{"id":6197,"date":"2016-01-15T21:11:07","date_gmt":"2016-01-15T19:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/?p=6197"},"modified":"2016-02-20T13:40:16","modified_gmt":"2016-02-20T11:40:16","slug":"67-why-we-need-more-gospel-in-our-preaching-7-reasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/67-why-we-need-more-gospel-in-our-preaching-7-reasons\/","title":{"rendered":"#67 Why We Need More Gospel in Our Preaching -7 Reasons"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What separates the preaching of today&#8217;s celebrity preachers\u00a0like Joel Osteen from some of the great preachers of history like Charles Spurgeon?<\/p>\n<p>A lot separates them for sure but when it comes down to it there is one core difference that places these preachers on opposite ends of the homiletical spectrum.<\/p>\n<p>Namely, it is the focus they place or don&#8217;t place on the clear Gospel message of Jesus Christ!<\/p>\n<p>In this episode of <a href=\"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/podcast-2\/\" target=\"_blank\">Now Is the Time<\/a> I share with you why we need more sermons with more Gospel and more preachers who, like Charles Haddon Spurgeon make the Gospel of Jesus Christ central every time they preach.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.blubrry.com\/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fnowisthetime%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fnowisthetime%2FNIST_E_67.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fsukofamily.org%2F67-why-we-need-more-gospel-in-our-preaching-7-reasons%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"165\" frameborder=\"0\" id=\"blubrryplayer-3\" class=\"blubrryplayer\" title=\"Blubrry Podcast Player\"><\/iframe><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/nowisthetime\/content.blubrry.com\/nowisthetime\/NIST_E_67.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/?powerpress_pinw=6197-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/nowisthetime\/content.blubrry.com\/nowisthetime\/NIST_E_67.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"NIST_E_67.mp3\">Download<\/a> (Duration: 22:56 &#8212; 21.0MB) | <a href=\"#\" class=\"powerpress_link_e\" title=\"Embed\" onclick=\"return powerpress_show_embed('6197-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Embed<\/a><\/p><p class=\"powerpress_embed_box\" id=\"powerpress_embed_6197-podcast\" style=\"display: none;\"><input id=\"powerpress_embed_6197-podcast_t\" type=\"text\" value=\"&lt;iframe src=&quot;https:\/\/player.blubrry.com\/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fnowisthetime%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fnowisthetime%2FNIST_E_67.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fsukofamily.org%2F67-why-we-need-more-gospel-in-our-preaching-7-reasons%2F#mode-Light&amp;border-000000&amp;progress-000000&quot; scrolling=&quot;no&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot; height=&quot;165&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; id=&quot;blubrryplayer-4&quot; class=&quot;blubrryplayer&quot; title=&quot;Blubrry Podcast Player&quot;&gt;&lt;\/iframe&gt;\" onclick=\"javascript: this.select();\" onfocus=\"javascript: this.select();\" style=\"width: 70%;\" readOnly><\/p><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_subscribe_links\">Subscribe: <a href=\"https:\/\/subscribebyemail.com\/feeds.blubrry.com\/feeds\/nowisthetime.xml\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_email\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe by Email\" rel=\"nofollow\">Email<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/feeds.blubrry.com\/feeds\/nowisthetime.xml\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_rss\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe via RSS\" rel=\"nofollow\">RSS<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>In the News<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Pray for our coworker John Taylor who fell last week and injured his neck and shoulder. They were scheduled to fly out of Ukraine but had to postpone their flight because of the injury.<\/li>\n<li>Pray for Christina and the translation team as they are working towards finishing the translation of the Biblical counseling material for the Pro-life ministry.<\/li>\n<li>Pray for our refugee outreach this Sunday and Tuesday, pray they will respond to the Gospel. Pray also for heat in their building.<\/li>\n<li>Pray our online Spiritual Formation class coming up.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>I&#8217;m Here to Share Good News With You<\/h2>\n<p>This past summer a team from our Church started regularly doing outreaches to a group of refugees who live not too far from us. As I started preaching there it became evident that these people needed the simple truths of the Gospel.<\/p>\n<p>I shared with them about How God created everything from Genesis and I shared the Gospel.<\/p>\n<p>I shared with them how Adam and Eve sinned and I shared the Gospel.<\/p>\n<p>I shared how God made a covenant with Abraham and I shared the Gospel.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, I realized that the Gospel needs to be included in every sermon. It was refreshing to preach the Gospel like this and then I started asking myself,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Why do my sermons often lack Gospel in other contexts?&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I came to the conclusion that there needs to be more Gospel in all of my preaching.<\/p>\n<h2>Spurgeon&#8217;s Gospel Focus<\/h2>\n<p>Then I picked up this short book by Stephen J. Lawson called <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1OTjdxI\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;The Gospel Focus of Charles Spurgeon&#8221;<\/a> I had already started writing this podcast episode before I read the book. However, after reading it I was that much more convinced of the need for more Gospel in my sermons.