Religion Commons^™

Exploring How Pentecostals Preach About Depression, Robert D. Mcbain

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

A qualitative analysis was completed on twelve sermons into how Pentecostal preachers talk about depression from the pulpit using the Assemblies of God (AG) as a purposive sample. Findings illustrate that preachers talked about faulty thinking as the source of depression and interpreted depression as a transformative journey occurring within the context of a God encounter where the believer fixed their faulty thinking. While the way the preachers interpreted depression is not without critique, the article suggests that preaching about depression as a journey of encounter may help listeners frame their depression experiences within a narrative framework that helps them …

Francis Of Assisi: A Reputation Marred Beyond Recognition, Jackson Gravitt

Eleutheria: John W. Rawlings School of Divinity Academic Journal

Francis of Assisi believed his mission was to preach the gospel, and his reputation shortly after his death was that of a prolific preacher. However, members of his Order eventually began to present his life differently due to controversies that developed after his death. They began to de-emphasize his preaching ministry to instead focus on his holiness, miracles, or reformed mindedness. In the twentieth century, these works served as the foundation of Francis studies, resulting in scholars neglecting his reputation as a preacher. Francis became caricatured as anti-oracular, most notably by his association with an apocryphal quote: “Preach the gospel …

Making The Case For Preachers Who Read, Ethan Stoppenhagen

Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal

I once heard a story about a new pastor in the early 1990s who was settling into his first call in Pembroke, Ontario. A man walked into his study and silently began perusing the shelves. The pastor noticed him, but carried on with his business. The stranger spent several minutes pulling books off the shelves, flipping pages, nodding and murmuring, and setting some books apart by laying them on their spines. Occasionally he’d hold up a book with a quizzical look on his face. “Required for class,” the pastor shrugged, and the man would scoff and shove it back on …

The Gospel For The Whole Person: Attending To Sin And Grace Throughout The Human Experience, Charles Ridley

Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal

Preaching is the means by which the Holy Spirit speaks to God’s people through the preacher who stands in the stead of Jesus, the Lord of the Church. Through a sermon that is faithful to God’s revealed will and written Word, the Spirit convicts the world concerning sin and proclaims the gospel of forgiveness, life, and salvation which is found in Christ alone. The basic task placed before us in preaching is not only to be faithful to scripture, but also to make a coherent and compelling presentation of the gospel. Most of those reading this will be familiar with …

Christ-Oriented Expository Preaching: Preaching The New Testament Use Of The Old Testament, Randall Zeigler

Eleutheria: John W. Rawlings School of Divinity Academic Journal

Lee, Kyoohan. Christ-Oriented Expository Preaching: Preaching the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2020. 186 pages. $25.00.

Three Unique Theological Themes Of Oral Roberts’ Preaching, Julie Ma

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

The study examines three unique theological themes of Oral Roberts: “Seed-faith,” healing of the whole being, and the “Fourth Man.” Since his message was a reflection of his theology, I also investigate his theological formation, informed particularly by his experiences such as miraculous healing.

Recycling A Colonial Puritan Sermon: A Case Study, David M. Powers

Sermon Studies

Notes which the teenager John Pynchon took in the 1640s as he listened to the Rev. George Moxon’s sermons in frontier Springfield, MA, have become the inspiration and the ingredients for sermon performances in 21st century New England. The project began with a word-for-word transcription of a symbol-for-symbol manuscript based on a code invented by Pynchon. Then a very few words which the notetaker skipped, in his rush to record just what he heard, were added to provide essential clarification. So, too, was introductory material to frame the experience by encouraging the listening congregation to “stretch” a bit to appreciate …

“Wild Mobs, To Mad Sedition Prone”: Preaching The American Revolution, Barry Levis

Sermon Studies

The Church of England in the American Colonies was really not a single institution. Because no local bishop governed the church in America, falling as it did under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London, the clergy tended to have differing loyalties. Especially in the southern colonies, local vestries ruled the clergy because they controlled their stipends; therefore the clergy followed the lead of the local squirearchy and suppressed their personal views regarding independence. The New England Anglican clergy were equally in a difficult position. Midst the hostility of Puritanism and the Sons of Liberty, they seemed like an alien …

Preaching In Britain’S “Parish Church”: Sermons At London’S St. Paul’S Cathedral, In The Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries, Frances Knight

Sermon Studies

This paper will address the conference themes of ‘space, place and context’ with an examination of the development of preaching at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, over the course of two hundred years. Completely rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1666, on a scale which was intended to rival St Peter’s in Rome, the new St Paul’s was explicitly designed as a Protestant cathedral. Preaching, therefore, was highly valued. Yet, despite the adoption of Wren’s ‘preaching box’ plan, speaking in the colossal space, potentially to a congregation of many hundreds, presented considerable challenges. As one would expect over a two-hundred-year …

Rethinking Law And Gospel In The Way We Do Preaching, Benjamin Berteau

Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal

This paper evaluates the impact of C. F. W. Walther’s Law and Gospel and Richard Caemmerer’s goal, malady, means approach to homiletics, also discussing the potential trap of law-gospel reductionism. A suggested pathway forward is a reemphasis on a creedal approach to Lutheran theology and preaching as well as a renewal of rhetoric as foundational to ultimately restoring a positive view of the third use or function of the law in Lutheran preaching. Having done so, the reader may certainly apply this positive view of the law as it relates to preaching on other topics related to the Christian Life …

Finding Their Voices--A Rhetorical Reflection, Gary S. Selby

Leaven

No abstract provided.

