Sublime

Therefore, although preachers should not definitively determine application until completing their study of a passage (i.e., not deciding what a text requires before determining what it means), they should have the thrust of application clearly in mind before beginning sermon construction.

By phrasing the application’s instruction with the key terms of the explanation, preachers help listeners not only understand why they were listening to the explanation but also connect the instruction of the preacher with the authority of Scripture.

The long and short of it appears to be that an entire ministerial enterprise dedicated to meeting felt needs, supplying biblical advice, and providing top-notch production values has quietly become a huge success at drawing crowds but a huge failure at what the Bible actually calls the church to do.

Homileticians once divided sermons into three basic components: exposition (the explanations of and arguments for what a text says), illustration (demonstrations of what a text says), and application (the behavioral or attitudinal implications of what a text means).

Every week people file into our church services aching for eternity. In our zeal to provide something they may find comfortable and useful and inoffensive, are we offending the God who wishes to offend us in awe of his glory? Are we dismissing our brother Jesus, whose formula for victory includes crucifixion?

Should we switch things up? Try another tack? Measurable nonresults is one of the reasons so many churches tuck the gospel behind fog and lasers or adjust their teaching to the “7 Steps” busywork of moralistic therapeutic deism.

“Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the

Some very sincere, honest, intelligent people who have been believers for a long time say that the gospel-centered stuff is all very nice but they know the gospel already, and what they really need to know is what the Bible says about getting out of debt or surviving the workplace. Sounds totally reasonable, no? Law-drivenness almost always does, a