Saved By Grace

When the Walls are Closing In

As I prepared this sermon, there was one question that I struggled greatly answering, “How does the gospel give us the power to overcome earthly darkness?” Spiritual darkness, that is clear. We were once spiritually dead but through Christ and His death on the cross, we now have enteral life. But how does the gospel help us deal with what I call in the sermon, “earthly darkness” such as bankruptcy, divorce, and sickness? So, after hours of prayer and laboring, the Holy Spirit revealed the connection to me, namely that, no earthly darkness compares to the spiritual darkness that Jesus saved us from. In other words, no matter how big a financial, health, and relational trouble that we may experience on earth, it is nothing compared to being saved from God’s wrath. So, here’s what I learned from preaching this sermon. Preaching Tip: Use the cosmic perspective argument to preach the gospel. The cosmic perspective argument shows how a larger reality or ultimate truth (e.g., the spiritual death that Jesus saved us from) puts our current struggles into proper perspective, making them appear small or manageable by comparison while, at the same time, acknowledging their reality. So, whenever you are preaching and are stuck in making the connection to the gospel in your sermon, think about the cosmic perspective argument and it’ll put you on the right path to make that connection :) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pastorjae.substack.com [https://pastorjae.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Is the Second Coming of Jesus Really Happening?

One of the church members who have been struggling with his faith told me today, “I am a lot like these scoffers, forgetting the second coming of Jesus. I really do think I need to make some changes in my life.” This was one of many positive feedback that I received from my church members from today’s sermon. To give you a little context of the season that our church is currently, we just finished 2 Kings, are approaching Christmas, and have our church retreat in the next two weeks. So, my biggest challenge this week was, which season should my preaching focus on? The first draft of the sermon was geared towards ending 2 Kings and Christmas. Trying to address both seasons in one sermon ended up diluting the sermon to the point I, myself, didn’t know what the main point of my sermon was. The second draft of the sermon was geared towards retreat. First, choosing just one season to focus on made the point of my preaching clear. Second, I felt that preaching about retreat was what the church needed. To give you a little bit more context, our church was low in spirits due to changes in leadership, a death of a member (in August), and some members leaving our church recently. As much as Christmas is a big deal to churches and we’ve spent the last 3 months on 2 Kings, I didn’t think preaching to those seasons were what my church needed. What my church needed a spiritual revival. Every time our church went to retreat, our church members came back revived . So, preaching to the church about retreat would move us in the direction of a spiritual revival. And I am very glad that I did. So, here’s the lesson that I was reminded of once again. Preach to the need of the church. Though the current seasons of our church were, ending 2 Kings, retreat, and Christmas yet what the church needed was a spiritual revival. And what would move us in that direction? Preaching about retreat. So, reflecting on this week’s sermon, I was reminded of the importance of preaching to the need of the church. Writing Tip #1: Write to the Need of Your Audience One of the reasons why this week’s sermon was effective was because it spoke directly to the need of my church. Dale Carnegie, the author of How to Win Friends and Influence People, said, “Talk in terms of the other person’s interest.” In other words, if you want to communicate effectively, you must communicate to the need of the other person. Similarly, when writing on Substack, I want you to ask yourself this one question that will drastically help you in your writing: “What does my audience need at this time?” The better you are able to answer this question, the better your writing will be. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pastorjae.substack.com [https://pastorjae.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Is the Love of God in You?

The power of gospel preaching lies in the power of gospel living. If you have been following my Substack, I’ve been thinking really deeply about preaching, mostly its sermonic structure. However, one thing I realized this week was that I could write a flawless, gospel-centered sermon, but without the gospel-living behind it, it lacks power. An image that comes to mind is like a sail boat. The sail boat could be assembled flawlessly. However, with no wind, it has no power to move forward. The same applies to preaching. I could write a flawless gospel-centered sermon, but without the gospel-living behind it, it lacks power. So, practically, I use the gospel-centered preaching on Sundays as a way to keep me accountable before God in terms of my gospel-centered living. For example, before I stand to preach on Sunday, I make sure to have reconciled with the people whom I might have had anger or bitterness towards. In the morning before our worship time, I meet with a brother who I confess my sins to, pray together with in repentance, and ask for the washing of our sins through the blood of Jesus together. In other words, preaching the gospel is one way to keep me accountable to living out the gospel. If you are in church leadership and want to see the power of the gospel transform your church, it must start with your living out the gospel, yourself. Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pastorjae.substack.com [https://pastorjae.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Saved By Grace

Lately I’ve been trying to figure out how to write a sermon correctly, such as the exegesis, application, imagery, and presentation of the gospel. Last week, I spent the majority of my time figuring out how to present the gospel. And, I believe that I was successful doing so in this sermon as well. And so, I applied a very similar approach that I did in last week’s sermon in preparation for this week’s sermon. I could tell at least from my perspective that I achieved the goal of preaching, which is the conviction of sin and our need for Jesus to save us. There was a part of me that felt like I had broken down the correct preaching into a formula that when I followed these steps and procedures, the outcome is powerful preaching. However, that goes directly against this concept of grace that I was preaching in this sermon. That any good that I do, is not by my power, but God’s alone. And the same goes for preaching. Now that doesn’t mean that it is prideful to say that I know what elements and parts are needed for powerful preaching, because they act as guidelines to help me prepare my sermons. And yet, what I have to recognize, is that the very procedures that I’ve discovered to preaching, that in of itself is by the grace of God. So, moving forward, I am going to continue to apply the procedures that I have followed to prepare my sermons, while at the same time maintaining a view that powerful preaching is purely by God’s grace, and not by my procedures. Thank you for reading my reflections about my sermons, and God bless you! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pastorjae.substack.com [https://pastorjae.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

When Obedience Costs Too Much

One of the things I really tried to do in this sermon was to preach the gospel. In fact, the latter part of the sermon, where I preached the gospel—namely how Jesus essentially became this woman and took our place of sin—took as much time to prepare as the rest of the sermon. Though not my intention at all, I've preached many sermons without the gospel because, firstly, I didn't know how to, and secondly, because I needed to learn all the other elements of preaching such as exegesis, application, structure, and theology. Now that I feel like I have somewhat of a grasp on the different elements of a sermon, I was able to really focus on preaching the gospel—which some might argue should have come first. The only problem was, I didn’t know how to do it. But I was determined that I wouldn’t let another opportunity go by to preach the gospel in my sermon. So, I spent several hours trying without much success. Then, I decided to reflect on who I’ve heard that preached the gospel with every sermon. The preacher that came to mind was Timothy Keller. So, I actually fast-forwarded to the latter part of Timothy Keller’s sermons where he presents the gospel and listened to about ten of them to try to find some pattern. And I did. The pattern ultimately came down to substitutionary sacrifice, meaning Jesus taking our place of death so that we can be saved. And my hypothesis is that given that the sermon follows a general sermonic flow from the problem in the text to the grace in the text, there is always some character that faces a sort of death which reflects our spiritual death. From there, the job of the preacher is to show how Jesus becomes this character and takes upon Himself the death the character should have died. And it is only when we see Jesus as the substitutionary sacrifice, our hearts melt to obedience. Upon reflection, when I hear or preach sermons without the gospel, it just feels like moralistic teaching and looks like a beautiful exterior without real substance. I really hope that moving forward from here, I aim to preach the gospel in everysermon that I preach. Pray for me. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pastorjae.substack.com [https://pastorjae.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]