Today's Word for Pastors...

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 
1 Peter 1:23

Today's Preaching Insight...

Worship in the Face of Threat

There is a certainty in the Word of God that whatever God says will come to pass.

Charles Campbell holds the distinguished Peter Marshall's Chair of Preaching at Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia. In November 2007, he visited Korea and toured as many sites as possible. While there, the guide took him to the base of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea, pointing upward to the hill's zenith. Atop that mountain was a small chapel where the service members gathered and worshipped. Campbell was a Presbyterian preacher, and Korea was the place where Knox Presbyterians had infiltrated the land with the gospel. The largest Presbyterian churches in the world were on that particular terra firma.

Campbell wanted to see this small chapel on top of this DMZ sight. Upon arrival, his attention was drawn to the way the pulpit was designed. To the back of the congregation was South Korea, and in front of the pulpit there was only glass. The congregation and the pulpit looked out on North Korea with its missiles or trained nuclear arms ready for battle at the command of their military leader. They worshipped, hearing the Word of God in the face of nuclear threat. That
congregation listened to God's Word uninterrupted, with the possibility of war commencing at any moment.

Campbell concluded there was nothing between the Word of God and the threat, oppression, tyranny and murders in North Korea. The only thing those worshippers had in the face of national threat were the promises, certainty and power found only in God's living Word.

(To read the entire article "A Baby in the Belfry" by Ralph Douglas West at Preaching.com, click here)

Today's Extra...

Mistakes, Teaching

A high school senior saw an inspirational advertisement on television about becoming a teacher. She called the number shown: 1.800.45TEACH. After a woman answered, the student immediately began talking about how she thought she had found her life's calling and asked if she could send her some information.

The lady who answered the phone asked the student what number she was calling. The student told her and there was a long pause.

Then the woman said, "You misspelled teach."

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