As we preach from the Bible, especially the Old Testament, we need to uses bridges to reach the hearts of the congregation:

*The bridge from the original language to English (translation)
*The bridge from ancient culture to modern culture (contextualization)
*The bridge from old covenant to new covenant (interpretation)
*The bridge from from doctrine to practice (application)

A book that helps sensitize us to the need to orient all biblical preaching and studies to be presented in a Christ-centered way is this volume published by Cru:

One Story, by Tim Henderson and Tom Sperlich

“All of Scripture is telling one story. It’s a story about Jesus and our need for Him. The great story is comprised of many little stories found throughout the Old and New Testament narratives, and it is reinforced in the law, poetry, prophecy, and epistles. Every passage in some way draws our attention to our fallenness and Christ’s solution to our fallenness. St. Augustine said, “The New Testament lies hidden in the Old Testament and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New Testament.”

“In the One Story Guidebook you’ll learn how to study various genres of Scripture “Christocentrically.” A genre is a category of composition that has its own style or form and therefore its own rules of interpretation…

For details and ordering information visit Cru here.
-JBW

One of the features of the deeperChristian e-newsletter is the quote section:
Men are God’’s method. The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men.
– EM Bounds

I am afraid of only one thing—that I should become a grain of wheat not willing to die.
– Young Missionary Girl (as told by Corrie ten Boom)

If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.
– CS Lewis

Our Guilty Silence suggests that one of the main reasons for our silence is because we lack either a thorough knowledge of the Gospel or a conviction about its truth or both. There can be no evangelism without an evangelist, no mission without a message.
– John Stott  from Our Guilty Silence

Not to be daily mortifying sin, is to sin against the goodness, kindness, wisdom, grace, and love of God, who hath furnished us with a principle (and means) of doing it.
– John Owen  from The Mortification of Sin

A true leader must have enough backbone to stand alone—even when the crowd wants to take the easy road home. A true leader cannot be dependent on companionship for his or her security, but must learn to trust in God alone.
– Leslie Ludy from When God Writes Your Life Story

One hundred religious persons knit into a unity by careful organization do no constitute a church any more than eleven dead men make a football team. The first requisite is life, always.
– AW Tozer

You can subscribe to the e-newsletter here and search their quote archive here.

From ChurchLeaders.com:

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