God makes us pure saints by planting us back in the earth we imagined we needed to escape.
Salvation is not merely to be put in “safety” but to be put into Christ.
Bringing your family to church to receive “the one thing needful” (Luke 10:42) in Word and Sacrament honors and pleases God.

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What (if anything) makes a sermon distinctive?
When you see the year ending, thank the Lord, because he had led you into this cycle of years.
C.S. Lewis, Grief, and the Holiday Season
Lincoln's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation
Sunshine and rain, food and harvests, family, friends, and health, love and joy. All these things and more he gives, not because of what you do or don’t do, but because he is generous and gracious.
Authentic proclamation, then, is the love of Christ for our souls, which we have seen and experienced through the under-shepherd’s pastoral care put into the words of Christ Himself.
While they speak on various aspects of the preaching task, these essays share a unity in their authors’ commitment to the fact that the preaching of Jesus Christ is not simply motivational, informational, or inspirational; it is the delivery of God’s promise into the ears of those who if left to themselves are deaf to the Creator’s voice.
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.
For with God we look not for the order of nature, but rest our faith in the power of him who works.
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.
It all starts with God; and it all ends with God. He is the alpha and omega of giving and generosity.