christianity

Often illustrations will come to mind as preachers prepare a message. If the point to be made is sharply defined, it is more likely to throw mental sparks against a memory or recent experience, and the illustration will immediately flame into light. Most preachers, however, will be seriously handicapped if they rely only on immediate inspiration

The gospel well preached and applied will make ministry messy. Things will change. I often think of it like the beating of a rug—you’re gonna get a lot of dust in the air. There will be a thick cloud. The gospel stirs stuff up. But our God is not an author of confusion. So as things get messy, while the gospel is creating a safe space for sins,

The power to do what God requires resides in God.

In the same chapter, Paul writes, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (v. 6). Is loving God—and, by extension, loving people—what you are about? Is it what being a Christian means to you? Do you live as though faith, demonstrated through love, really is the only thing that counts?

This chapter is about what God was like before he created the world, a starting point that requires a little explanation. You would be quite within your rights to ask how on earth we can know such a thing. The simple answer is that we on earth can only know because God told us. A surprising amount of material in the Bible concerns the precreation

I think the “prosperity theology” popular today is heresy. It perverts the gospel, misrepresents God, and misleads its adherents. I do not believe that if you give a lot to God He will make you financially rich here on earth. But I do believe passages like these and others indicate that earthly blessings of an unspecified nature will be given to

The tension that ensues resolves itself when the weak give voice to their plight, find solace, and discover meaning in the telling of their own stories. Humanity’s fundamental problem is oppression, and “salvation” is found through self- (or group) expression.

The same principles of exposition that require us to reflect the intent of a biblical author should direct us to speak in a manner appropriate for the truth being presented and the situation being addressed.

The key fact is that as Peter presented the word of the gospel and called Gentiles to faith, the Spirit was given to them just as it had been given to Jewish believers at the beginning, an allusion to Acts 2 (11:17). This gift comes from God, who knows the heart. It was an act by which God bore witness to their genuine response and God's acceptance