Head-dibs

“But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:2, 5) The apostle Paul was accused of being self-serving, sneaky but his defense is an appeal to conscience and false accusations are betrayed. Living in truth means one is not bound to explain and defend every statement, every action; rather, it is to live openly before the Lord. When we live in obedience to His Word, we expose what is right, what is wrong and conscience will agree. This is where God does the fighting. When it comes to the way we use our words, we preach Christ Jesus the Lord. Paul defines his ministry in 3:6 as being “of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit” in other words, he is responsible to obey God’s Spirit in delivering the message of forgiveness of sins in Christ in order for people to become the s...

"For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake."  (2 Cor 4:5) Mention "church" to most people and they respond with some thought regarding preaching. Almost never the music, fellowship or even the food. Always the preaching. Why is preaching a central feature of the way we do church? We preach because of John 3:16 . God keeps no secrets, requires no secret knowledge, no hidden wisdom. Preaching is the open proclamation of heavenly matters, the beginning of the legislation of heavenly matters here on earth. Paul reminds us in his letter to the Corinthians that preaching is not mere demonstration of eloquence but a demonstration of the Spirit’s power for the purpose of establishing faith not on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God! What is the message we proclaim? “Christ Jesus the Lord!” If this is not the message of the church, there is no message at all and neither is the church the chu...

" Why Batman Doesn't Know Jesus ." The answer is worth consideration. " Alleged Samson seal found at Beth Shemesh " Click on the link to see a photo of the tiny find. Discuss: what are your thoughts concerning the remarks made by the excavation directors? Leave comments below (please follow standard rules of acceptable discussion, keeping on topic). Bible teachers may appreciate these NASA photos . Assessing children’s bibles is not child’s play. The relationships between them, the Bible, and their readers are complicated, yet because we too easily see them as simple and trustworthy, we have not learned how to read them carefully or critically enough." Read more here at  " How Story Bibles Work ." 5 Surprising Reasons Expository Preaching Makes Sermon Preparation Easy 10 Civilizations That Disappeared Under Mysterious Circumstances President Obama’s infamous 'You didn’t build that gaffe' may have originated from a lit...

(ht: Open Air Campaigners)

If you have a hard time finding evidence for the grace of God , perhaps you are not looking. Here are three reasons why Power Point preaching is not prophetic . I'm gonna start a band just so I can do this . Who is faster in a Honda Civic:  Darth Vader?  The Dalek?  The Sixth Doctor?  Ming the Merciless?  The Cyberman?

E.M. Bounds' classic book, "Necessity of Prayer" is available as an audio book ! When I look at these , I can't help but wonder if I did not see one in a Doctor Who episode. Great Balls of Fire . . . Again. On Jupiter . Again. Speaking of fire, Sinclair Ferguson answers the question, " What Then Shall We Preach On Hell ?" NPR wonders: " Is Belief in God Evolutionarily Advantageous ?" The Zwemer Center for Muslim Studies has posted their latest newsletter .

Here it comes! Keith Green: The movie ! " Was Judas’ betrayal of Jesus to the Sanhedrin an act of impulse or anger ?" A look at Judas' motives and role, by Dr. Terry Hulbert . Called to be a street preacher ? 10,000 days of volcanic eruption . This amazing pic captures the Space Station and Shuttle "passing by" the sun . New life, or a manipulation of already-existing life ? Not sure if this qualifies as evangelism. Waddya think?

A good writer shows the reader what to see in narrative, rather than simply tell. Joseph Conrad could have simply written, "as the sun went down, two men walked up the hill." How boring. Instead, Conrad shows us: "The sun was low: and leaning forward side by side, they seemed to be tugging painfully uphill their two ridiculous shadows of unequal length, that trailed behind them slowly over the tall grass without bending a single blade." (Heart of Darkness, 1902) Now that's good writing! Dr. George Murray delivered an incredible message on " Knowing and Doing The Will of God ." Need some help with sermon preparation? Use this handy tool for help in making applications from the text. Yet another reason why I can't accept the premise of evolution. First Underwater Footage: Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill at Source Sometimes a part of the Sun can just explode into space . Can you tell the difference between Joel Osteen and a fortune cookie ? What are five...

" Preaching For Spiritual Change " (HOM 9415) is a Doctor of Ministry course from the Seminary and School of Missions of Columbia International University. This course meets June 14 -18, 2010. Click here for the syllabus . Five highly-regarded and experienced preachers (see below) will help you construct and preach sermons that will have a transformational impact on listeners to the glory of God. You will improve the effectiveness of your preaching in specially-focused areas as you study the importance of living a personal life consistent with those areas. Special attention will be given to: missions, victorious Christian living, apologetics, and special events (e.g., Christmas, Lent, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day). Attention will also be given to audience analysis in sermon preparation and delivery. The five speakers and their focus areas are: Dr. Paul Copan, an author who holds the Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics at Palm Beach Atlantic University. His...

