T. David Beck: The Simple Way of Jesus

Why do pastors preach sermons? Because that's what all pastors do? Because the Bible tells us to preach? Because of something else? For that matter, if you go to church, why do you do that? What do you hope happens when you go to church? To be honest, these are not easy questions to answer. As a pastor, I sometimes get into the middle of the week, and I feel like I'm preparing to preach because Sunday's coming, and I'm supposed to preach. I mean, that's my job. I don't always stop to ask the deeper question, why am I doing this? What do I hope happens when I preach? I credit another pastor, Andy Stanley, for insisting that we pastors ask the deeper questions about why we preach (see his book Communicating for A Change ). So I'll come out with it. I hope people at Sanctuary are inspired to be with God, listen to him, and do what he says . I've talked about this at church before. It's simple, but when we relate to God and obey him, the best thing...

Well, here we go. Amazon has released the Kindle Cloud Reader, which is an e-reader that runs within multiple browsers (I use Google Chrome). That means I can buy a book and read it on my laptop. I don't have to buy an e-reader (like a Kindle) if I don't want to. I just took the leap. I installed the Kindle Cloud Reader on my laptop, which was a completely painless experience. I then purchased an e-copy of Craig Groeschel's book The Christian Atheist . I cannot hold this book or enjoy that special "book smell," and I can't mark it up in pencil. I'm not sure what to make of this! I plan to read the book and experiment with making electronic notes on its pages. I don't have a Kindle reader. Maybe that will come soon. I don't think I want to look at books on my laptop for hours on end. But who knows? This is an experiment. I still feel weird. Books are a huge part of my life, and when they go virtual, I feel like the ground is moving beneath my fe...