The Original Sin of Preaching: The Constant Craving for a Useful God in Pulpit and Pew
By Magnus Persson
03/25/26
12mins

The Original Sin of Preaching: The Constant Craving for a Useful God in Pulpit and Pew

God is not a tool in our hands. He does not exist to serve our goals, our metrics, or our platforms.
Even Chuck Norris Needed a Savior
Russ Lackey
Russ Lackey
03/23/26

Even Chuck Norris Needed a Savior

The gospel isn’t for the strong but people who know they aren’t.
Post-Denominational Lutheranism
John W. Hoyum
John W. Hoyum
03/20/26

Post-Denominational Lutheranism

One great thing about our post-denominational age is that it has opened up opportunities to make common cause with other Lutherans who, despite their differences and eccentricities, can agree on some of the most important things.

All Articles

Gerhard Forde
Gerhard Forde
06/15/23

Sin Will Have No Dominion

We live for the most part, on the strength of our moral fiber, under the law, by our zeal for God and all that which tickles our proud fancy.
Bradley Gray
Bradley Gray
06/14/23

Resumes of Weakness

His successes were not the result of his brilliance, might, and ability as an apostle. They were the result of the all-sufficient grace of God.
John Bombaro
John Bombaro
06/12/23

Plagiarizing Jesus Part 3: The Endless Uses of the Lord's Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer is liturgy and catechism, action and instruction, praxis and theology.
Amy Mantravadi
Amy Mantravadi
06/06/23

The Word from Outside

What I desperately needed was not to preach to myself, but to listen to a preacher—not to take myself in hand, but to be taken in the hands of the Almighty.
John Bombaro
John Bombaro
06/05/23

Plagiarizing Jesus Part 2: The Lord's Prayer as Catechesis

Praying the Word of God back to God carries didactic import. It teaches us.
Katie Koplin
Katie Koplin
06/02/23

God's Faithful Deliverance

Just like for Mordecai and Esther, our lives are also sustained by the hand of God in the ordinary, in events begging to be seen as the work of Christ in our lives.
Bruce Hillman
Bruce Hillman
06/01/23

Why Do You Expect So Little of God?

When we forget that we live by promise, that's when the danger tends to creep in. Because failing to embrace promise means we usually fall back into notions of luck, or even worse--into works.
1517 Staff
1517 Staff
05/25/23

When You Have Him

God is the end of living, the destination, the point of it all.
Jake Allstaedt
Jake Allstaedt
05/24/23

A Near-Death Experience and a Nagging Question

Jesus is the only answer to the nagging question. He is the only way to make sense of this unsettling story in Exodus 4.
Erick Sorensen
Erick Sorensen
05/23/23

Confessions of a Tim Keller Name-Dropper

Tim wanted everyone to know to the deepest part of their being that they were justified by Christ alone.
John Bombaro
John Bombaro
05/22/23

Plagiarizing Jesus: The Gift of the Lord's Prayer

The Lord’s prayer is a prayer in perfect accord with the will of God, and Jesus gifts it to us to plagiarize at will.
Wade Johnston
Wade Johnston
05/18/23

Your Shepherd and Your Lamb

This is the Christian word: grace. Such grace is found only with this Lamb who is also our Shepherd.
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