Doug Whitley as C.H. Spurgeon

"Save me from the error of judging a church by its size, its popularity or the amount of its yearly offering. Help me to remember that I am a prophet--not a promoter, not a religious manager, but a prophet. Let me never become a slave to crowds. Heal my soul of carnal ambitions and deliver me from the itch for publicity. Save me from bondage to things. Let me not waste my days puttering around the house. Lay Thy terror upon me, 0 God, and drive me to the place of prayer where I may wrestle with principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world. Deliver me from overeating and late sleeping. Teach me self-discipline that I may be a good soldier of Jesus Christ . . . . And now, 0 Lord of heaven and earth, I consecrate my remaining days to Thee; let them be many or few, as Thou wilt. Let me stand before the great or minister to the poor and lowly; that choice is not mine, and I would not influence it if I could. I am Thy servant to do Thy will, and that w...

“To preach a social gospel without the redemptive background of the individual salvation from sin of the individual sinner is like launching a glider instead of a high— powered plane. A glider may soar for a while on the fickle currents of the wind, and climb high on some sudden up-draft, but it is the four whirl-wind motors that will carry a bomber to the stratosphere and jet-propulsion and rockets that will take a plane beyond the speed of sound." Donald G. Barnhouse, "Man’s Ruin" (Wheaton, 1952), p. 161—162.

“Cursed be every preacher who aims at lofty topics in the church, looking for his own glory and selfishly desiring to please one individual or another. When I preach I adapt myself to the circumstances of the common people. I don’t look at the doctors and masters . . . but at the young people and children. It is to them that I devote myself. Take pains to be simple and direct.” “If I profess with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little portion which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle of truth rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proven.” (Martin Luther, 1483 - 1546) “Even sermon making, incessant and taxing as an art, as a duty, as a work, or as a pleasure, will harden and estrange the heart by neglect of prayer from God. The scientist loses God in nature. The preacher may lose God in his sermon.” (E. M...

"If Dr. [John A.T.] Robinson is right in saying that 'God is teaching us that we must live as men who can get on very well without him,' then the church has no need to say anything whatever to secularized man for that is precisely what secularized man already believes." (E.L. Mascall, 1905 - 1993) ************ "Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven on earth." (John Wesley, 1703 - 1791)

"Our method of proclaiming salvation is this: to point out to every heart the loving Lamb, who died for us; to never, either in discourse or in argument, to digress even for a quarter of an hour from the loving Lamb; to name no virtue except in Him, and from Him and on His account; to preach no commandment except faith in Him; no other justification but that He atoned for us; no other sanctification but the privilege to sin no more; no other happiness but to be near Him, to think of Him and do His pleasure; no other self denial but to be deprived of Him and His blessings; no other calamity but to displease Him; no other life but in Him." (Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf 1700 - 1760)

Says Mr. Shelby to Mrs. Shelby in H.B. Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin.": "I must say these ministers sometimes carry matters farther than we poor sinners would exactly care to do. We men of the world must wink pretty hard at various things, and get used to a deal that isn't the exact thing. But we don't quite fancy when women and ministers come out broad and square, and go beyond us in matters of either modesty or morals, that's a fact." ************ "What makes teaching the Word of God difficult is that you have to say things that you know people aren't going to like. It is inevitable that people will be offended about some of the statements in the Bible. But I dare not neglect to teach passages that are confrontive. Some people say that they can't tolerate my preaching because I am opinionated about what I believe. I often receive criticism for my apparent lack of love. But I realize that I have to say things that can wound peop...

"'What scripture says, that's it!' We need to return to that in our preaching. Every preacher ought to close his message by saying, in effect, what Walter Cronkite says [sic] at the end of every broadcast: 'That's the way it is, this Sunday, January 18, 1976.'" Ray Stedman, "Total Wipeout," Sermon on Romans 3:1-20

Here are clips featured on Way of the Master Radio (from The Lawman Chronicles )

by Greg Gordon, at Sermon Index A warning against preaching an unbiblical modern gospel. A POPULAR PERVERSION. Is it possible that modern popular Christianity is preaching a spurious, superficial, shallow Gospel in the 21st Century? If you look carefully at the history of the people of Israel many times the “popular” majority of priests and prophets turned from preaching the truth before the people and became profane in their speech and life’s. In Jeremiah’s time we see this recorded in Holy Scriptures: “For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord.” What horror! what dismay to see almost all of the spiritual leaders of Israel speaking lies in the name of the Lord. Could this happen again? Is it possible that in our modern day evangelical circles there are many that are not preaching a true genuine, Biblical Gospel? True Christianity is never popular Christianity! True Christianity is accepted by few and rejected by many. True ...