<\/p>\n<h2>7 Reasons Why We Need More Gospel in Our Preaching<\/h2>\n<h3>1. Jesus preached the Gospel.<\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\">When Jesus came to earth he preached and his preaching didn&#8217;t just include the Gospel, it was Gospel!<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">&#8220;Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time has been fulfilled, and the kingdom of God draws near. Repent and believe in the gospel.&#8221;\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s2\"><b>Mar 1:14-15 (Also\u00a0<\/b><\/span><b style=\"line-height: 1.5;\">Mat 4:23, Luk 8:1)<\/b><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: left;\">Jesus&#8217; preaching condemned people for their sins and called for repentance, he also exhorted them to believe in Him as the only way and invited them to become disciples.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: left;\">For a great study on how the Gospel Jesus taught and the Gospel Paul taught fit together I recommend you take a look at this article from John Piper called, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.desiringgod.org\/messages\/did-jesus-preach-the-gospel-of-evangelicalism\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Did Jesus Preach the Gospel of Evangelicalism?&#8221;<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>2. The\u00a0early Church preached the Gospel<\/h3>\n<p>Acts starts with Jesus giving the Church a command to &#8220;be my witnesses&#8221; (Acts 1:8).<\/p>\n<p>Peter preaches the Church&#8217;s first Gospel sermon in Acts 2.<\/p>\n<p>The Church made a practice of preaching the Gospel wherever they went.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">&#8220;And every day they did not cease teaching and preaching the gospel <\/span><span class=\"s2\"><i>of<\/i><\/span><span class=\"s1\"> Jesus the Christ in the temple, and house to house.&#8221;\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s3\"><b>Act 5:42<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\">Throughout the rest of the book you find Gospel preaching in almost every corner. Check out these texts Act 8:4,\u00a0Act 8:12-40, 10:36, 11:20, 13:32, 14:7-21, 15:7, 15:35, 16:10, 20:24<\/p>\n<h3>3. It helps you avoid theological drift<\/h3>\n<p>I wrote a full blog post on this about a year ago <a href=\"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/why-lazy-theologians-are-bad-gospel-preachers\/\" target=\"_blank\">here.<\/a>\u00a0Theological drift tends to happened when the Gospel is removed from it&#8217;s proper place in the center of our ministry and life.<\/p>\n<p>To simplify things the progression often looks something like this:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Preacher starts out solidly on the foundation of the gospel.<\/li>\n<li>Preacher continues with some success.<\/li>\n<li>Preacher slowly gets out of the habit of rigorous study.<\/li>\n<li>Preacher, without even knowing it, starts preaching his own opinion instead of God\u2019s Word.<\/li>\n<li>Preacher moves away from preaching about gospel topics like sin, repentance, hell and salvation.<\/li>\n<li>Preacher begins to focus exclusively on practical matters like marriage, money and success.<\/li>\n<li>Preacher compromises the gospel message in an effort to \u201cwin\u201d more people\u2019s approval.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>4. It goes to the root of the problem.<\/h3>\n<p>I&#8217;m not against preaching about how to have a good marriage, how to be successful at work, or how to break addictions and bad habits.<\/p>\n<p>I am against making this type of preaching the main staple of any congregation. I&#8217;m also against any preaching that sidelines the vital importance of the Gospel in any of these issues of life.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately why do we have problems with our marriage or anything else in life?<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s because of sin.<\/p>\n<p>The Gospel goes to the root of our problems and changes us from the inside out.<\/p>\n<h3>5. It alone has the power for real life change.<\/h3>\n<p>Everyone wants change and as a preacher I&#8217;m eager to offer people a way they can change their life, that&#8217;s why it&#8217;s tempting to give them &#8220;7 Secrets to Living a Fulfilling Life&#8221; or &#8220;9 Keys to Raising Happy Kids.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately the best advice without the power of the Gospel behind it just adds another layer of make-up to the corpse.<\/p>\n<p>Real and lasting change only ever happens when the Holy Spirit sparks life in that cold heart.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">&#8220;who also made us able ministers of a new covenant, not of letter, but of Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit makes alive.&#8221;\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s2\"><b>2Co 3:6<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>6. It keeps you and your people from losing their first love.<\/h3>\n<p>There&#8217;s nothing worse than a Church whose theological acuity and\u00a0hermeneutic accuracy has so pierced their hearts with spiritual pride that there is left no room for the simple and raw preaching of living hope to dead sinners.<\/p>\n<p>Rather than shed tears over their arrogant disposition they would prefer to spar on the high theological ground of some unpronounceable word.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, we need theologians who dig deep into the mysteries of the Word but we must never stray so far that we lose our\u00a0awe of Gospel truth. Pursuit of theological truth should lead us\u00a0to a deeper sorrow over sin and more acute knowledge of God&#8217;s goodness in the Gospel.<\/p>\n<h3>7. It brings an eternal perspective to your life and ministry.