, but also challenge the reader to live out the truths taught, since to be profitable God's word must transform the way we think, feel and act. In Calvin's hands the sermon is an instrument of real and lasting change.