Prophetic Preaching: A Pastoral Approach

The prophetic witness of preaching biblical justice has been a tradition in much of the African-American church. In her book Prophetic Preaching: A Pastoral Approach (Westminster John Knox) Leonora Tubbs Tisdale talks about the nature of such preaching and urges a restoration of the prophetic pulpit in our own day.

Reclaiming the Old Testament for Christian Preaching

Reclaiming the Old Testament for Christian Preaching (IVP Academic) is an outstanding collection of essays offering practical insights for preaching from various literary genres found in the Old Testament, including narrative, lament, poetry, prophetic material and more. The book includes work by outstanding Old Testament scholars and will be a useful tool in the hands of expository preachers.

Illustration: Divorce

Lots of folks are quoting statistics that Christians are more likely than non-Christians to divorce; but those numbers are deceptive, as Glenn Stanton points out in a Focus on the Family report. He writes: "Couples who regularly practice any combination of serious religious behaviors and attitudes -- attend church nearly every week, read their Bibles and spiritual materials regularly; pray privately and together; generally take their faith seriously, living not as perfect disciples, but serious disciples -- enjoy significantly lower divorce rates than mere church members, the general public and unbelievers."

Preaching Out of Dissatisfaction

In an article for Preaching Today, Dallas Willard writes: "Preachers who are not finding satisfaction in Christ are likely to demonstrate that with overexertion and overpreparation for speaking, and with no peace about what they do after they do it. If we have not come to the place of resting in God, we will go back and think, 'Oh, if I'd done this,' or 'Oh, I hadn't done that.' When you come to the place where you are drinking deeply from God and trusting Him to act with you, there is peace about what you have communicated."

Seventh Sunday of Easter: Our Ascended Lord

Our passage is but one text, yet it pictures three different time periods for Jesus. In effect, it is a 3D picture: Past, present and future. The ascension shows His act of returning to His heavenly throne, His present ministry to the church and His future hope for the church.

Sixth Sunday of Easter: When Philosophy Meets Theology

The Super Bowl, professional football's mightiest conflict, takes place early each year. Two conference champions enter, and one ultimate champion emerges. Would that philosophical conflicts were settled that easily and forthrightly! Conflict over ideas can pit nations against each other (remember the battle of communism vs. democracy in the Cold War?) and even a nation against itself (e.g. America's monumental battle of states' rights vs. federalism).

Fifth Sunday of Easter: Fanning the Flames

October 8, 1871, is a date forever etched in the consciousness of Chicago, for it was the date of the Great Chicago Fire that ultimately cost more than $200 million. The exact origin of the fire has been debated through the years, and the original story of Catherine O'Leary's cow kicking over a lantern has been debunked as the fruit of a reporter's imagination.

Fourth Sunday of Easter: His Sheep Am I

Can you imagine a shepherd so cruel as to toss one of his sheep over the wall and out of the sheepfold? Jesus healed a man blind from birth. It happened on a Sabbath day. The Pharisees were so angry they excommunicated the man. They physically expelled him from the synagogue. Violently! This is the background to our text. In this teaching, Jesus reveals several wonderful truths about Himself.

Third Sunday of Easter: A Walk with the Risen Lord

Wouldn't you like to have been one of those two disciples on the road to Emmaus when Jesus suddenly joined their journey? What things He must have taught them as He surveyed the Hebrew Scripture! What wonderful insight they gained about how it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer death and then enter into His glory.