the schizophrenic young preacher

Before I preach, I always think "I never want to preach again!" Afterward, I always think "I can't wait to preach again!"

premature sermons

Have you ever had that moment at a cookout when someone brings out chicken that's not finished cooking? It smells so good. It looks so juicy and perfectly browned. And then you bite it...and what oozes out confirms the fact that it should have cooked longer.

That makes me think about the sermon preparation process. A good friend of mine and pastor said:

"I've never regretted that I held on to a sermon for too long. I've often regretted preaching a sermon too soon." John McGowan

Sometimes, in our eagerness to share something God is teaching us or has convicted us about, we preach something that needed to cook longer. Maybe it needed to cook longer in the oven of meditation/study. Maybe it needed to cook longer in the oven of our own personal obedience/application.

Either way, we as preachers should beware of preaching premature sermons.

"In many cases the truth is not found in the middle of apparent opposites, but on both extremes simultaneously."

John Stott died today and, praise God, he is now in the fullness of the eternal presence of God. I read a 2004 article written about him in the NY Times and was impacted by this quote:

"There's been a lot of twaddle written recently about the supposed opposition between faith and reason. To read Stott is to see someone practicing "thoughtful allegiance" to scripture. For him, Christianity means probing the mysteries of Christ. He is always exploring paradoxes. Jesus teaches humility, so why does he talk about himself so much? What does it mean to gain power through weakness, or freedom through obedience? In many cases the truth is not found in the middle of apparent opposites, but on both extremes simultaneously." David Brooks

So true: Jesus as God and man, the Trinity as three and one, predestination and human choice, etc.

Charles Spurgeon embraced those biblical paradoxes. He once said, "Two truths cannot be contradictory to each other." Speaking of predestination and human responsibility, he said: "These two truths, I do not believe, can ever be welded into one upon any human anvil, but one they shall be in eternity: they are two lines that are so nearly parallel, that the mind that shall pursue them farthest, will never discover that they converge; but they do converge, and they will meet somewhere in eternity, close to the throne of God, whence all truth doth spring."

You can't consistently preach hot sermons from a lukewarm life.

"Leaders, if you create a culture of fear you will ALWAYS get the answer you WANT but NEVER the one you NEED." John McGowan

Love is an others-centered action AND an others-centered motivation (1 Cor13:3).

We can easily start to use love as a way of building our self-image. "Look at me, I'm such a loving person."

Love is not PR.

"No matter what you do, your first 200 sermons are going to be terrible." Tim Keller

my rule for Christian living

“My rule for Christian living is this: anything that dims my vision of Christ, or takes away my taste for Bible study, or cramps my prayer life, or makes Christian work difficult is wrong for me, and I must, as a Christian, turn away from it.”

- Wilbur Chapman

this verse should impact the way we view and do ministry

"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all." (John 6:63)

"We just tryin' to get you to hear the real voice of God 'cause some of these preachers be T-Pain'n it" D-Maub

Wow. Sounds cheesy on the surface, but when you meditate on it for a while it becomes incredibly perceptive.

For those who are not familiar with T-Pain, he is a music artist who is known for his extensive use of auto-tune. According to Wikipedia (my trusty research source), auto-tune is used to "correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It is used to disguise off-key inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed singers to perform perfectly tuned vocal tracks without needing to sing in tune."

D-Maub's point is that so many of today's sermons are "out of tune" with the truth of Scripture but "auto-tuned" to the modern, cultural ear. So you get two pretty common dynamics happening in modern pulpits.

First, many preachers use what I'll call "antics" to make up for the lack of substance in their sermons. Like an audience so used to auto-tune, the congregation is so tuned up to fluff and hype that they don't hear how out of tune the sermon is with God's Word.

Secondly, many preachers, in an effort to make the voice of God (i.e. the Scriptures) more "appealing", distort or downplay truths and characteristics of God that they deem to be harsh to the modern ear. What you end up with is a very sanitized, "auto-tuned", presentation of God that appeals to our modern cultural sensibilities and desires.

The problem is that the Scriptures do not present "off-key inaccuracies and mistakes" about God. The truths of Scripture are in tune with the reality of God. WE are the ones out of tune.

"For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." (2 Timothy 4:3)

"People don't learn what you teach. They learn what you're passionate about." Don Carson

In context, his point was that what really sticks with people over time is what you're passionate about, not necessarily all of the content you teach.

