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.
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.
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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Despite evidences to the contrary, chaos does not reign. Jesus does.
Was Jesus ambitious or unambitious? We have to say that the answer is…yes.
Regardless of why they happen, sermon flops do happen to all of us. So, what should you do next?
Augustine makes plain that the overarching aim of style is not to be showy; it’s to be an instrument of Spirit-led persuasion.
Neither attentive note-taking, nor appreciative head-nods, nor even sympathetic tears satisfy the purpose of preaching. Only lives that are changed by the Word working in the hearts of God’s people can do that.
Clarity enables mobility. When preachers make the message clear, the people of God are freed-up to follow Jesus.
Strategic silence is a sanctified stall tactic which benefits both the preacher and the pew-sitter. It is not just dead air.
We entered the hospital with a jumbled ball of questions, uncertainties, and anxieties. We left with a master class in effective communication.
The message of the gospel is a multifaceted diamond. Parallelism in preaching helps you to bring out the beauty of those different facets.
The pocket notebook is an indispensable tool for the working preacher, because more often than not our great homiletical insights come to us, unexpectedly and extra nos, like grace.
We do not typically give much thought to the title at all, missing a chance to create greater anticipation for the preaching of the Word before it has even begun.
My greatest fear is simply this: I will be exposed for the phony I am.