One of my new favorite blogs, Old Truth, has reprinted an article on 5 Puritan Evangelism Lessons for Today's Churches. I think I do a decent job following all five of these each Sunday in my morning sermon, probably not as well as I would like with my Sunday evening sermon. I am a firm believer that every sermon should at some point mention the Garden and the Cross. The Garden of Eden to demonstrate Mankind's fall and the Cross to demonstrate God's gracious redemption of His people. Without a reminder of the utterly fallen nature of man, the holiness of God and the eternal penalty for sin, the cross loses all of it's power and becomes a nice story about morality, rather than the life changing event it should be. I sometimes worry I sound repetitive in the pulpit, but then I read stuff like this and it reinforces those things that I think are important in preaching God's Word.
BTW, I felt rotten yesterday, tired and sore throat, etc and I think I gave a more powerful, God honoring sermon than normal. I think I preach better when I am sick, because I am so much more reliant of the Holy Spirit and so much less reliant on my own oratorical skills. If I could only remember that when I feel good!
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