Gerhard O. Forde wrote and taught powerfully about the primary importance of proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. In an article in the Lutheran Quarterly, he wrote: Let us be … radical preachers and practitioners of the gospel by justification by faith without the deeds of the law… . What is at stake is the radical gospel, radical grace, the eschatological nature of the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified and risen. The sermons in this book were prepared for congregational worship and seminary chapel services. They accompany scripture readings throughout the church year. They encourage, they reprove, they explicate tenets of the faith, they focus the biblical story. And without exception they point to the loving God who comes to us in Jesus Christ, that great good news of God s grace.