A cry from Armenia: We're a small Middle Eastern country surrounded by bigger nations that have long threatened our safety. In fact, half of our population was murdered by the Turkish government in 1915, killing 1.5 million people in a genocide they still claim didn't happen. We were the first Christian nation and most of us are of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Pray for our physical safety and for believers to show the love of Christ to our enemies, so that even our Muslim neighbors may see we love Jesus more than our cultural heritage and may also come to find new life in him.
Many times I’ve sat on the front pew just prior to the sermon time looking at the steps to the pulpit. In these moments each Sunday morning I’m reminded of the great task with which I have been entrusted and my own weakness to perform it. After hours of painstaking study and prayerful preparation, I still stare at those steps and feel under qualified, knowing I’ve only scratched the surface of the message. There is a certain holy trembling a preacher feels before climbing those steps to proclaim God’s eternal Word. In centuries past, preachers like Charles Spurgeon and Martyn Lloyd-Jones had to climb winding staircases to reach the “sacred desk”, but many pulpits today are just a few steps above the floor. Whether you have many steps or none at all, it is an other-worldly task we have been given. The following are a few practical steps preachers can take before climbing the real ones on Sunday morning... 1. Get in the Word We must immerse ourselves in the text at the outset o
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