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Reading scripture through liberation, equality, and advocacy for the marginalized.
Key question: “How does this text speak to issues of justice, equality, and the liberation of the oppressed?”
25,724 sermon illustrations through the Progressive/Social Justice lens
"The mind is renewed through the Word of God. As we saturate our thinking in Scripture, transformation happens. In this church age, God has given us the complete canon—our manual for mind renewal. Discerning God's will comes through knowing God's Word." — Warren Wiersbe.
"The Word is not dead letters but living light! The Spirit illumines Scripture—makes it personal, makes it NOW. When you open the Bible, expect the Spirit to switch on the lamp! The Word becomes light when the Spirit reveals it to YOUR situation." — A.W.
"The world is dark; reason is blind; the devil obscures. But God's Word shines! When I am confused, Scripture clarifies. When I am tempted, Scripture corrects. When I am lost, Scripture guides. The lamp is lit; walk in its light...
"Christ died while we were sinners—this is prevenient grace in its starkest form. Before we sought God, He sought us. Before we loved, He loved. His death is the ultimate expression of grace that comes before any response on our part.
"I wrote from prison: 'I believe God will give us all the power we need to resist... I believe God will bring good out of evil.' Jeremiah 29:11 is a prison letter to exiles. Hope is not freedom from captivity...
"Eternal life is not just endless existence but the life of the age to come—resurrection life, new creation life. Sin's wages are death, the undoing of creation. God's gift is life, the renewal of all things. In Christ, we receive...
"God is not indifferent. He cares—tenderly, personally, like a mother for her child. 'Cast your cares' because the Father's arms are always open. This is the tenderness of God: He delights in taking our burdens. We pray, we confess, we...
"By faith we are ingrafted into Christ so that His death becomes ours. We are not merely inspired by His example; we participate in His crucifixion. His death is our death, legally and mystically. This is the heart of union with Christ." — John Calvin.
"POWER—not weakness! The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you! LOVE—perfect love casts out fear! SOUND MIND—clarity in the midst of chaos! This is your inheritance! Fear has NO legal right! Enforce what the Spirit has given!" — Bill Johnson.
"From Jeremiah's day to ours, God's faithfulness spans millennia. Through judgment and restoration, exile and return, church age and tribulation—His mercies never cease. Whatever dispensation, whatever age, the faithful God gives new mercies every morning until morning eternal dawns." — Warren Wiersbe.
"You are DESTINED for victory! God is FAITHFUL—He will MAKE a way! When temptation comes, don't just endure—OVERCOME! The same power that raised Jesus lives in you! Command the temptation to bow to the name of Jesus! There IS a...
"David wrote this Psalm looking forward to the Messiah-Shepherd. Israel awaits the fulfillment when Messiah reigns and literally shepherds His people. But in this church age, we too have the Good Shepherd caring for us until He comes again to shepherd all nations." — J.
"God never does anything accidentally, and He never makes mistakes—only we do. God never does anything accidentally, and He never makes mistakes—only we do. To those who love Him, He works all things—even our mistakes—together for good." — A.W.
"Grace comes to those with nothing to offer—and the disinherited know this best. Those denied worth by society receive infinite worth from God. 'Not of works'—this is good news for those whose work was stolen, whose merit was denied. Grace levels." — Howard Thurman.
"Fear involves punishment—but in Christ, punishment is past. Perfect love is matured in us as we grasp the depths of grace. We move from servile fear to filial trust, from cowering to confidence. This is the trajectory of discipleship: from...
"The Christian life is a race—not a sprint but a marathon requiring endurance. We are surrounded by witnesses, encouraged by their example. We lay aside every weight—not just sins but anything that slows us.
"Mission is not essentially an action by which the church puts forth its own power and wisdom to conquer the world around it; it is an action of God, putting forth the power of his Spirit to bring the universal...
"Work 'as unto the Lord' cannot justify exploitation. The God we serve liberates the oppressed—including oppressed workers. 'Not human masters'—this critiques masters who claim divine sanction for injustice. True work for God includes working for just labor conditions." — Gustavo Gutiérrez.
"The substance of faith is Christ; the evidence is Christ. What is hoped for is Christ's kingdom; what is unseen is Christ reigning. Faith is not belief in beliefs but trust in a Person. Christ is what faith grasps; Christ...
"No more death—death swallowed in victory through Christ's resurrection. He wipes tears because He shared them; He ends death because He defeated it. The cross leads to this: a world without mourning, crying, pain. Christ's victory becomes universal experience." — Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
"In Jesus Christ God has said Yes to humanity. The giving of the Son is the great divine Yes that precedes and grounds every other word from God.
"'No longer I, but Christ'—yet this is not the annihilation of the self but its liberation. The anxious, grasping ego dies; the true self, held in Christ's love, rises. We become most ourselves when Christ becomes our life." — Rowan Williams.
"'Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death'—note: THROUGH, not around. God does not promise to spare us the valley but to walk with us through it. The shadow of death is still shadow; it is not...
"For the JOY set before Him, Jesus endured the cross. What was that joy? The joy of redemption accomplished, new creation begun, His people gathered. We run toward that same joy—the renewal of all things. The race is run toward...