On Preaching and Pastoring

In November 2024, Truth For Life hosted On Preaching and Pastoring, a one-day event aimed at equipping and encouraging pastors to faithfully preach God’s Word and apply it to both their own lives and the lives of those they serve. At the event, Alistair Begg gave three talks on the strength of weakness in pastoral ministry, which we now are glad to make publicly available.

About two thousand years ago, God said to a struggling Jewish man, “My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). When the apostle Paul heard these words, it was as if they were the key that unlocked the door to boasting in the Lord and finding contentment in his own weaknesses and trials. He grasped the reality that for those who are in Christ, when we are weak, then we are strong. But does this same truth apply to pastors and church leaders today? If so, why do people often flock to “strong” leaders, and how might pastors grow in their trust of God’s strength, not their own? Alistair Begg considers these questions as he turns to three sections of Scripture that have practical implications for acknowledging the strength of weakness in pastoral ministry.