“I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am He.” (John 8:24 NRSV)
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Kerygma, Part Two…
Posted: May 12, 2015 in Ancient Faith, Biblical, Books, catholic, Christian, Church, Church History, Covenant theology, Evangelism, Faith, Hope, kerygma, life, Liturgical, Love, Ministry, Orthodox, orthodoxy, Preaching, Repentance, sanctification, Scriptural, Teaching, Testimony, The Story, universalTags: birth, Body of Christ, celebration, Christ, Church, covenant of grace, covenant of redemption, death, faith hope, Father, forgiveness, God, Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, homily, Jesus, joy, kergyma, life, love, Messiah, ministry, peace, preach, Preaching, Proclamation, prophet, prophetic, redemption, repent, Savior, sermon, sickness, sin, Son, story, Word
The Kerygma – Part Two
The Kerygma
To review, kerygma is the Greek word κήρυγμα kérugma, translated proclamation or preaching. The Kergyma is proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ in spoken words, or even proclaimed in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. It is the proclamation of Jesus redemptive work. It is the proclamation God’s story of the history of redemption from the beginning of creation. Proclamation was usually followed by teaching and instruction in the elements of the faith, or the reading of a Creed. What Jesus did and taught in His ministry was included within the basic proclamation.
Here is a summary of the ancient kerygma:
- The Age of Fulfillment has dawned, the “latter days” foretold by the prophets.
- This has taken place through the birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah.
- By virtue of the resurrection, and His ascension into heaven, Jesus has been exalted at the right hand of God as King of Kings – the Messianic head of the new Israel.
- The Holy Spirit in the Church is the sign of Jesus’ present power and glory.
- The Messianic Age will reach its consummation in the return of Jesus.
- An appeal is made for repentance for the forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and salvation.
Jesus the Messiah, of course, was the center of this ancient kerygma. The cross, the resurrection, and His ascension to the right hand of Majesty are crucial to the kerygmatic preaching of Messiah Jesus.
Kerygmatic preaching is not a technique that can simply be learned by articulate spokespersons, it is a relationship that must be received, experienced, and thereby announced.
There are eight kerygmatic sermons given by the Apostles in Luke’s letter to Theophilus, the Acts of the Apostles. They are found in the following passages:
1) Acts 2:14-36
2) Acts 3:12-26
3) Acts 4:8-12
4) Acts 5:29-32
5) Acts 10: 34-43
6) Acts 13:16-41
7) Acts 14:15-17
8) Acts 17: 22-31
The Westminster Creed
Posted: April 13, 2015 in Ancient Faith, Biblical, Calling, catholic, Charismatic, Christian, Church, Church History, Covenant, Covenant theology, Evangelical, Evangelism, John Calvin, Liturgical, Ministry, Orthodox, orthodoxy, Preaching, Presbyterian, Protestant, Reformed, Renaissance, Repentance, Sacramental, sanctification, Scriptural, Teaching, universalTags: belief, creed, faith, Father, forgiveness, God, Godhead, Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, hope, Jesus Christ, love, mercy, misery, pleasure, remission of sins, sin, Son, Westminster
The Westminster Creed
I believe man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever;
I believe God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being,
wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth;
I believe there is but one true and living God;
that there are three persons in the Godhead:
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost;
and that these three are one God,
the same in substance, equal in power and glory;
I believe God has foreordained whatever comes to pass;
that God made all things of nothing,
by the word of His power, in the space of six days, and all very good;
and that God preserves and governs all His creatures and all their actions.
I believe our first parents, though created in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness,
sinned against God, by eating the forbidden fruit;
and that their fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery;
I believe God determined, out of His mere good pleasure,
to deliver His elect out of the estate of sin and misery,
and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer;
I believe the only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ,
Who, being the eternal Son of God, became man,
and so was, and continues to be,
God and man in two distinct natures, and one person, forever;
I believe Christ, as our Redeemer,
executes the office of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king.
I believe Christ as our Redeemer underwent the miseries of this life,
the wrath of God, the cursed death of the cross, and burial;
He rose again from the dead on the third day, ascended up into heaven,
sits at the right hand of God, the Father,
and is coming to judge the world at the last day.
I believe we are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ,
by the effectual application of it to us by his Holy Spirit;
I believe God requires of us faith in Jesus Christ,
and repentance unto life to escape the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin;
I believe by His free grace we are effectually called, justified, and sanctified,
and gathered into the visible church, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation;
I believe that we also are given in this life such accompanying benefits
as assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost,
increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end;
that at death, we are made perfect in holiness, and immediately pass into glory;
and our bodies, being still united in Christ, rest in their graves, till the resurrection;
and at the resurrection, we shall be raised up in glory,
we shall openly be acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment,
and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity.
~ adapted from the 17th century Westminster Shorter Catechism
In The Hands of the Refiner 