Episode Details

The Bible makes sense in its deepest and richest capacity only when we read it through Jesus shaped goggles. When we see all of it through the lens of its Main Character - it should cause us to preach explicitly Christian sermons.

Recorded November 31 in Bradenton Florida

Christ Centered Preaching Handout

1. Two vital hermeneutics:

1. First, we must have a good grasp on the original context of our particular passage and the original intent of the message. (who wrote this and why?)

2. Second, we must always understand the context of our passage within the context of all of scripture, and also understand it in terms of the grand narrative of God’s redemption.

2. Redemptive-Historical progression

1. Redemptive-historical progression traces God’s history with the world from his good creation (Gen 1), to the human fall into sin and God’s plan of redemption through the seed of the woman (Gen 3:15), to a long history of God continuing the line of the seed of the woman (Gen 3 - Malachi), to Christ (the Gospels), the Church (Acts and the New Testament Letters), and finally to the new creation (Rev 22).

2. In other words, in the Bible we can trace a continuous redemptive history which centers in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who then ascends to rule his church from heaven until he comes again. Creation to New Creation.

3. Promise Fulfillment

1.If the text contains a promise of the coming Messiah, then you can easily move to the New Testament to show the ultimate fulfillment of the promise in Jesus Christ.

1. Example: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and the obedience of the peoples is his.” - Gen 49:10

2. Show the fulfillment in Matthew 1:1-17 Jesus Christ, the king of kings, born of the tribe of Judah and the House of David.

4. Typology

1. Old Testament events, persons, or institutions can function as types which foreshadow the great Antitype - the person and work of Jesus Christ.

2. Examples: The fall of Adam and Eve. Adam is the human race’s representative, he prefigures Christ the second Adam, who also is a representative of a new human race.

1. Noah’s Ark; The Ark of the Covenant; the tabernacle; the rock in the wilderness; Crossing the red sea; The Passover Lamb; Pentecost; Issac; Moses; Joshua; King David…etc

5. Analogy

1. Analogy exposes parallels between what God taught Israel and what Christ promises the Church; what God demanded of Israel (the Law) and what Christ demands of his Church.

2. Example: Genesis 12:1-9 Israel must claim Canaan for the Glory of God; in the New Testament Jesus mandates his Church to claim all nations for God (Matt 28:18-20) Your message or theme then would be something like -God reclaiming the earth as his good kingdom through the work of Christ.

6. Longitudinal Themes

1. Although similar to redemptive-historical progression in some ways, it is distinct in focusing on the development of theological ideas rather than development in redemptive history. Longitudinal themes refers to themes that can be traced through the scriptures from the Old Testament to the New - Themes such as God’s coming kingdom, God’s covenant, home and exile, rest and sabbath, God’s redemption, righteousness and nakedness, God’s presence, God’s love, God’s faithfulness, God’s grace, God’s justice and judgment, God’s providence.

1. Every major Old Testament theme leads to Christ

7. New Testament Reference

1. The New Testament reference makes a direct bridge to Christ.

1.Example: God created his good creation by his powerful “word”; John in his gospel tells us that that “Word” is Jesus Christ (John 1:1,3)

8. Contrast

1. Because of the coming of Christ the text’s message for the contemporary Church may be quite different from the original message for Israel. So we prea