The world feels gray. Sometimes we sing “this world is not my home.” Other times we sing “This is my Father’s world.” Which is it? The answer, of course, is “yes.” This is an important truth when discussing how to engage culture. And it helps us adopt the role of “witness.”

The sermon today is titled "Bearing Witness." It is the third installment in our series "The Church Before The Watching World." The Scripture reading is from 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 (ESV). Originally preached at the West Side Church of Christ (Searcy, AR) on August 6, 2023. All lessons fit under one of 5 broad categories: Begin, Discover, Grow, Learn, and Serve. This sermon is filed under SERVE: Announcing the Kingdom.

Click here if you would like to watch the sermon or read a transcript.

Footnotes (Sources and References Used In Today's Podcast):

• The classic categories can be found in H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture (1951).
• John Stackhouse, Making the Best of It: Following Christ in the Real World (OUP, 2008).
• "As one preacher noted." Matt Chandler of Village Church, Christ and Culture Series Introduction.
• Philip Yancey, Vanishing Grace: What Ever Happened to the Good News? (Zondervan, 2014).
• For the definition of skēnopoios as "maker of stage properties," see A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed (BDAG), p.928.
• Image of an Orthodox priest standing between protesters and the police in the center of Kiev on January 22, 2014 is by SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images available here.

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