Elliot Ku

‘If you have your Bible…and I hope you do…’

These are the familiar words of Dr David Platt, President of the International Mission Board and founder/teacher at Radical.Net.

I’ve been following David Platt’s teaching since his early days at The Church at Brook Hills and I’ve had my life changed (quite literally) by his book Radical and then later Counter Culture.

Platt has been quite a role model to me. His heart for global missions (which makes his perfectly suited for his new position), his reliance on God’s Word for ministry (which makes him being called as the Senior Pastor of a megachurch at the age of 25 totally logical), and his love for his family (both his own and the church) are inspirational.

One of the coolest things he does in addition to his hardcore preaching ministry is Secret Church, which is a 6+ intense bible study modelled after Platt’s time from teaching in various countries like China where there is a significant poverty in sound theological education.

But here are 3 reasons for why I think you should check it out.

i) The Bible is clearly explained.

I spent some time in a church where the Bible was taught faithfully yet not as engaging as many would have liked. As such, supplementary Bible teaching was necessary. It was during this time that I started getting ‘hooked on’ to the likes of Keller, Piper, and Platt.

I was first introduced to Platt from the Elephant Room documentary (?) hosted by James MacDonald and my deepest impression of Platt was his familiarity with the Bible. He provided a Scriptural backing (to chapter and verse) for every answer he gave and was almost quoting chapters of Scripture at a time. Word on the street is that he has books of the New Testament committed to memory and in this day and age when we can barely remember the phone number to our homes, that is impressive.

As such, it is no surprise that his sermons are saturated in God’s Word. I read on a blog somewhere which describes listening to Platt’s sermons like drinking out of a firehose and that is true of my personal experience.

Platt preaches in a way that shows you the beauty and relevance of Scripture and does so in such a way that makes you want to keep going back for more.

ii) He tells you about the world.

Specifically, Platt tells you about what God is doing in other parts of the world. Platt has travelled to various countries for mission work (more so recently), so his sermons (and now interviews) are always filled with anecdotes and stories about the incredible work and need that is occuring overseas.

He tells these stories in a culturally sensitive way and reminds his listeners that America (or Australia) is only a tiny part of the world. In a time when we get so caught up about ourselves and our problems, these stories puts things in perspectives and gets me pumped up for a ‘wartime mentality’. He reminds me that God is big, His mission is great, and the time to reach is now.

iii) He preaches about things he cares.

And you can hear this in his voice. At various points in his preaching, you can hear him almost breaking into tears because of his deep love and concern for what he is preaching about. Whether it is the obscenity of child sex trafficking in Thailand or the thousands dying without ever hearing the Gospel in Nepal, Platt knows that God has a heart for these people and that people need to be sent to do His will.

Hearing this from time to time rebukes me for not having the same heart – God’s heart, and pushes me to think deeper about where I’m at. It challenges me to rid myself of the middle-class complacency that I fall into so easily, and reminds me that for those who have been given much, much will also be required.

So if you’re looking for solid biblical preaching, you need to check him out. For more of his preaching, check out the podcast channel for the Church at Brook Hills where he was pastor for many years. And don’t forget to check out Secret Church this year where he’ll be examining the topic of ‘A Global Gospel in a World of Religions’.

Other parts of this blog series:

1. 5 Minutes in Church History with Dr Stephen Nichols

2. The Briefing with Dr Albert Mohler