The season of Lent gives almost unparalleled opportunity for preachers to placard before their auditors the Cross of Christ and beckon Christians to take up their cross and follow Him.
Rituals resist domestication and confront us with a world and worldview brought forth from the Bible and through twenty centuries of Christianity for the purpose of arresting our contemporary worldview through its self-sameness.
Preaching the end times purposes to solicit and strengthen faith in the Savior of the world who is at the same time the Creator and Re-creator of the world.
Nothing promotes good preaching quite like actually knowing the Word of Truth and delivering it from a disposition of passionate care, commitment through the long-haul, and life spent together with the people of God.
When it comes to the sermon, a Christian congregation should not expect a conversation from a friend or a TED Talk from an expert. Instead, they should anticipate a royal proclamation from the King’s ambassador.
We may never even get the opportunity to eat meat offered to idols, but a lot of things hinge on this test case: Is it permissible to eat the meat offered to idols or not?
Our stories, be they ever so inspiring or worthy of emulation, should never be equated with proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Gospel Jesus Christ commissioned to be proclaimed.
It is through the locatedness of the Church that one anchors faith in Christ and the sure hope we are not alone, and God is for us and with us through Jesus.