Someone has said that you know it was a good sermon when you find yourself asking how the preacher knew all about you. That’s a nice sentiment that points to the importance of applicational relevance in preaching. Now allow me to give you my statement. This is not a complete statement, or a forever statement. It’s a today statement. I heard a great sermon this morning. (This post was written a couple of weeks back at Keswick, in case you’re wondering!) So I heard a great sermon. Here’s my statement, “you know it was a good sermon when twelve hours later you find yourself still pondering the powerful but simple take home truth, reminiscing over the clear images used to drive home the main points, reflecting on how engaged you felt by the message and the messenger, how excited you were, and still are, to look at the text, to pray through all that hit home, to take stock of your life in light of the text, to respond and be transformed by the message.” That’s my sentiment tonight that points to the importance of so knowing your text that you can take listeners by the hand and enter into it fully, of so thinking through your presentation that you have clear and concise main thoughts, an overwhelming master idea, an engaging manner of delivery, a contagious energy in presentation, a reliance on the Lord to move in peoples’ lives, and a targeted relevance to the listeners before you. Simple really, pull those things together and you’ll probably preach a decent message!
Original post:
Simply Good Preaching
Saving another battlefield from the Walmarts of the world.
Read the rest here:
Central Virginia Battlefields Trust
SUMMERVILLE — Supporters say the request was benign enough: Open a town meeting room for an hour each week so a group can pray for the community, its government and its churches.
Go here to see the original:
Request for prayer site stirs debate
By Victoria Boutenko Published in Green Smoothie Revolution For decades dietitians have been educating the public about the multiple benefits of greens, but it was not clear how to incorporate fresh greens into everyone’s daily diet. The only option for eating greens seemed to be the salad.
View original here:
The First Green Smoothie
image source , fetched 10 Aug 2010 Good news! The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad moratorium on deep oil drilling in coastal waters will soon be lifted : The head of the government agency that regulates offshore drilling said Tuesday that it is “unlikely” a six-month moratorium on the practice will be extended.
Read more from the original source:
Gold in the Molars
Matthew 18:15-20 Ez 9:1-7,10:18-22 / Ps 113 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20) Resolve conflicts without enmity, More than justice employ charity; Look for ways where we can all agree For the sake of our community. (Jesus said), “If your
The rest is here:
The Role of Servant Leaders
Aren’t Christians fun? On the one hand, god drops unassailable moral truths from the sky, so that the rejection of god involves an “anything goes” moral chaos in which Adam and Steve get married, wiener dogs roam the parks and streets unleashed, and children mix breakfast cereals in ways their manufacturers never authorized or intended
Read more here:
Morality – Binding, Eternal, and Totally Optional
Paul Harvey Don’t miss our contributor Christopher Jones’s piece over at Juvenile Instructor : ” ‘ Owned by the White People’: America and Native Americans in Church History Sunday School Lessons, 1934. ” Going through some boxes of old material while packing and moving, Chris reflects on Mormon providentialist interpretations, as communicated in Sunday School lessons, on the founding of America, and on relations with Native peoples. Some of it is kind of standard-issue stuff for that period: heroic and virtuous Pilgrims, God preparing the way for the coming of our Christian civilization, and so on.
See more here:
Owned by the White People
Camden, SC’s Richard Kirkland of the 2nd South Carolina Volunteers. The Angel of Marye’s Heights.
See the original post:
Angel of Marye’s Heights
We’re taking a break from polemics for a real treat. Here is a true story from a new friend of ours here at ABD, who is going by the name of “Ray.” He wants to share his story with you in the hopes that you will find something to relate to, that you might be strengthened and come to share in his hope in the love of Jesus Christ
Excerpt from:
Reader Testimonies — Ray