It has never been easy to preach about the cross and resurrection of Jesus, but difficulties today are particularly challenging. Hearers ask tough questions of the church and the Christian faith, and they are not satisfied by formulaic answers. People are often suspicious of doctrine and are attracted to a broad but vague or pluralistic spirituality rather than the classical claims of Christianity. In this climate, preachers often see preaching on the central events of the Christian story, the crucifixion and resurrection, as more of a problem than a possibility, more of a burden than a joy....

A comprehensive introduction to preaching, emphasizing the encounter with God's grace as the goal and heart of the sermon. ""Many people outside the church take a dim view of preaching precisely because they regard it as an overly directive, overly confident . . . even chastising form of speech. Ironically, some of us inside the church know what Paul Scott Wilson knows . . . in recent years, preaching has often stopped well short of such bold speech. In this inspiring volume, Wilson invites preachers back to the sermon's first, best purpose: to proclaim the glorious reality of God's new world...

As preachers who come to the pulpit, before God and before God's people, each and every week, how do we make sense of the text as we live a new moment of its ongoing story? Most options available to the preacher necessitate a hermeneutical step that requires us to preach outside of time in timeless truths, experiences, or realities. But the gospel is the drama of God appearing to and working with and loving God's people in time. Preaching Through Time gives the preacher a timely homiletic for preaching together the times of God's gospel, then and now, while calling God's people to perform...