GOOD BIBLE PREACHING...

Or is it?

Pastor Mike's message on "Salt" last Sunday was both creative and relevant. His Michigan congregation had driven to church that morning behind snowplows spreading salt a quarter inch thick. In a lively and dynamic sermon Pastor Mike (not his real name) likened the role of Christians in the world to "spreading salt on the world's icy roads." His people were encouraged to be the "salt of the earth" based on Matthew 5:13.

1. We should be scattered (we do little good piled up in the "salt pile," the church).
2. We are to have a melting effect (proper Christian witness melts unbelief and opposition).
3. We are in the saving business (salt trucks save lives; we save souls from eternal danger).

Mike's congregation went home last week with a relevant useful sermon.

Or, how about the sermon he preached last October after 13 straight days of Michigan drizzle. His title then: "Sometimes God rains on good people's parades." The church had already relocated the annual Harvest Picnic inside due to the rain. Mike read Matthew 5:45 then paused dramatically. "He... sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." The congregation tittered. Holding his Bible in the left hand, Mike preached one of the "expository sermons" for which he is known in his town. His encouraging three-pointer reminded his fl