"Social media is a wonderful thing – IF you have the knowledge and skills to control it. Say what you like, but most people don’t have those skills and we’re seeing the deterioration happening in our culture every day." - Cooke
See also... The Resistance: Only Parents Can Challenge the Digital Empire
"On each corner of the paper, I write the following headings. Top Left Corner: Big Picture, Big Action, Big Inspiration, Top Right Corner: Verse Groupings, Bottom Right Corner: Illustrations, Bottom Left Corner: Applications. I start with the top right corner." - Jess Rainer
"Here’s what I’m surprised (and convicted that I’m surprised) to see: the simple message of the gospel and the Word of God preached still change people’s lives to God’s glory and the advancement of his kingdom." - Tim McKnight
"As I’ve walked through the meaning of repentance in my own spiritual walk, the Puritans have been helpful in clarifying the meaning of the word repentance. In particular, Thomas Watson’s work entitled The Doctrine of Repentance" - Tim McKnight
"The average of 13.8 hours each week on sermon preparation is only less than the 23.3 hours pastors say they spend with their family on any given week." - Lifeway
Acts 1:12-26 is a challenge for a preacher. It seems like a transition piece―filler. We wouldn’t want to call it that, but we might think it. What is the passage about? What should pastors do with it?
I agree with Abraham Kuruvilla that we ought not distill a passage down to a “big idea.” God didn’t only give scripture in propositional form. He used all kinds of genres, and each one is doing something a bit different in its own context. Rather than reducing a passage to a “big idea” and structuring the sermon around that distillate, we should act as tour guides explaining and interpreting the entire passage. Then, in application, we apply the theology―what God is doing with what He’s saying? If my wife tells me the drip tray in the espresso machine is full, what is she doing? Is she just communicating information, or does she implicitly want me to do something with that data? Of course, she wants me to empty the drip tray!
When we preach a text, we should ignore the temptation to flatten it into one propositional statement. We show the people what God is doing with what He’s saying, then we give them practical steps to make that theology real in their lives to make them a bit more like Christ.
"... among churches that posted their sermons, homilies or worship services online between Aug. 31 and Nov. 8, 2020, two-thirds posted at least one message from the pulpit mentioning the election. But these rates varied considerably among the four major Christian groups" - Pew
Related at CT: How Thousands of Sermons Addressed the Crises of 2020
“So, why should we avoid merely borrowing a ready-made sermon even with attribution? First, sermon preparation allows the preacher to personalize the text. As I work through the passage and discover its flow, it become personal to me.” - J. Straub
(HT: Proclaim & Defend)
