“You must study your congregation with the same diligence you use in searching the Scriptures” (Wagner, Tongues Aflame, p. 289).
Love is Not Relativism
INTRODUCTION: We are the beta test for the new humanity, but this might require some explanation. Jesus Christ is the perfect man, but we are not yet grown up into that perfect man (Eph. 4: 13). So, as far as we go, we are the working prototype of what God is up to. There are …
Sacrifices, Burnt Offerings, and a Major Cash Gift
“Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God. But my God shall supply all your …
Direct Appeal
“The point to note and remember is that direct, personal appeals in preaching will evoke a response from your audience. As we have argued, if you never use that approach you will miss a very important element in effective preaching” (Wagner, Tongues Aflame, p. 271).
Continuity Preaching
“Discipleship preaching is ‘continuity preaching’ — moving from the familiar to the unfamiliar, from the routine to the challenging, from immaturity to maturity” (Wagner, Tongues Aflame, p. 230).
Time for the World to Get Up
INTRODUCTION: The Incarnation of the Word, and the resurrection of that Word from the dead, has entirely remade the world. We fail to recognize this because we don’t understand history—and the way the world actually was before Christ came into it. But humanity lived through a long night indeed, and when Christ came, the sun …
Hearing Is a Duty
“While God holds his ministers accountable for their preaching, he also expects his people to admit and deal with their own deficiencies in listening and responding to God’s Word” (Wagner, Tongues Aflame, p 209).
The Saturday Night Cram
“I’m convinced that so much preaching is so ‘thin’ because the preacher simply cannot bring a rich understanding of Scripture to his work of sermon preparation, and he cannot ‘cram’ sufficiently in a week to compensate for his underlying ignorance” (Wagner, Tongues Aflame, p. 195).
Well, Tough
“You will be required at times to set before your congregations things that they may not wish to hear — doctrines they don’t agree with, ethical demands they are unwilling to submit to” (Wagner, Tongues Aflame, p. 193).
The Heart of the Law
INTRODUCTION:A very popular mistake among Christians is that of contrasting love and the law, as though we had to pick and choose. Will we live according to love, or according to the law? But if we must love, isn’t that a law, a great commandment? And if we keep the law truly, won’t we realize …