When I graduated from preaching school I didn't believe there was enough material about Jesus to last six good sermons. That is a clear indicator of my enormous immaturity, wouldn't you say?
What is the message of preaching Christ and him crucified? Well it has eternal ramifications as well as perpetual information to be extracted from the most lively Word. But I think the basic message is one of hope.
When I preached in Kahoka for a year, Quincy for two and then moved to Memorial, hope was hardly in my vocabulary. I preached what I thought made me appear "solid" in other preachers' eyes. I wanted to fulfill the role of standing for something and being doctrinally respected.
How much I had to learn!
I wasn't preaching Jesus. I wasn't preaching hope. I was delivering frustration, aggravation, and gloom.
But Jesus changes all of that. We want to be among those who fill every member and visitor with the best news we can muster for their new week. They will hear enough trash and encounter enough pain without our starting their week off with such.
Fill your people...my friends...with good news for such is what we are all about!
2 comments:
Amen!
Glory to God!
Jason
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