Discipleship is a matter of relating oneself to the living, exalted Christ as both learner and follower, and to the rest of Christ’s disciples as one who longs both to learn from them and to give to them, knowing that being in their company is the Masters will. These things must be clearly taught, or the nature of the Christian life will surely be misunderstood.
From “The Gospel: Its Content and Communication” (in Down to Earth Stott and Cook, ed)
In an essay titled “The Gospel: It’s Content and Communication,” J. I. Packer states…
The content of the Gospel includes a diagnosis of the hearers’ state and needs before God, value – judgments on the life they live now as compared with that which might be theirs, and a call to judge themselves, to acknowledge the gracious approach and invitation of God in Christ, and to respond by a commitment more radical and far reaching than any other they will ever make. The Gospel is not fully communicated unless all this occurs.
Therefore, the Gospel must be verbalized and in its verbal form it must be preached, that is, set forth by a messenger…
Packer goes on to say that “preaching is teaching plus application.”
As we prepare to step into pulpits before people who God loves enough to die for let us keep these things in mind and clearly present the Gospel.
I just viewed a very helpful and thought provoking discussion between Keller and Carson.
Click HERE</
Read this:
“But that’s precisely what the church is missing. AA and the like are organized toward the one objective of radical transformation. Lives depend on it. The church, generally, is not so singularly focused or seriously devoted.”
Intrigued?
See more HERE at Patheos.com
Ascribe to the Lord Glory
A PSALM OF DAVID
Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
[2] Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.
[3] The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD, over many waters.
[4] The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
[5] The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
[6] He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.
[7] The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire.
[8] The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness;
the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
[9] The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth
and strips the forests bare,
and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
[10] The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;
the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.
[11] May the LORD give strength to his people!
May the LORD bless his people with peace!
(Psalm 29 ESV)
I met with a friend this morning who informed me that today, here in USA is National Poem in Your Pocket Day. Who knew?
A church he attended recently sent this out… I thought it worthy of your contemplation so I googled it and found it, thanks to Garrison Keillor’s “The Writer’s Almanac” which is HERE…
It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.
Filed under culture, spiritual questions/musings/wonderings, the self
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