<\/h3>\n<p>All too often we suffer from short-sightedness in ministry. Our tendency towards a temporal mindset often tempts us to focus on the transient over the timeless and the fleeting over the forever.<\/p>\n<p>The Gospel helps us to see through our finite problems to the infinite solution. The Gospel gives us an unchanging outlook on a changing world. It anchors us to the imperishable while life all around us perishes.<\/p>\n<p>When the Gospel is woven in and through our preaching it changes our perspective and helps us to view our lives and the lives of those we minister to from an eternal point of view.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>7 Quotes from Charles Haddon Spurgeon on the importance of Gospel preaching.<\/h2>\n<p>Note: You can find all of these quotes in Stephen J. Lawson&#8217;s book, <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1n5pFaA\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;The Gospel Focus of Charles Spurgeon (A Long Line of Godly Men Profile)&#8221;<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;To preach the gospel is not to preach certain truths about the gospel, not to preach about the people, but to preach to the people. To preach the gospel is not to talk about what the gospel is, but to preach it into the heart, not by your own might, but by the influence of the Holy Ghost\u2014not to stand and talk as if we were speaking to the angel Gabriel, and telling him certain things, but to speak as man to man and\u00a0pour our heart in to our fellow\u2019s heart. This I take it, is to preach the gospel, and not to mumble some dry manuscript\u2026. To preach the gospel is to proclaim with trumpet tongue and flaming zeal the unsearchable riches of Christ Jesus, so that men may hear, and understanding, may turn to God with full purpose of heart.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cAvoid a sugared gospel as you\u00a0would shun sugar of lead. Seek that gospel which rips up and tears and cuts and wounds and hacks and even kills, for that is the gospel that makes alive again. And when you have found it, give good heed to it. Let it enter into your inmost being. As the rain soaks into the ground, so pray the Lord, let his gospel soak into your soul.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cPreach the gospel, the gates of hell shake. Preach the gospel, prodigals return. Preach the gospel to every creature, it is the Master\u2019s mandate and the Master\u2019s power to everyone who believes.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThis is the sum; my brethren, preach Christ, always and evermore. He is the whole gospel. His person, offices, and work must be our one great all-comprehending theme.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe more gospel we would preach, the more of Christ we must proclaim.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe preaching of Christ is the whip that flogs the devil.\u00a0The preaching of Christ is the thunderbolt, the sound of which makes all hell shake.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIf I had only one more sermon to preach before I died, it would be about my Lord Jesus Christ. And I think that when we get to the end of our ministry, one of our regrets will be that we did not preach more of Him. I am sure no minister will ever repent of having preached Him too much.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.blubrry.com\/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fnowisthetime%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fnowisthetime%2FNIST_E_67.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fsukofamily.org%2F67-why-we-need-more-gospel-in-our-preaching-7-reasons%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"165\" frameborder=\"0\" id=\"blubrryplayer-1\" class=\"blubrryplayer\" title=\"Blubrry Podcast Player\"><\/iframe><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/nowisthetime\/content.blubrry.com\/nowisthetime\/NIST_E_67.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/?powerpress_pinw=6197-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/nowisthetime\/content.blubrry.com\/nowisthetime\/NIST_E_67.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"NIST_E_67.mp3\">Download<\/a> (Duration: 22:56 &#8212; 21.0MB) | <a href=\"#\" class=\"powerpress_link_e\" title=\"Embed\" onclick=\"return powerpress_show_embed('6197-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Embed<\/a><\/p><p class=\"powerpress_embed_box\" id=\"powerpress_embed_6197-podcast\" style=\"display: none;\"><input id=\"powerpress_embed_6197-podcast_t\" type=\"text\" value=\"&lt;iframe src=&quot;https:\/\/player.blubrry.com\/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fnowisthetime%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fnowisthetime%2FNIST_E_67.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fsukofamily.org%2F67-why-we-need-more-gospel-in-our-preaching-7-reasons%2F#mode-Light&amp;border-000000&amp;progress-000000&quot; scrolling=&quot;no&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot; height=&quot;165&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; id=&quot;blubrryplayer-2&quot; class=&quot;blubrryplayer&quot; title=&quot;Blubrry Podcast Player&quot;&gt;&lt;\/iframe&gt;\" onclick=\"javascript: this.select();\" onfocus=\"javascript: this.select();\" style=\"width: 70%;\" readOnly><\/p><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_subscribe_links\">Subscribe: <a href=\"https:\/\/subscribebyemail.com\/feeds.blubrry.com\/feeds\/nowisthetime.xml\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_email\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe by Email\" rel=\"nofollow\">Email<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/feeds.blubrry.com\/feeds\/nowisthetime.xml\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_rss\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe via RSS\" rel=\"nofollow\">RSS<\/a><\/p><!