Posted on 05/15/2014 9:40:21 PM PDT by ReformationFan
There are some very interesting things in the Bible, including some good stories ( meaning stories a preacher should be able to make good sermons from— and yes, relevant sermons with good messages or “ bottom lines”) ). It’s hard to understand how how a cleric could be bored by it all. Perhaps he chose the wrong line of work ?
When I was growing up, you walked into the sanctuary with a certain reverence because you were walking into God’s house. There was music playing softly, and we would busy ourselves with meditative prayer allowing the Holy Spirit to prepare our hearts to hear what the Word had for us that day.
Today, people saunter into church in shorts and flip flops carrying a latte and a cell phone and sit there texting or checking out some website while electric guitars play in the background, and others are carrying on conversations about their kid’s schoolwork or last soccer game. When the service starts a bunch of people show up on stage and perform as though they were on American Idol, with all the focus on them. Finally the preacher gets up in his jeans and t shirt and expounds on the latest pop “Christian” feel good psychology with a few Bible verses thrown in for seasoning.
No wonder people balk when they hear a real sermon from the Word of God. It just ain’t hip. And you gotta be hip to fill those empty seats.
Hey, maybe THAT’S why their empty.
One of the reasons they don't teach/preach the Bible is that they have no idea of context because they have no understanding of history. They apply everything directly to today which is not only shallow, it's arrogant and discounts the millions of believers who lived before us.
But I think revival is coming (which will be centered on Biblical truth). It's taking a while but maybe the longer it tarries, the longer it will last.
No one has any interest in hearing Scripture that is not convicted of their own sin.
In fact, if they’re not convicted of their own sin, the last thing they want to hear is Scripture.
Why would they need to hear about being saved if they’ve done nothing that merits any punishment ?
They certainly don’t want to hear about sin if they’re not truly convicted of their own sin.
That conviction is very upsetting. It’s only then that one really throws oneself upon God’s mercy.
It’s only then that one develops the need to hear God’s Word like one’s need for food, for bread, when starving. What have I been doing wrong ? How can I be obedient ? Some things I thought were wrong were actually not.
Absent the grace of God, people simply do “not want to go there”.
bookmark
I wonder if anyone yawned when Jesus preached?
“It has been said to the point of boredom that we live in a narcissistic age, where we are wont to fixate on our needs, our wants, our wishes, and our hopesat the expense of others and certainly at the expense of God. We do not like it when a teacher uses up the whole class time presenting her material, even if it is material from the Word of God. We want to be able to ask our questions about our concerns, otherwise we feel talked down to, or we feel the class is not relevant to our lives.”
People need to understand that this (meaning EVERYTHING we take in with our five senses) is not about US.
None of it. Everything is about Jesus. Everything.
I don’t understand what the author means by “preaching the Bible.” The Bible is ... the Bible. If you’re reading (or reciting from memory) the words of the Bible, then you are. If you’re not, you’re not.
By “preaching the Bible,” does he mean “telling the congregation what I think about something in the Bible”?
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
I ask: What else should be preached?
Mohler's article was written long ago and it is timeless. Right?
Perhaps some educational standards might be set for pastors.
Are there not possible errors that people may believe because they interpret the Bible differently from others?
Or doesn't that matter?
A sermon is not reading or reciting.
educating people about what’s in the Bible is essential.
I was amazed at the times I have been in a Protestant or non-Catholic Church. Once there was nothing preached, once a few lines from the Old Testament and the other time just some generalizations.
It puzzled me because I am used to hear Scripture spoken on every week.
May 16, 2014
Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter
Reading 1 Acts 13:26-33
When Paul came to Antioch in Pisidia, he said in the synagogue: My brothers, children of the family of Abraham, and those others among you who are God-fearing, to us this word of salvation has been sent. The inhabitants of Jerusalem and their leaders failed to recognize him, and by condemning him they fulfilled the oracles of the prophets that are read sabbath after sabbath. For even though they found no grounds for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him put to death, and when they had accomplished all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and placed him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. These are now his witnesses before the people. We ourselves are proclaiming this good news to you that what God promised our fathers he has brought to fulfillment for us, their children, by raising up Jesus, as it is written in the second psalm, You are my Son; this day I have begotten you.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 2:6-7, 8-9, 10-11ab
R. (7bc) You are my Son; this day I have begotten you. or:
R. Alleluia.
I myself have set up my king on Zion, my holy mountain. I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: The LORD said to me, You are my Son; this day I have begotten you.
R. You are my Son; this day I have begotten you. or:
R. Alleluia.
Ask of me and I will give you the nations for an inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. You shall rule them with an iron rod; you shall shatter them like an earthen dish.
R. You are my Son; this day I have begotten you. or:
R. Alleluia.
And now, O kings, give heed; take warning, you rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice before him; with trembling rejoice.
R. You are my Son; this day I have begotten you. or:
R. Alleluia.
Gospel Jn 14:1-6
Jesus said to his disciples: Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Fathers house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way. Thomas said to him, Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Gospel Jn 14:1-6
Jesus said to his disciples: Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Fathers house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way. Thomas said to him, Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
I heard an interesting homily on the Gospel verse at Mass this morning. I don’t remember all of it, but Father summed it up by saying that whenever he hear the phrase, “I am the way and the truth and the life,” it is a powerful reminder that it is only by entering into a personal relationship with Jesus that we can come to the Father through Him and enter eternal life.
You both seem to be saying that, by "preaching the Bible," the author means, "Telling the congregation what he thinks the Bible means."
What would things look like if Satan really took control of a city? Over a half century ago, Presbyterian minister Donald Grey Barnhouse offered his own scenario in his weekly sermon that was also broadcast nationwide on CBS radio.
Barnhouse speculated that if Satan took over Philadelphia, all of the bars would be closed, pornography banished, and pristine streets would be filled with tidy pedestrians who smiled at each other. There would be no swearing. The children would say, Yes, sir and No, maam, and the churches would be full every Sunday . . . where Christ is not preached.
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