This restoration to righteousness that results in our freedom for loving and supporting other people whom God places within our reach takes place, Luther believed, through Christ’s liberating victory over Satan.
The challenges of meeting severe crises and the hurdles which dare us to say something meaningful to the satisfied and richly blessed can make us wonder what we are really there to do as we come into the pulpit.
God reveals Himself as a tender-hearted, deeply caring parent—even to the point of deeply grieving over us when we stop listening to Him. But in Job, and sometimes in our daily experience, He reveals Himself as a whole lot more.
The gift of publicly serving as minister of God’s Word for the people we are called to serve brings us endless blessings, but like many blessings it brings also the sense of responsibility that takes seriously the challenge of accurate communication of what the Lord is saying to us from the pages of Scripture.
Twenty-first century North American believers face challenges unique in the history of God’s people, for we have an abundance of the material gifts of God unparalleled in human history.
But what does a preacher do regarding the doctrine of providence when God embarrasses Himself and us by not being present in the way we want Him to be with us?
Whether or not there be grand thoughts behind a text, it is guaranteed that behind each text the Holy Spirit is lying in wait, and He is trying to enter into conversation with you.