Protests From The Pulpit: The Confessing Church And The Sermons Of World War Ii, William S. Skiles

Sermon Studies

This article examines sermons delivered by Confessing Church pastors in the Nazi dictatorship during World War II, and specifically explores the messages of opposition against the regime. The approach of most historians has focused on the history of the Christian institutions, its leaders, and its persecution by the Nazi regime, leaving the most elemental task of the pastor - that is, preaching - largely unexamined. To understand Confessing Church opposition during World War II, I have analyzed 255 sermons delivered in pulpits, published in pamphlets, and broadcast over the airwaves. Furthermore, I have examined sermons delivered "out in the open" …

Improvising With The Quadrilateral: An Augustinian Approach To Recovering The Use Of The Wesleyan Quadrilateral In The Theology Of Preaching, Nathan Crawford

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

Preaching That Leads To Transformation, Curtis Barbarick

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

This article presents the results of a project to develop a process whereby the sermon would be enhanced for listeners at the North Street Church of Christ in Nacogdoches, Texas, so that preaching would be more effective in leading to transformation. The theology and methodology of John Wesley were utilized as a lens by which to think about and implement this practice.

The intervention involved a six-week session with a focus group that represented a cross-section of the congregation. Participants in this group were asked to engage in a lectio divina exercise on a particular text daily, journal about the …

All Saints’ Day • 1 John 3:1–3 • November 1, 2015, Francis Rossow

Concordia Journal

Well, the Christian life, in some respects at least, resembles a multiple-phase rocket: the first phase is from conception to birth; the second phase is from birth to death; and the third phase is from death into eternity.

Reformation Sunday • Romans 3:19–28 • October 25, 2015, Robert Rosin

Concordia Journal

The gospel flies in the face of logic, which is why Luther (in his 1517 “Disputation against Scholastic Theology”) said Aristotle is to theology as darkness is to light.

Proper 23 • Hebrews 3:12–19 • October 11, 2015, Joel Okamoto

Concordia Journal

The promise is eschatological, a promise of life with God and all his people in the new creation, enjoying the life of the age to come.

Proper 23 • Hebrews 3:12–19, Joel Biermann

Concordia Journal

Sin becomes altogether too common and familiar and so “safe.” The writer to the Hebrews screams the contrary alert: Sin kills.

Proper 22 • Hebrews 2:1–13 (14–18), Charles Arand

Concordia Journal

Not only did God honor us with the role of being responsible over creation, he now honors us by becoming a human creature so that in him, that right dominion would be restored.

Proper 21 • James 5:(1–12) 13–20, Tony Cook

Concordia Journal

Regardless of which section of the pericope one selects, all three share the following themes: we are to live out our identity in Christ even in the face of suffering, we are to assist our brothers and sisters in staying true to the faith.

Proper 20 • James 3:13–4:10, Jeffrey Kloha

Concordia Journal

James 3 and 4 stand among the harshest condemnations found in the NT.

Proper 19 • James 3:1–12, William Schumacher

Concordia Journal

Christians are absolutely forbidden to speak evil of other people—even if what they say is technically “true.”

Proper 18 • James 2:1–10, 14–18, Joel Fritsche

Concordia Journal

For faith alone can justify; Works serve our neighbor and supply The proof that faith is living.

Proper 17 • Ephesians 6:10–20, Jason Broge

Concordia Journal

The armor these soldiers are wearing is not gained by their own merit, but spiritual gifts they are blessed with.

Proper 16 • Ephesians 5:22–33, William Wrede

Concordia Journal

The bulk of this passage has as its focus the role of husbands and how they are to love.

Proper 15 • Ephesians 5:6–21, Joel Fritsche

Concordia Journal

The Christian Life, A Wake up Call.

Proper 14 • Ephesians 4:17–5:2, James Voelz

Concordia Journal

This pericope is typical of the latter portion of Paul’s letters, that is, it deals with everyday matters of the Christian life

Proper 13 • Ephesians 4:1–16 • August 2, 2015, Richard Marrs

Concordia Journal

Just as your hands and your knees are gifts to you, gifts from God, so are the people around you gifts from God.

Proper 12 • Ephesians 3:14–21 • July 26, 2015, Benjamin Haupt

Concordia Journal

Paul is praying that the Ephesian Christians will be able to see the blueprints, so to speak, for the new church construction project, that is the building project of the church of God, the body of Christ.

1proper 11 • Ephesians 3:14–21 • July 26, 2015, Jeff Gibbs

Concordia Journal

The good news is that the Gentile believers now fully belong as household members (3:19) to the God of Israel, the Father of Jesus (Eph 1:3).