Bible Smart Preaching principles

Often times, maybe to often, it seems like preachers find themselves preaching from their mind, and not as much from the word.. now, if we aren’t careful this can easily lead to some problems for the congregation, or the preacher, himself.  Luckily, there is a way to avoid this, there is a proper way.. one which we have kind of forsaken.   Never worry though, this is why I’m writing this.. or in your case (written).

1. When in the pulpit, always remember your primary objective is to preach the TEXT.  All other things come after, and rightfully so.

2. When preparing a sermon, ask yourself questions about the text, re-read it, highlight it, underline it, memorize it until you can recite it, this will help you look Bible smart, I suppose.. and if you have memorized scripture, especially in preparing a sermon, it can help you preach the text, itself.

3. Preaching the word in its proper context.  I feel like we have a tendency to take verses like Philippians 4:13 and just prostitute them.. we sure seem quick to quote a lot.. but hardly do we take a moment to think.. do we even know what this means?  Look for keywords as context clues to discover the author’s original intended meaning.

4. Use the verses as a bridge to connect believers to find truths

My favorite part of reading, preaching and teaching the Bible: Interpretation.  The whole point of preaching,  isn’t so much to interpret the word as it is to build a bridge through the word that you can disciple others and connect the truths of the Bible to our modern-day Christian lives.

Thomas Brunt is unashamed of his faith in Jesus Christ, and of the gospel.   Have any theological arguments? Email: thesportsguy.brunt2@gmail.com 

Easter season

Easter is just around the corner, with that in mind, I thought I might tell you what Easter isn’t about, It’s not about chocolate bunnies, or marshmallow bunnies, it’s not about eggs, or an egg hunt.  Easter is so much more than that, for all Christians (yes, even the occasional Easter and Christmas visit to church).  Easter, and the days leading up to the Christian holiday (often referred to as lent) is all about the life, death, passion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Have a blessed Lent/Easter season

 

Purgatory, God’s love and mercy

Some of our Christian brothers and sisters are convinced that unless if something isn’t explicitly stated in scripture, it’s not there.. well some of it, anyway  well, to be fair if you are taught to read scripture like that, you won’t find  purgatory in the Bible.   It’s one thing to not know the complete truth, then to know it and still pretend it’s not the truth, unless you have a really good argument, and I mean a really good argument.  Personally, as a child of God, I’d like to think he’s much more merciful than what most other  Christian churches believe, and I have just come to the belief that he is.  He’s a loving father, he’s our creator, he’s God.

 

Scriptural references to purgatory:

Matthew 12:31-32

Revelation 21:27 

1 Peter 1:6-7

1 Corinthians 3:13-15

 

5 essentials to the Christian life

1. A hunger for God’s word: The Bible is our compass, through it God speaks his truth to us.   Yeah, the  Bible is pretty important.  we need a hunger for the word of god.  When we start reading the great book with an open heart, we began to see things differently.  Once we begin to see things differently, we feel convicted by the truth.    It’s important to read it prayerfully, though otherwise we are just eating without swallowing.  I thought of  putting this as “time alone with God” but I feel like that can fit in with this, as it’s pretty broad. 
2. Fellowship with the Bible:  Time alone with God is important, but we can’t do this whole  church thing  by ourselves.  Jesus didn’t do it by himself:  You see to grow a hunger for the word, it’s crucial we spend time going to things like Bible studies.  If we don’t we are hindering ourselves in our walk with God.
3. Biblical Fellowship with church.  Like I said, we can’t do church by ourselves. We must step out of  our comfort zones.   Just get involved at your church.
4. Church life:  The fact that I have this ranked #4 on the list isn’t anything against it. I just feel like I’ve got a tough list to work with here.  When you get involved at church, all the other things like fellowship fall into place.  It can be anything, really.   A friend of mine hangs out at his church, a lot.  He works in the wellness center of his church (non-pay).   Make yourself at home at church.
5.  Knowing God’s Word:  Out of all 5 of these “Knowing God’s word” is only#5?   While its logic that you can’t obey the word if you don’t know the word, if we don’t have true intimacy with Jesus Christ.. we are no different from the Pharisees.  Please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying here, I’m not by any means abandoning the importance of  the Bible.  I’ve stated already stated it’s great   We must have both knowledge and intimacy.   An atheist can have knowledge about the Bible, but it takes something to be a Man of God.