INTRODUCTION:We have noted before that the book of Romans is a fundraising letter. The fact that it is so strikingly different from modern Christian fundraising letters tells us all we need to know about the attitude of the modern church to money . . . and to the gospel. THE TEXT:“For which cause also I …
Insufficient Words
“The congregation will never ask their pastor to remain loyal to the identity of a minor poet. They need one too much to even know that they need one, as the long list of expectations and relentless efforts at reconstructing pastoral identity reveal. But that is only another reason why they need to be in …
Gathering Up the Threads
“T.S. Eliot has claimed that every culture needs minor as well as major poets. The major poets, who are few and far between, provide enduring expressions of the deep truth of life. Minor poets have the more modest goal of inculcating that truth to particular people in particular places . . . The vast majority …
If We Haven’t Seen It, Then Nobody Can
“For DML-J, a crime occurs when a preacher succumbs to the temptation to water down the promises of Scripture simply because he and his generation have not entered into the full blessings of which they speak” (Sargent, The Sacred Anointing, p.249).
There, He Said It
“To me, there nothing more important in a preacher than that he should have a systematic theology, that he should know it and be well grounded in it. This systematic theology, this body of truth which is derived from the Scripture, should always be present as a background and as a controlling influence in his …
The Prostitute and the Theologian
Jesus told the story about two sons who were told to go work in the vineyard (Matt. 21: 28-32). One said he would go and didn’t, and the other said that he wouldn’t go, and then did. Thus far the parable is a familiar one. But I was recently struck by how the son who …
The Priestly Work of Evangelism
INTRODUCTION:We have seen that we should not have lethargic or anemic views of evangelism. God is in the processing of saving the world, and that has ramifications for the town in which we live. But we must also be careful to not have irreligious views of evangelism. Evangelism is not mere recruitment; in this text, …
How God Smiles on a Sermon
“The congeniality of the Spirit affects the preacher at the point of proclamation and the hearer at the point of reception. It is not argument, nor logic, nor eloquence that eventually wins the day” (Sargent, The Sacred Anointing, p. 235).
The Spirit Works from Beginning to End
“If the Holy Spirit inspired the Scriptures, it is reasonable to assume that his help will be required in growing into an understanding of them and in applying them to the immediate, contemporary situation” (Sargent, The Sacred Anointing, p. 232).
Clarity From Heaven
“The task of the preacher is to make the message of the Bible plain. It has to be clear to him in order that it can be so for the hearer” (Sargent, The Sacred Anointing, p. 217).