--powerpress_player-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What separates the preaching of today&#8217;s celebrity preachers\u00a0like Joel Osteen from some of the great preachers of history like Charles Spurgeon?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"audio","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[297],"tags":[228],"class_list":["post-6197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-audio","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcast","tag-preaching","post_format-post-format-audio"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Desktop-1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3izZc-1BX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7428,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/modern-day-indulgences\/","url_meta":{"origin":6197,"position":0},"title":"Modern-Day Indulgences","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"May 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"If you think indulgences are an ancient practice of the Catholic Church that have long been forgotten, you're greatly mistaken. 500 years ago Martin Luther began the Reformation by publicly condemning indulgences as an unbiblical and unethical\u00a0way to\u00a0fill the coffers of the Catholic Church. Today many preachers are propagating a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Writing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/AdobeStock_91841985.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/AdobeStock_91841985.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/AdobeStock_91841985.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/AdobeStock_91841985.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/AdobeStock_91841985.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5008,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/why-lazy-theologians-are-bad-gospel-preachers\/","url_meta":{"origin":6197,"position":1},"title":"Why Lazy Theologians Are Bad Gospel Preachers","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"February 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A lazy theologian never makes for a good gospel preacher, at least not for long! I've heard it said before that we shouldn't waste so much time on studying theology, that theology distracts us from our main job of preaching the gospel, that we need to put down the books\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Writing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/IMG_3811-002.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/IMG_3811-002.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/IMG_3811-002.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9164,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/the-legacy-of-billy-graham\/","url_meta":{"origin":6197,"position":2},"title":"The Legacy of Billy Graham","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"February 21, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Today at age 99 Billy Graham passed into the presence of his Savior. According to biographer Terry Whalin\u00a0Graham preached the gospel to more people in person than anyone else in the history of Christianity. Over 210 million people in 185 countries heard Graham preach in person! Some estimate that around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Writing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Billy-Graham1919-2018.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Billy-Graham1919-2018.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Billy-Graham1919-2018.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Billy-Graham1919-2018.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Billy-Graham1919-2018.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6896,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/5-ways-the-prosperity-gospel-short-circuits-your-spiritual-growth\/","url_meta":{"origin":6197,"position":3},"title":"7 Ways the Prosperity Gospel Short-circuits Your Spiritual Growth","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"October 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The peddlers of the prosperity gospel promise a short-cut to the joys of heaven that will bypass the trials of earthly life and deliver a near paradise on earth to the impatient Christian. What these slick sellers of sanctified success don't tell you is that their short-cuts really short-circuit your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Writing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/20121005-lifeclass-i-am-2-949x534-e1475490684408.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/20121005-lifeclass-i-am-2-949x534-e1475490684408.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/20121005-lifeclass-i-am-2-949x534-e1475490684408.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":387,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/18-preachers\/","url_meta":{"origin":6197,"position":4},"title":"18 Preachers","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"March 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"18 preachers gathered on Monday night at our church \"Hope for People\" I taught the first lesson on preaching \"What is a Sermon?\" The goal is to help them communicate God's Word accurately and apply it to people's lives in a practical way.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Updates&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Updates","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/updates\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8308,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/what-is-the-100-fold-principle\/","url_meta":{"origin":6197,"position":5},"title":"What Is the 100 Fold Principle?","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"August 24, 2017","format":"video","excerpt":"Listen many contemporary prosperity preachers and he or she will tell you that following Jesus will get you a better car, a better job, and a nicer house. 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