Preaching to the Preacher

I used to think that I learned from the sermon while I was preparing it and that was it. Now I know it is not the only time God speaks to me through my preaching. At least twice in the past couple of weeks I have had content from sermons brought back to mind and applied.

Instance #1: After experience inner turmoil for about ten days without being able to identify the cause, I was reminded of a suggested application at the end of a sermon. That application (to be concerned with living up to God's expectations rather than people's expectations) immediately shed light on what was causing my angst, followed by joy and peace. Now, I just have to live up to God's expectations. How hard can that be?!

Instance #2: Following a sermon (and Church Council retreat Bible study) that identified fasting as temporarily giving up a regular part of life—normally thought of as food—in order to gain more time for something else—normally thought of as prayer, I found myself needing to accomplish four weeks worth of work in just two weeks. I decided to forfeit an activity I enjoy doing as a distraction and focus on getting the work done. Lo and behold, by temporarily giving up something that probably consumed a total of ten minutes a day, I was able to accomplish many more hours of prayer, Bible study, and sermon preparation. I know the math regarding time does not work out but it happened anyway and I thank God!

The Last To Know?

When our time with God does something to us that becomes evident to others, are we the last to know? I truly agonized over yesterday’s sermon from John 6:60-69 (22-69) while preparing it, spending more hours on my knees seeking shelter and relief from God than for any other sermon I can remember. Yet, when it came time to preach it, the anxiety and even fear of not communicating clearly was mostly absent. What had been prepared and even rehearsed was preached.

I did not “feel” any different from the hundreds of other times I have preached yet comments received by individuals in each service convinced me that God had spoken powerfully to those who were listening for His voice. The ones making the comments gave glory to God while commenting about what had been preached. I was very relieved and glad when they told me because I had no idea, only the hope that God had answered my prayers with His undeniable and powerful presence.

You might think that the person God uses would always know how powerfully (or weakly) His presence is evident in that person’s life. But God reminded me this is often not the case as He called to mind Moses in Exodus 34:29 as well as Peter and John in Acts 4:13. Apparently, even though everyone else took notice, it was enough for Moses and the two disciples that they were following God.

May that be enough for me!

Exodus 34:29-35 (ESV)

The Shining Face of Moses

 ²⁹When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.

Acts 4:13 (ESV)

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

Getting Personal: A Raw Expression

I don't know of a church doing great things for God without its members doing great things for God.

I don't know of a church fulfilling The Great Commission without members fulfilling The Great Commission.

I don't know of a church being on fire without its members being on fire.

I don't know of a church being luke warm without its members being luke warm.

My desire, my aim, my goal has always included making the gospel personal to individuals in the church. I have believed, hoped, prayed that individual Christians would surrender to God and pursue a lifetime of growth/discipleship in Him and the result would be the Holy Spirit's clear leadership through the unified body of Christ. I don't know what to tell people who say they don't see the church advancing. How can the church advance when they won't/don't/aren't? Is it the Pastor's fault? That's a black and white question. It is or it isn't. Is the Pastor responsible for how the individual members respond to God's Word? The Pastor is absolutely responsible for preaching and teaching the Word and he's responsible for presenting it with as little interference/distraction/confusion as possible. This pastor does not feel this way theoretically. I have lived it and continue to live it—the bottom line truth that "Thy kingdom come and Thy will be done" begins and ends with me or it will never go any further in my ministry. God will not release me from it and I do not believe He releases any one of His children from it.

Convicted Toward Compassion

This morning I had the privilege of preaching from Matthew 9:35-38; 14:13-14; Mark 6:30-34; and Matthew 20:29-34. The emphasis was on compassion (splagchnizomai). The flow was pretty basic/simple: Showing (true) compassion flows from having compassion which follows connecting (identifying) with the people when you love (agape) them made possible by dying to self. There were two things for which I was very grateful: 1. In the second service there was someone who could pronounce the Greek word for me; 2. In both services it was evident to me that God was touching minds, hearts, and spirits. Though being the one preaching, I was as much a recipient of the work of God as everyone else.

During this Christmas season, may God's children "carpe diem"—seize the day (opportunity)—while our neighbors, fellow workers, classmates, shoppers, etc. are more receptive to hearing about God's love. As we do, we will witness not the results of our own charismatic witness, but the results of God's continued work through broken vessels.

