I want to encourage every pastor reading this to keep preaching the gospel. Week in. Week out. Keep exalting, heralding, and lifting up our crucified Savior, risen from the dead, reigning in Heaven, saving all who will look to him and believe.<\/p>\n
Gospel-centered sermons actually work. God\u2019s at work in them. The Spirit takes the power of the gospel, the glorious truth of 100% forgiveness by the no-longer-deadness of Jesus, and he applies it the people of God. The gospel changes people.<\/p>\n
I received this email from a lady at church:<\/p>\n
\u201cI appreciate your consistent presentation of the gospel message that saturates all that you preach on Sundays. I sense the Holy Spirit convicting and changing me slowly over time in places that really need it. I am being washed in the gospel weekly by God\u2019s word through you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amazing<\/em>. That\u2019s just amazing to me. Who\u2019s actually at work in her life? Me? No. \u201cI sense\u00a0the Holy Spirit<\/em>\u00a0convicting and changing me.\u201d Whoa. That\u2019s divine. That\u2019s supernatural.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not targeting her in my sermons. I\u2019m not thinking of specific applications for her. I\u2019m just preaching Christ. He\u2019s the power. I\u2019m a proclaimer. We can all be that. That\u2019s\u00a0preaching<\/em>.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t entertain the idea that your church needs something else more than they need the Christ. This has to be one of the chief temptations from the satanic powers for us preachers. You\u2019ll be teased and taunted by another model, another message, another emphasis.<\/p>\n Now, you probably won\u2019t abandon the gospel altogether, that\u2019d be too flagrant. Instead, you might preach marriage principles, finances, parenting advice, moral muster, and so on\u2014and using Scripture, lots of it\u2014and then sprinkle a little Jesus at the end. Brothers, that\u2019s not Christian preaching. Sprinkles just sit on top of the ice cream; they aren\u2019t a part of it.<\/p>\n Gospel preaching is where Jesus is the foundation, the center, the emphasis, the prize, the motivation, the hope, the power, and the joy of our sermons. We must be on guard against pimping out the gospel to meet our churches needs, or to prop up our sermons, or our desires. We are in danger of turning Jesus into a valet driver; he pulls the car around, nods, and then disappears into the noise.<\/p>\n Rather, Jesus is the engine. He\u2019s the fuel. He\u2019s the driver. It\u2019s all Jesus. In every sermon, labor, fight, and work to keep Jesus central. When I\u2019m prepping my sermons, I\u2019ll write at the top of my notes, \u201cDon\u2019t forget the gospel, Doofus.\u201d I need that reminder.<\/p>\n Heres\u2019s a simple way to think about gospel-centered sermons:<\/p>\n What would people perceive to be of first importance in this sermon? Jesus or their actions? Three nails or three steps toward _____? An empty tomb or a debt snowball?<\/p>\n It\u2019s decision time for us every time we enter the study. What will you decide? \u201cFor I decided to know\u00a0nothing<\/em>\u00a0among you\u00a0except Jesus Christ and him crucified<\/em>\u201d (1 Cor. 2:2).<\/p>\n What will you proclaim? \u201cHim<\/em>\u00a0we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ\u201d (Col. 1:28).<\/p>\n What will make the saints strong? \u201cNow to him who is able to strengthen you according to\u00a0my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ<\/em>\u201d (Rom. 16:25).<\/p>\n His word will not return to him void. He\u2019ll accomplish his purpose. Preach the cross, the empty tomb, and the radical grace of God\u2014Jesus will do the rest. This is why gospel-centered sermons actually work. He\u2019s at work.<\/p>\n I want to encourage every pastor reading this to keep preaching the gospel. Week in. Week out. Keep exalting, heralding, and lifting up our crucified Savior, risen from the dead, reigning in Heaven, saving all who will look to him and believe. Gospel-centered sermons actually work. God\u2019s at work in them. The Spirit takes the … Continue reading “Gospel-Centered Sermons Actually Work”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33247\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}