NT Wright 52111 Living, Praying, and Preaching the Gospels
The Bible is not merely the authoritative source about Jesus, but how he is made known and becomes present to congregations and individuals.
The Gospels are among the most contested documents in faith and life by post-enlightenment secularism.
Our praying and preaching has followed the creedal pattern rather than the Kingdom and Cross one.
Reading the Gospels prayerfully and humbly is an excellent way of getting to know Jesus better and internalizing the Kingdom shaped by the cross.
Nearly all churches refer to living under the authority of Scripture, but what does that actually look like? We need to be more intentional about creative ways to live under Scripture.
Public reading of scripture is not just for conveying information, but part of the act of worship.
Explore fresh ways of praying the Lord's prayer. It's a remarkably accurate summary of the mission of Jesus. Read chapters of the gospel, quoting the Lords Prayer between each one.
The combination of Kingdom and Cross is summed up in Jesus as the new Temple and us his followers as temples.
The Sacraments as a context for reading the Gospels. Baptism is about the whole church. It's our corporate reenactment of the whole story of Scripture: creation, Noah, Exodus, Jonah, Jesus. Creation, Covenant, New Covenant, New Creation.
The coming together of man and woman is symbolic of the joining of Heaven and Earth throughout Scripture. Genesis, Revelation, Ephesians. In our marriage services and marriage counseling and enrichment is that we need to show and tell how marriages are a Kingdom moment to be cherished and protected.
For John, the wedding at Cana is the beginning of Jesus' signs, not separate from his ministry.
The stories you enact makes you the person you become.
Over thespian histrionics
Preaching ought to flow from congregational life and back into it.
God seems to want wise rulers to bring order to his world. Chaos is worse than tyranny, but even that order can corrupt to tyranny.
The Church should be for the world what Jesus was to Israel.
The Church working for the Kingdom doesn't necessarily have to be for or against the government, but has to be for the Kingdom.
We can't bak the power of evil; only Jesus can, but we work with him in that.
What would it look like if God were in charge of Nashville?
The work of the kingdom of God is God's answer to the central problems of the world: chaos and tyranny.
When we do the works of the kingdom through beauty and wonder and truth and justice, evangelism happens naturally from that.
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