78.4 I Will Tell What The Lord Did For Me

(Psalm 66)

Praise God with shouts of joy, all people!
Sing to the glory of his name;
offer him glorious praise!
Say to God, "How wonderful are the things you do!
Your power is so great that your enemies bow down in fear before you.
Everyone on earth worships you.
they sing praises to you,
they sing praises to your name."

Come and see what God has done,
his wonderful acts among men.
He changed the sea into dry land;
our ancestors crossed the river on foot.
There we rejoiced because of what he did.
He rules forever by his might and keeps his eyes on the nations.
Let no rebels rise against him.
Praise our God, all nations; let your praise be heard
He has kept us alive and has not allowed us to fall.

You have put us to the test, God;
as silver is purified by fire, so you have tested us.
You let us fall into a trap and placed heavy burdens on our backs.
You let our enemies trample us;
we went through fire and flood,
but now you have brought us to a place of safety.

I will bring burnt offerings to your house;
I will offer you what I promised.
I will give you what I said I would when I was in trouble.
I will offer sheep to be burned on the altar;
I will sacrifice bulls and goats,
and the smoke will go up to the sky.

Come and listen, all who honor God,
and I will tell you what he has done for me.
I cried to him for help, I praised him with songs.
If I had ignored my sins, the Lord would not have listened to me.
But God has indeed heard me;
he has listened to my prayer.

I praise God, because he did not reject my prayer or keep back his constant love from me.

78.3 We Preach Christ Crucified

(1 Corinthians 1:22-25)

Jews want miracles for proof, and Greeks look for wisdom. As for us, we proclaim the crucified Christ, a message that is offensive to the Jews and nonsense to the Gentiles; but for those whom God has called, both Jews and Gentiles, this message is Christ, who is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For what seems to be God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and what seems to be God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

78.2 Preach At All Times

(2 Timothy 4:1-5)

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and because he is coming to rule as King, I solemnly urge you to preach the message to insist upon proclaiming it (whether the time is right or not), to convince, reproach, and encourage, as you teach with all patience. The time will come when people will not listen to sound doctrine, but will follow their own desires and will collect for themselves more and more teachers who will tell them what they are itching to hear. They will turn away from listening to the truth and give their attention to legends. But you must keep control of yourself in all circumstances; endure suffering, do the work of a preacher of the Good News, and perform your whole duty as a servant of God.

78.1 No Need For Big Words

(1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

When I came to you, my brothers, to preach God's secret truth, I did not use big words and great learning. For while I was with you, I made up my mind to forget every thing except Jesus Christ and especially his death on the cross. So when I came to you, I was weak and trembled all over with fear, and my teaching and message were not delivered with skillful words of human wisdom, but with convincing proof of the power of God's Spirit. Your faith, then, does not rest on human wisdom but on God's power.