“Biblical preaching is when listeners are enabled to see how their world, like the biblical world, is addressed by the Word of God.” (William D. Thompson, Preaching Biblically)
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"To me, marketing is about values. This is a very complicated world, it's a very noisy world. And we're not going to get the chance to get people to remember much about us. No company is. So we have to be really clear on what we want them to know about us." — Steve Jobs to Apple employees, 1997 If you have accepted the responsibility of a preacher, it's important to remember we live in a "complicated ... very noisy world." When people grant us the privilege of their ear for 25-40 minutes each weekend, we have to treat that privilege like it really is: a sacred opportunity to bring a word from God to their world. While the outside noise may minimize during a worship service, it's still there. Thoughts of the previous week, worries about the upcoming one. Playing a conversation over again in their mind. Settling down…
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"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." - Leonardo da Vinci This is true if you are designing a product or giving a speech. In some ways, achieving complexity may actually be easier than finding simplicity. How? Because it takes discipline to eliminate ideas, especially good ideas. Posted from WordPress for Android
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I'm reading "The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs" and loved this quote in the chapter on simplicity: "The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak." - Hans Hoffman, German painter This is especially true in preaching. The overriding concern in preaching is not to overwhelm our audience with words but to speak the right word at the right time. Transformation is the goal. If we pack too much into a single message, even good stuff, the overall transformational effect will be reduced. Why? As painful as this is to admit as a preacher ... They won't remember much of what you say. If your talk, presentation, or sermon is filled with unnecessary words, strip them out. Only then will you give the necessary words a fighting chance to be heard. Posted from WordPress for Android
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With each passing anniversary, it's hard to remember the young man with big glasses and a goofy smile standing next to my wife in our wedding pictures. But she insists that it's me. Tonya and I were married in Memphis, TN, on a rainy night in December (the 21st to be exact, in case you're wondering). It was the culmination of a year-long engagement and the beginning of a life-long adventure. A friend sang "I Will be Here" and Tonya's father presided over the ceremony. A grand night indeed. As a pastor, I have always loved performing weddings because every wedding is unique and yet there are common threads running through each of them. Threads of love, anticipation, hope, and promise. Most of all, there is joy. This weekend we'll be exploring a parable Jesus taught that revolves around a wedding feast. It's about more than wedding cake and dancing;…
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