“To be a biblical preacher is to relish the delight of working so thick, demanding, and resourceful a medium as Holy Scripture” (Willimon, Proclamation and Theology, p. 49).
Despite the Threats
“As ministers then would deliver their own souls, and at last appear before the judgment seat of Christ pure from the blood of all men, they must warn every man, and teach every man without fear of undue censures or threatening dangers” (Foxcroft, The Gospel Ministry, p. 20).
Logic and Liberation
“Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye …
But Blood Is Still Pretty Thick
We must begin with the foundational Christian axiom that water is thicker than blood. The call of baptism outranks every demand that might come from any other source. “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy …
Which Causes Trouble More Often Than You Might Think
“The biblical preacher attempts to talk like the Bible, in order that the congregation might inculcate a scriptural way of construing the world” (Willimon, Proclamation and Theology, p. 47).
Diagnosis First
“Until men are convinced of sin, they will not be instructed in righteousness” (Foxcroft, The Gospel Ministry, p. 11).
Surveying the Text: Proverbs
Introduction: The book of Proverbs contains more teaching about women than any other book of Scripture. The structure of the book means that it is all about women, and many of the individual proverbs which seem unrelated are actually not at all unrelated. Woman is the glory of man, the capstone of man. She is …
Unspeakable Joy and Fullness of Glory
We have not yet seen Jesus Christ in the body, and through the grace of God, this is a great blessing and glory for us. While that fact has led many into a ho-hum profession of the Christian faith, cruising along on autopilot, that is not how the Spirit intends to use the fact that …
Feasting With Strife
As we pay attention to our Christian lives, as we ought to do, we have a tendency to focus on the things we do or have done, as though the whole thing were a matter of bookkeeping in a ledger, instead of taking our actions as indicators or “tells” of what we are turning into. …
The Devil’s Substitute for Love
“Too often, in too many congregations, unity is purchased by the world’s means — suppression of information, deceitful flattery, niceness, and subterfuge — rather than through the Christ-appointed means of speaking the truth in love” (Willimon, Proclamation and Theology, p. 30).