Harold John Ockenga

Sermons from Second Corinthians Harold John Ockenga had not yet reached his fortieth birthday when he preached this series of sermons as pastor of Boston's historic Park Street Church. Already widely recognized as one of America's premier preachers, he invited his congregation to join him in a careful study of Second Corinthians and its application to their daily lives. Today's readers will find these sermons as timely and relevant as they were for those who originally heard them preached. ""Every Sunday during my undergraduate and graduate years at Harvard, I joined many others from all walks of life who flocked to Park Street Church in Boston to hear Harold Ockenga preach God's word. I listened eagerly to his persuasive, erudite, and evangelistic expositions of biblical books. Whenever he began to preach, the very atmosphere seemed to become electrified with the power of God's truth. This particular set of sermons on 2 Corinthians displays his characteristic fidelity to the inerrant Bible, his winsome but no-nonsense exposure of bad theologies and biased critical methods, and his keen sense of how to identify the major themes of a passage with balanced attention to both its component parts and its practical thrust. These sermons have lost none of their relevance. They will challenge your mind and enrich your zeal for God. Especially, they will help you to value the ways that God is our great comfort in all circumstances."" --Doug Stuart, Professor of Old Testament, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary Harold John Ockenga (1905-1985) studied at Taylor University, Princeton Theological Seminary, Westminster Theological Seminary, and the University of Pittsburgh. From 1931 to 1936 he served as pastor at Point Breeze Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, and from 1936 to 1969 as senior minister at historic Park Street Church in Boston. From his base at Park Street he rose to international prominence, becoming one of the most recognized leaders of the resurgent evangelical movement that swept across America and around the world during the 1940s and 1950s.

Ten Sermons on Women in the Bible For the third published book of his early career, Harold John Ockenga chose to focus on a series of biographical sermons on women in the Bible that he had preached on Sunday evenings at Boston's Park Street Church. Although the series continued for several months, ten of the sermons were selected for inclusion in this volume. ""The identity of these women was not revealed until each sermon was preached,"" as we learn from the book's foreword, to help stimulate curiosity and a sense of anticipation. ""Keen interest in Bible study,"" we are told, ""was sustained through the entire series."" ""From Delilah and Rachel to Ruth, Martha, and Mary, Harold John Ockenga introduces his readers to a fascinating array of female characters found in the pages of Scripture. Each seems to spring to life once again as their stories are told yet again by a gifted communicator and trusted pastor. As was the result when they were first preached, I suspect that they will stimulate whole new generations of readers to search the Scriptures for themselves."" --Garth M. Rosell, Senior Research Professor of Church History, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary Harold John Ockenga (1905-1985) studied at Taylor University, Princeton Theological Seminary, Westminster Theological Seminary, and the University of Pittsburgh. From 1931 to 1936 he served as pastor at Point Breeze Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, and from 1936 to 1969 as senior minister at historic Park Street Church in Boston. From his base at Park Street he rose to international prominence, becoming one of the most recognized leaders of the resurgent evangelical movement that swept across America and around the world during the 1940s and 1950s.

Sermons on an Evangelical Statement of Faith When the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) was founded in 1942, Harold John Ockenga was elected as it first president. By the following year, the young organization had adopted a written statement of faith affirming its commitment to historic Christianity, to the truth of Scripture, and to sound doctrine. As pastor of Boston's historic Park Street Church, Ockenga took the opportunity to preach a series of sermons explaining the basic teachings of the NAE and applying them to the life and labors of his congregation. His clear and powerful expositions are as relevant today as they were when they were first delivered. ""My earliest memory as a child was attending the second meeting of the National Association of Evangelicals held in Chicago in 1943 with my parents and their close friends, the Ockenga family. It was at that meeting that the new NAE Statement of Faith was adopted--the document on which Harold John Ockenga subsequently focused his attention in the series of Sunday evening sermons you now hold in your hands. To read these sermons today is a marvelous walk back into the history of the mid-twentieth century re-emergence of authentic Evangelicalism. These powerful messages are also a helpful reminder that today's preaching must never neglect its responsibility to uphold the whole teaching of the faith once delivered to the saints with gracious theological and pastoral integrity."" --The Rev. Dr. John Huffman, Chair, Board of Trustees, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary Harold John Ockenga (1905-1985) studied at Taylor University, Princeton Theological Seminary, Westminster Theological Seminary, and the University of Pittsburgh. From 1931 to 1936 he served as pastor at Point Breeze Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, and from 1936 to 1969 as senior minister at historic Park Street Church in Boston. From his base at Park Street he rose to international prominence, becoming one of the most recognized leaders of the resurgent evangelical movement that swept across America and around the world during the 1940s and 1950s.

