When I served in south St. Louis, our church was located at the beautiful intersection of Tower Grove and Magnolia Avenue. For nine years I would arrive at church prior to the 8:15 a.m. service, driving past two Sunday morning fixtures. The first was a man I affectionately called “pretzel man.” Pretzel man had a small, portable cart which served as his base of operations for selling pretzels. He would have about six of those soft pretzels in a bag that he would sell for a couple of bucks. The other fixture was a boy, probably a middle schooler, who sold the Sunday morning St. Louis Post-Dispatch. They would call out to those stopped at the intersection and sell their Sunday morning wares to those who were venturing out for the first time that day.
Those images of people calling out to those passing by remind me of the most commonly used word for preaching in the New Testament. To preach is to “herald,” to call out or speak out news. As Christians we are all called to “herald” or “call out” the gospel. Whereas we typically think of news predominately bad news, the gospel is good news. Hence, gospel preaching is calling out or heralding the good news of salvation.
The book of Acts contains some 30 sermons. Some of them are heralded to crowds while others are shared with individuals. Make no mistake, though, gospel preaching is one of the primary themes of Acts, and God invites each of us to be gospel preachers.
What is the content of the gospel? If we’re going to be gospel preachers, I think it’s important that we’re clear on the content of the message. Especially in a world that is becoming more and more pluralistic in its worldview. This week’s series of posts is designed to look at the content of the gospel based on the first gospel sermon in Acts delivered by the Apostle Peter on the Day of Pentecost.
Those images of people calling out to those passing by remind me of the most commonly used word for preaching in the New Testament. To preach is to “herald,” to call out or speak out news. As Christians we are all called to “herald” or “call out” the gospel. Whereas we typically think of news predominately bad news, the gospel is good news. Hence, gospel preaching is calling out or heralding the good news of salvation.
The book of Acts contains some 30 sermons. Some of them are heralded to crowds while others are shared with individuals. Make no mistake, though, gospel preaching is one of the primary themes of Acts, and God invites each of us to be gospel preachers.
What is the content of the gospel? If we’re going to be gospel preachers, I think it’s important that we’re clear on the content of the message. Especially in a world that is becoming more and more pluralistic in its worldview. This week’s series of posts is designed to look at the content of the gospel based on the first gospel sermon in Acts delivered by the Apostle Peter on the Day of Pentecost.
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