Josephus does not tell us that Christianity is true, and Christians do not need Josephus to tell them that Christ is risen. But Christianity makes claims about things that happened in public history under identifiable rulers, priests, and governors. For that reason, testimony from outside the church matters.
09/18/26
Today, the longing for cultural Christianity on both the left and the right hearkens back to an older version of Christendom that was a mixed blessing for the church in the western world. The cultural mediation of Christian views on created order has certainly benefitted the civilization we’ve inherited. But the gospel itself isn’t something that can be reduced to cultural mediation either. Instead, the gospel as a message stands apart from all human accomplishments and achievements, no matter how beneficial they might be.
09/16/26
The student of Scripture should always have a map open next to their Bible as they read. If possible, they should also travel to Israel, not to make a pilgrimage, but to see the context of the land in which these stories took place. These are not fairy tales made up about fictional fantasy lands; these are stories about real people in real places interacting with a real God.
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John T. Pless
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11/25/19
Advent draws us to the Lord who comes. We might even say that Advent really does begin in creation as the Father through His Eternal Word breathes His Spirit over the depths of darkness and calls into existence that the culmination of things that are not.
11/25/19
Franzmann walks alongside of readers of the Gospel according to Matthew like a sharp-eyed and knowledgeable tour guide pointing out features of the evangelical landscape which invite and provoke deeper reflection and, in turn, cannot but help make preaching more interesting and robust.
11/18/19
Professor John T. Pless has organized an incredible Advent series on the Apostles' Creed for you! Included here are texts, themes, and an order of service for your midweek Advent services.
11/11/19
It is in the midst of a world marked by empty and deceptive hopes that have broken hearts and lives that we are sent to deliver the promise of a future that has as its last chapter the resurrection of the body to eternal life with the Lamb who was slain but is alive forevermore.
08/12/19
[Luther's] Catechism is at home in the evangelical pulpit, guiding and shaping what the preacher says so faith might be created and love given direction.
07/15/19
Good reading is an ingredient for good preaching. Here are a few books –most of them relatively new- which you might want to put on your summer reading list.
12/23/18
Christmas wrecks all attempts to penetrate God's hiddenness and seek him out in Heaven. He comes to us clothed in our humanity.
12/09/18
Past, present, fututre converge in Advent. The historical coming of the Lord Jesus in the flesh, born of Mary to suffer and die for the world's redemption is indicated by having the Palm Suday account read on the First Sunday in Advent. All of the church year revolves around the cross.
11/27/18
The following is the third installment of an adaptation of John T. Pless' Advent Preaching Workshop. In it you will find an order of service, suggested hymns and readings, and notes for sermon preparations.
11/27/18
The following is the first installment of an adaptation of John T. Pless' Advent Preaching Workshop. In it you will find an order of service, suggested hymns and readings, and notes for sermon preparations.
11/27/18
The following is the second installment an adaptation of John T. Pless' Advent Preaching Workshop. In it ou will find an order of service, suggested hymns and readings, and notes for sermon preparations.
06/11/18
Advent accents preaching, making known that it is the Lord who comes to bring salvation, to proclaim this in all the earth.
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