In this series of beautifully crafted sermons, first delivered to the congregation of Boston's historic Park Street Church in 1937, Harold John Ockenga invites his listeners--then and now--to embrace the kind of historic Christianity that challenges the mind, transforms the behavior, and warms the heart. Calling Christianity ""a religion of the heart"" first and foremost, he explores the biblical foundations and practical implications of the religious heart, the wicked heart, the pricked heart, the contrite heart, the believing heart, the hardened heart, the burning heart, the pure heart, the troubled heart, and the loving heart. ""Harold John Ockenga's stirring challenge for the Christian church to rediscover its rich heritage as a 'religion of the heart' was first issued in 1937. Delivered as a series of sermons to his Park Street Church congregation in Boston, the gifted young preacher called his listeners to embrace the joys of true Biblical Christianity through a return to personal, experiential, and wholesome faith. As relevant today as it was in the twentieth century, Ockenga's sermons will encourage your heart, stretch your mind, and strengthen your faith."" Garth M. Rosell, Senior Research Professor of Church History, Gordon-Conwell Seminary Harold John Ockenga (1905-1985) studied at Taylor University, Princeton Theological Seminary, Westminster Theological Seminary, and the University of Pittsburgh. From 1931 to 1936 he served as pastor at Point Breeze Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, and from 1936 to 1969 as senior minister at historic Park Street Church in Boston. From his base at Park Street he rose to international prominence, becoming one of the most recognized leaders of the resurgent evangelical movement that swept across America and around the world during the 1940s and 1950s.

In this series of twenty-four beautifully crafted sermons, first delivered to the congregation of Boston's historic Park Street Church in 1942, Harold John Ockenga systematically works his way through Paul's letter to the Romans--explaining its key theological teachings, wrestling with some of its most difficult passages and applying those teachings to the daily lives of his parishioners. With the skill of an artist, Ockenga challenges each of us to conform our lives and our thinking to the truth of God's Word and with the insights of a spiritual physician, he points the way to God's amazing mercy and grace. For those who yearn to grow in their understanding and experience of the Christian faith, this is the book for you. ""A leading statesman of neo-evangelicalism, Harold John Ockenga saw himself first and foremost as a pastor and preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. For almost 33 years (1936-1969), Ockenga led Park Street Church of Boston, a flagship evangelical church. In this volume, first issued in 1942, the young, articulate preacher opened up Romans to his congregation and to a wider New England audience by radio. Through a series of 24 sermons he extolled and evinced his deep predilection for expository preaching because it made congregations 'conversant with the doctrines, precepts, and practices of New Testament Christianity.' His immense depth of preparation, clarity of presentation, and conviction still speaks to us today by challenging us to take our next step of faith."" John M. Adams, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Easley, South Carolina Harold John Ockenga (1905-1985) studied at Taylor University, Princeton Theological Seminary, Westminster Theological Seminary and the University of Pittsburgh. From 1931 to 1936 he served as pastor at Point Breeze Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, and from 1936 to 1969 as senior minister at historic Park Street Church in Boston. From his base at Park Street he rose to international prominence, becoming one of the most recognized leaders of the resurgent evangelical movement that swept across America and around the world during the 1940s and 1950s.

In this series of eight beautifully crafted sermons, first delivered to the congregation of Boston's historic Park Street Church in Boston in 1938, Harold John Ockenga invites his listeners--then and now--to rediscover the spiritual insights of the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. The important work of reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, and Ulrich Zwingli come alive once again for modern readers. ""Harold John Ockenga was not afraid to provide his congregation with a meaty appetite of Scripture, theology, and church history from the pulpit. This sermon series on the Protestant Reformation was presented to his Park Street Church congregation in Boston during 1938, a time of great upheaval in church and society. The Fundamentalist-Modernist controversies had divided American Christianity. Effects of the great depression were giving way to threats of another world war. For Ockenga, Christians must understand the centrality of Reformation Protestantism because 'America is the product of Protestantism'. To lose sight of Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Knox, Cromwell, Roger Williams, and other Reformation forebears is to jeopardize the freedom and liberty that have marked the United States since its founding. Ockenga desires that his congregants be familiar with the foundations of the Reformation not simply as knowledge of the past (though that is important) but as the foundation that makes Christian citizenship meaningful. Unity for Protestants 'must be in Spirit and in truth' and not in forced uniformity that broaches no dissent. Because 'freedom of dissent in religion and freedom in civic life go hand in hand.' And without authentic gospel freedom, Ockenga argues that both American Christianity and American society are doomed."" Robert J. Mayer, Senior Librarian, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary Harold John Ockenga (1905-1985) studied at Taylor University, Princeton Theological Seminary, Westminster Theological Seminary, and the University of Pittsburgh. From 1931 to 1936 he served as pastor at Point Breeze Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, and from 1936 to 1969 as senior minister at historic Park Street Church in Boston. From his base at Park Street he rose to international prominence, becoming one of the most recognized leaders of the resurgent evangelical movement that swept across America and around the world during the 1940s and 1950s.