I highly recommend this short essay by John Ortberg, "People of the Book." He wonderfully analyzes the paradox of the availability of the Bible and yet the incredible lack of knowledge people have from the Bible -- and then goes on with sound advice about proclaiming Scripture.
A few excerpts to whet your appetite:
"How do I proclaim the Scriptures in a way that honors their authority, and at the same time recognizes where my hearers are (as opposed to where I wish they were)?"
"In many ways our situation is increasingly like that of the early church. The gospel had to compete in a multi-religious, pluralistic environment where, as Edward Gibbon put it, "the masses considered all religions equally true, the philosophers considered them equally false, and the politicians considered them equally useful." Historians like Rodney Stark say that the reason the church exploded across the ancient world was, to a large extent it was because the church incarnated the word—cared for the poor, fed the hungry, embraced the orphan, risked sheltering the sick. The gospel had to win a hearing by being incarnated along with being proclaimed. Those of us who preach the Scriptures, along with being nourished by it ourselves, have to figure out along with our congregations how we can incarnate the gospel in our community, or we will preach to a religious ghetto."
"I assume that if preaching the Scriptures is going to get under the skin of people I speak to, things will have to get a little edgy. We get so used to the Bible, we miss its edginess."
"The Scriptures really are used by God in a unique way to change lives. But those of us who teach them must be gripped by this conviction. It cannot be faked or forced. It comes as a gift."
Read the whole essay.
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