Have you ever considered how important color is to our lives? Have you wondered how color affects our lives?

Color splashes your life every day. A red car zips past you on the freeway. The red flash looks like a red blaze of fire. The sun crawls toward the horizon, an orange ball descending. A yellow bus picks up students as they begin their morning ride to school.

Or it's Springtime. You fertilize your yard. Green suddenly appears. You wonder why you fertilized it now that you mow it every five days. Or you hike the mountains only to stop for breath. Your pause gives you a beautiful view of the valley, the backdrop of the sky shades a beautiful blue.

Or you walk the mall. You notice the window in a women's clothing store. A mannequin stands dressed in blue jeans, a bright purple shirt, with a purple head band, and purple shoes. After all, purple is the color of wealth.

And when was the last time you were captivated by a rainbow, its array of colors inviting you to applaud its beauty? Consider the colors of the rainbow as an invitation to explore the colors of preaching.

RED

When Rebekah and Isaac had twins, Esau and Jacob, she named Jacob heelcatcher, or supplanter, as he struggled with his brother in the womb. Esau, the first born, was named "hairy," but he came out red (Genesis 25:25). Today his buddies would call him "Big Red." Why not preach a ser-mon on Esau and Jacob? Call it Big Red and Little Brother: How God Worked In One Family.

Your colorful preaching then travels the Red Sea. Tell the story of Moses leading God's people out of Egypt (Exodus 10:19). Declare God's deliverance by drowning the mighty Egyptian warriors and their chariots in the Red Sea. Title the sermon: When God Knocked His Enemies Dead in a Sea Of Red.

Red is the color of blood. Blood arrives at birth (Esau) and death (defeated Egyptians). Blood flows freely as it runs down the altar, an offering placed before God (Exodus 29:21). The Bible announces, "for the blood is the life" (Deut. 12:23, KJV). Abner experienced this first hand when Joab stuck him with a sword in his fifth rib (II Samu 1:22). He lost his blood, and his life. The Old Testament gives snapshots of a brutal world where blood splotches the landscape as military heroes prove their worth. Death wreaks cold blood.

Ah, but blood gives life. In the grace-filled pages of the New Testament you read Jesus' words, "For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matt. 26:28, KJV). What preacher has not proclaimed the glory of the color red? Jesus shed his blood so that we might have abundant life. This is one of the bright colors of preaching.

ORANGE

Follow the rainbow to orange. You cannot find orange in your Bible. You will find the color vermilion. This is orange. In both instances the Scriptures place orange in a color which contrasts righteousness. Hear the woeful prophet Jeremiah. He sends a message of doom to the rotten sons of Josiah, "Woe to him who builds a house by unrighteousness ...." (Jer. 22:13, KJV). Jeremiah announces that the sons of Josiah boast in their building, cut out windows, panel their building with cedar, and paint it with vermilion [orange] (22:14).