The gospel is not merely the gate through which we walk and leave behind; it is also the ground."

That statement may seem a bit abstract but the more you walk with the Lord, the more you see that the promises of the gospel undergird and motivate all of the Christian life.

Here's a book that has been extremely helpful to me in centering my life on my gospel:

a passage every preacher should memorize

"just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts." (1 Thessalonians 2:4)

I feel like this passage should be memorized and kept visible by every preacher and teacher of God's Word.

Just reflect on those truths for a few minutes:

1. we have been entrusted with the gospel -how humbling is it that God chose to entrust you with such a monumental task? how sobering is it that you have to give an account for how you handled it?
2. we speak not to please man - how does "pleasing man" creep up in your heart during sermon prep or after your sermon?
3. we speak to please God - what pleases God in a sermon? what pleases God in a preacher? after you preach, are you more preoccupied with what God thinks or what your audience thinks?
4. God tests our hearts - people will critique your sermon, but are you aware that God is critiquing your motives?

"Religion starts wars."

Religion doesn't start wars; people do. A sinful heart will use (and pervert) any means necessary to live out its superiority complex.

Saying 'religion starts wars' is like saying 'neighborhoods cause gang violence.' The problem is people.

Leadership and Isolation

My friend Josh Cahan posted this on his blog. I've noticed that church leaders tend to see themselves as 'leading the church' but not really a part of the church. This quote is such a great reminder that leaders need not be isolated from life of the church.

"It is important that leaders see themselves and are seen by others as part of the church. Professionalism is always the enemy of authentic gospel leadership. Leaders are not a special class set apart on their own, having to face burdensome responsibilities and forced to endure a lonely existence. Leaders cannot be detached. They must be visible believers who live their lives openly in the midst of the believing community." (Total Church by Tim Chester & Steve Timmis)

Video: Persevere

A video I shot for our church's leadership conference. We all admire leaders who have persevered through difficult times, but it's must easier admired than lived out.

The overall idea and creative work is the brainchild of Bobby Morganthaler.

Video: Follow the Follower

Here's another video I shot for our church's leadership conference. It's about the paradox that all Christian leaders live in: In order to lead well, we have to follow well.

The overall idea and creative work is the brainchild of Bobby Morganthaler.

Video: Dream Big

Here's a short video I shot for our church's leadership conference. It's about the power of vision and the necessity for Christian leaders to dream big.

The overall idea and creative work is the brainchild of Bobby Morganthaler.

So much of pastoring is praying.

Lord, it's so easy to lean on the wisdom of the world in all of its activity and striving and ingenuity. Please help me to lean first and foremost on your wisdom (1 Cor.3:18-19), to fight with weapons that are spiritual (2 Cor.10:4), and to work according to your divine power (Col.1:29).

hypocrisy and its impact on preaching

It is so difficult to preach, with passion, something that you do not personally live. Why? (1) Because your conscience bears down on you in your preparation (if it hasn’t been seared by prolonged hypocrisy). You have to fight through feelings of condemnation and guilt and that saps you of your confidence. (2) Because you lack the experience necessary to not just inspire but to actually be helpful. It’s semi-easy to get up and inspire people to do something that you don’t do, because you’re inspiring yourself at the same time. It’s the difference though between someone inspiring you to climb Mt. Everest with vague, abstract words (“It’s beautiful. You should do it. There’s nothing like it in the world.”) and someone actually being helpful to you in knowing how to climb. Someone who has climbed it many times can tell you exactly how to pack for the weather, how it will feel when the low-altitude air hits your lungs, how you should adjust your breathing, the discouragement you’ll feel at 15,0000ft. Someone who hasn’t can only describe a picture of a place that they, at best, long to visit.

Ezra, the scribe, gives us the process for great preaching: "For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel" (Ezra 7:10).

Note: I should add that a preacher is always faced with the reality of preaching something that he/she doesn't live perfectly. But there's a difference between not applying something perfectly and not applying it at all. I'd also add that if you find yourself about to preach something that you haven't personally applied, confess it to God, take joy in the confidence that you're accepted by God because of the gospel, make serious plans to apply whatever you're preaching to your life and/or don't preach it yet.

Updates to this post

"No pastor lives up to what he preaches. If he does, he is preaching too low." John Piper