{"id":154,"date":"2006-09-22T16:12:00","date_gmt":"2006-09-22T20:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/?p=154"},"modified":"2013-06-28T16:07:15","modified_gmt":"2013-06-28T20:07:15","slug":"stewart-on-preaching-the-good-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/?p=154","title":{"rendered":"Stewart on Preaching the Good News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/photos1.blogger.com\/blogger\/3428\/1662\/1600\/StewartSmall.0.jpg\"><img style=\"float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; cursor: hand;\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/photos1.blogger.com\/blogger\/3428\/1662\/200\/StewartSmall.0.jpg\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nI have come across another old book of sermons by James S. Stewart, the prominent Scottish preacher of the mid-20th century. I have previously posted quotes from his book on missions (<a href=\"http:\/\/rvanneste.blogspot.com\/2005\/10\/james-s-stewart-on-missions.html\">first post<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/rvanneste.blogspot.com\/2005\/10\/stewart-again-strength-in-weakness.html\">second post<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/rvanneste.blogspot.com\/2005\/11\/missions-undergirded-by-theology.html\">third post<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>This book, <em>The Strong Name<\/em>, was published in 1941 so I imagine the sermons were originally preached in the early days of WW II. This seems to be the point in the opening of his sermon &#8220;The Romance of Orthodoxy.&#8221;\u009d Preaching from 2 Kings 7:9 he rebukes the idea which was apparently (and understandably) current then that &#8220;these are bad days and not time for the announcing of good news.&#8221;\u009d Stewart rebukes such an idea for the church by pointing to the Gospel. No matter our situation we have been loved and redeemed by God! Stewart closes the sermon with the following words which are a good exhortation to us in any day. Perhaps it is especially good as we approach Sunday and many of us will be preaching. Proclaim the Gospel, brothers!<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>If the Church were witnessing with all her might, and in all her members, to the things which she most surely believes and by which she lives, how incalculable might be her achievement in this perplexed, distracted generation! If we, the children of Zion whose captivity God has ended, had our mouths filled with singing for the gladness of that great deliverance, what threatening shadows might be scattered, what dark and dreary places flooded with the blessed light of hope! If every professing Christian were a veritable ambassador of Christ, how the royal banners of His Kingdom would go from strength to strength, conquering and to conquer! This is a day of good tidings. One thing is needful. The world cries for it. Honour claims it. Christ commands it. Send the good tidings on!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Amen!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have come across another old book of sermons by James S. Stewart, the prominent Scottish preacher of the mid-20th century. I have previously posted quotes from his book on missions (first post; second post; third post). This book, The Strong Name, was published in 1941 so I imagine the sermons were originally preached in &#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/?p=154\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading &lsquo;Stewart on Preaching the Good News&rsquo; &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3,4],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=154"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3703,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154\/revisions\/3703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}