Jeff Adams

Once again reading Acts 7 and the account of Stephen’s final sermon and martyrdom, I was remined of Stephen’s historical narrative form of preaching. This, one of history’s most powerful sermons, was built around a core of three great historical cornerstones in the history of Israel — Abraham, Moses and the Temple. Each of these major historical periods shares the commonality of great failure of faith and spiritual rebellion.

So much of the Bible is historical narrative. Even before the Law, the Hebrew people were careful to pass down from generation to generation the key stories and events of their history. Several of the Psalms are classic examples of retelling history with powerful conviction. Jesus used this same approach. Paul understood the importance and power of historical narrative. Say what you might about Israel’s failings through the centuries, they have done an amazing job of perserving their history and identity.

Over Memorial Day weekend in May our church heard from all three senior pastors in our history. The previous two spoke via video tape and I then finished in person. The response from the congregation was great! Many people were totally unfamiliar with my two predecessors and expressed much satisfaction at learning some of the history and heritage of our church. I took mental note — we need to be sure we continue to do things like this from time to time. People need to know their history. When we don’t we are in danger of losing our bearings and ending up adrift.

How does your family pass down information and tradition to upcoming generations? How do you contribute to sharing the history of your church with youth? What can you do to learn more about your family history or church history? Just sharing the testimony your life, your conversion and spiritual growth is a story that God can use powerfully when told correctly and humbly. We should learn to be good at doing this.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 21st, 2008 at 10:18 pm and is filed under Ministry Musings, Scriptural Application for Everyday Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.