Sharing God's message

 Over the past 46 years of preaching and teaching I can count on one hand the number of times God has flipped the script on what I was going to preach at the very last minute. This past Sunday was one of those times, I was invited to speak for a pastor friend who was recovering from surgery in a small town. My family had attended this small church for a year or so about 15 years ago, and we still have a unique relationship with the pastor and members. 

The previous Sunday I had spoke at Only Believe Urbana where we currently attend while the pastor was on vacation. The message that Sunday was entitled “Walking through the darkest valley with God's grace.” The text was from Psalms 23, and I incorporated both mine and Lee’s testimony of walking through my hospitalization, diagnosis with Epstein Barr and the heart attack and into Lee's diagnosis with cancer and all the surgeries and the final words “You’re cancer free”.

As I stepped onto the platform and opened my Bible and IPad, God said clearly you're NOT going there. Understand I had spent several hours studying and preparing this amazing message (At least in my mind) all of sudden God flipped the script. Can I be honest there was no panic, fear, or even debate, simply listening and obeying. I opened my Bible to Psalms 23, left my IPad on the pulpit, stepped down onto the main floor and simply walked through this amazing passage of scripture. 

Reminding them that this passage was not written for the dead (even though it is used at most funerals and hospital visits) it was written for the living as we walk the darkest valleys, the shepherd is always there taking care of us defending off the devil with his rod, and moving us in the right direction with his staff.

As I closed, I felt that I had accomplished the task at hand. However, I'm really not sure what it was. 

Then, the next morning I got a text from the pastor. 

“Hey! I thought you would like to know that your sermon was appropriate for Sunday, a family left Church and found out that their son had taken his own life and they appreciated the message. They felt like it was meant just for them.” 

Can I help preachers today?

You never know what God’s going to do when you share the word He gives you, so prepare and then let God use you for His purpose. 

Amazing book to read!

 

This blog post was originally published at a previous blog site in 2013. However, it continues to reflect my thinking today.

Those that know me personally know that I love teaching and studying Pastoral Theology; simply looking at how and why we do the ministry we do. This includes everything from pastoral counseling, Ethics, Homiletics/Teaching, Church Leadership, and the Church Ordinance. I’m always reading and looking for good books or articles on the subject, and ironically, I came across a book on Amazon that is free to download to my Kindle entitled, “The Preacher and His Model, the Yale Lectures on Preaching, 1891.”

This awesome nine-part lecture was presented at “Divinity School of Yale University, New Haven, Conn, April 25, 1891, by Rev. James Stalker D.D. of Glasgow, Scotland. Dr. Stalker was a minister, lecturer, and preacher for the Free Church of Scotland (United Free Church). From 1902-1924 he was Professor of Church History at the United Free Church College in Aberdeen, where he also added the Chair of Christian Ethics in 1905. He maintained these until his retirement in 1924.

Dr. Stalker has joined the other great British authors that I have enjoyed over the years including but not limited to C. S. Lewis and Thomas Torrance, both of whom have had a profound impact on my thinking as a Christian and minister.  Dr. Stalker has the ability through his teaching to help you develop a unique understanding of what God has called you to as a minister of the Gospel, and a preacher of the word. A great quote in the book is “Preaching is not merely the speaking of a man. If it is, then it is certainly not worth coming to church for. Preaching, if it is of the right kind, is the voice of God.”  He takes time through the short lecture series to take each student/preacher on a walk to understand the calling, ministry, purpose, and requirement.

My prayer as you read this short blog post is that you would take time to read this awesome book by a mighty man of God. Allow his thoughts to challenge you as you become the man of God and preacher/teacher he has called you to be.