Moral Character

It has become my pattern to go on an annual sermon planning retreat in November. Perhaps partly as a result of 32 years of leading the music ministry in four churches and wishing I knew well ahead of time what the sermons would be about. So, while it feels good to give the worship teams the tentative texts, working titles, themes, and thrusts for the coming year,  an equally beneficial result is that I always know what I'll be preaching. The retreat is preceded and dominated with prayer as I seek direction from God. 


Also, for the past four years, God has given a unifying theme for the year. The emphasis for 2012 is going to be the fourth part of our goal/direction as a church—"live like Jesus: love God, love others, make disciples" (fulfilling the great commandments and the great commission with Jesus as the paradigmatic self). I would love to have a catch phrase for making disciples but that hasn't come, yet. Two years ago, when loving God was the theme, we emphasized being connected to God by practicing spiritual disciplines and used being "hard-wired" to God as the mantra.


Before this year's retreat, in just a couple of weeks, I'm trying to read several books and become familiar with two or three small group studies on discipling. I would like to share an excerpt I just read in one of those books.


From John MacArthur in Twelve Ordinary Men (2002), p.46:

"A third element in the making of a leader—besides the right raw material and the right life experiences—is the right character. Character, of course, is absolutely critical in leadership. America's current moral decline is directly linked to the fact that we have elected, appointed, and hired too many leaders who have no character. In recent years, some have tried to argue that character doesn't really matter in leadership; what a man does in his private life supposedly should not be a factor in whether he is deemed fit for a public leadership role. That perspective is diametrically opposed to what the Bible teaches. Character does matter in leadership. It matters a lot. 

"In fact, character is what makes leadership possible. People simply cannot respect or trust those who lack character. And if they do not respect a man, they will not follow him."

So, I'm looking for material on making and being disciples and I get a strong statement that is very relevant to politics as well as the leadership that is imperative in the discipling process. While others blindly say, as if a self-given entitlement, "God bless America!", I must plead, "God, convict America, bring us to our knees, and give us godly leaders with moral character."


Oh yes, one more thing as a side: Be sure to visit our new, though apparently temporary, web site.

Vanity of Vanities! (all for the love of an Apple)

I'm not sure exactly when it happened but it most certainly has happened: I went from being part of a ridiculed minority, a nuisance, and someone without common sense to someone who is on the band wagon, aggravating, and arrogant…and I didn't change a single thing. I just keep using Apple computers.

Of course this is really small potatoes in the grand scheme of life but it is interesting (and mildly entertaining) to me to note how mac users are perceived differently than we were, say, thirty years ago. I had been using a mac for a few years but bought my first new laptop in 1981. It was a gray-scale Powerbook, 80Mb hard drive, 40Mb RAM, built-in floppy drive, and it still works today (except for the floppy drive). Then, we were off base and very odd. Now, we're trendy and even uppity.

If all I did was word processing, I'd still be using my original laptop. But graphics require memory and lots of it so I'm on my third laptop and second iMac. I upgrade them but eventually they max out and, even though they all still work, I have to get the latest and greatest. You understand…I have an image to maintain. You can use Skype, I'll use it when I have to (when chatting with PC users), but I prefer the superior quality and flow of iChat. It goes with being uppity and arrogant.

So thanks for my status change. No doubt the pendulum will swing back again...some day. But I won't care. I'm a mac user and I got used to being mocked thirty years ago.

P.S. I just read a microsoft ad: "PC's are customizable for work and play. Get the facts." It's true. They really are. But my mac came loaded for both.

(It just occurred to me…I could have done this on my iPod Touch.)

What if?

Saint Francis of Assisi said, "Preach the gospel at all times. If necessary, use words." The reasoning is simple: Actions speak louder than words.

Accomplishing two things at once is said to be "killing two birds with one stone."

I just read something that does both. Kevin Ezell is president of the North American Mission Board and posted this on April 7, 2011: http://www.namb.net/nambblog1.aspx?id=8589998605&blogid=8589939695

Making budget cuts is hard enough but neither could not have been easy downsizing the staff that serves the country's largest evangelical denomination in the area of evangelism and missions for Canada and the United States. Undoubtedly, he has and will continue to receive criticism for such a move. I think the bottom line of "allowing us to put $9 million extra on the field for church planting this year" with the hope "it will be $15 million" next year shows where the priorities are and may his kind increase!

Speaking of "may his kind increase" and considering our nation's current economic disaster, I am convinced that a secondary effect, even if unintentional, is the example it sets for those entrusted with power to lead our country. What if they, too, drastically cut the administrative costs in order to put money out their where it is most needed? If they did, we surely would not be in the mess we are in.

I am in danger of beginning a rant that would surely sound political so I will stop here.