For years now, I have listened to Mark Dever pepper his sermons with great stories from church history--from martyrs like old Polycarp or young Eulalia, from great missionaries and pastors like Judson or Sibbes, from hymn writes, and so forth. The stories are typically inspiring in the moment, but, frankly, I've never really done such stories in my own preaching because, well, Mark is the history guy, and I'm not.

Yet my wife was recently explaining to me how Mark's sermons always seem to leave her longing for eternity; they leave her kingdom minded. There are a number of reasons why this is true. But it struck me that one practical thing he does which yields this effect is his use of church history. Reflecting on the lives of great saints doesn't simply teach us about having faith or courage now--"stand strong like Luther!" It helps us to see that our Christianity is not all about right now, my moral progress, and how I feel about myself and God. It is about those things, in one way, but those things are set within the larger story of God faithfully leading his people for ages for the purposes of his glory. Our personal discipleship and trials all a part of that grand plan. 

Fosdick described preaching as personal counseling on a group basis. Which makes sense: his liberalism jettisoned the eternal and grand story perspective. Preaching became mostly therapuetic and  moralistic. Ironically, I think my preaching can be a conservative, even gospel-centered version of the therapeutic--it can become about helping people to feel better about themselves in the gospel. Now, that is good. There is a place for that. But that needs to be set within the larger framework of what God is doing through the gospel in all of history. 

All that to say, here are two tips on promoting eternal and kingdom mindedness in our preaching:

1) Tell stories from church history. Help people to see God's faithful work over time and in different ages. Christianity is not all about learning to live the Christian life as an American (or South African or Brazilian) in the 21st century. Rather, it's about being an alien wherever he places us, and we're going to find being an alien sort of looks similar no matter where he places us in time and space. Not only that, Christianity is about God's plan of bringing glory to himself through all of his people. Hearing about Polycarp and Eulalia help me to realize I have a kind of partnership with them. We belong to the same team. We're fighting for the same ends.

2) Tell stories about Christians in other countries today. Also pray publicly for Christians in other countries today.  This will have the same effect as the last point.