Comments on: Preaching with Power 2 http://www.twelvewitnesses.com/2007/08/06/preaching-with-power-2/ Let these stones be a witness to what we have done here this day. Tue, 22 Nov 2011 19:54:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Matthew http://www.twelvewitnesses.com/2007/08/06/preaching-with-power-2/#comment-7749 Matthew Tue, 07 Aug 2007 21:00:28 +0000 http://www.twelvewitnesses.com/2007/08/06/preaching-with-power-2/#comment-7749 Great thoughts on a important topic. www.matthewsblog.waynesborochurchofchrist.org Great thoughts on a important topic.

http://www.matthewsblog.waynesborochurchofchrist.org

]]> By: Brian http://www.twelvewitnesses.com/2007/08/06/preaching-with-power-2/#comment-7741 Brian Tue, 07 Aug 2007 12:30:32 +0000 http://www.twelvewitnesses.com/2007/08/06/preaching-with-power-2/#comment-7741 Great post! I tell people that my passion comes from two sources: 1) I am passionate because I had to deal with the text - personally. Once I see my sinfulness and inability, then experience the grace of God in the completed work of Christ - I really get "fired up". 2) I needed to get out of the mindset that I am a craftsman, and the sermon (and ministry) is my tool to do something for God. God had to show me, sometimes painfully, that He is the craftsman and that He wants to do the work. I am just as much a tool as the sermon. It makes me rely on His Word and Spirit that much more. Anyway...those are my thoughts. Great post!

I tell people that my passion comes from two sources: 1) I am passionate because I had to deal with the text – personally. Once I see my sinfulness and inability, then experience the grace of God in the completed work of Christ – I really get “fired up”. 2) I needed to get out of the mindset that I am a craftsman, and the sermon (and ministry) is my tool to do something for God. God had to show me, sometimes painfully, that He is the craftsman and that He wants to do the work. I am just as much a tool as the sermon. It makes me rely on His Word and Spirit that much more.

Anyway…those are my thoughts.

]]> By: Cyle http://www.twelvewitnesses.com/2007/08/06/preaching-with-power-2/#comment-7737 Cyle Tue, 07 Aug 2007 03:01:49 +0000 http://www.twelvewitnesses.com/2007/08/06/preaching-with-power-2/#comment-7737 I was really pumped about this past Sunday. It was one of those times of study alot like what you talked about. I mean, it was like the Scripture was just leaping out. One of the reasons it's like this right now is that I am staying on the same passage. I'm preaching through the pastoral epistles. The first couple of weeks it was hard. I mean, there's so much. But, as I just meditated on these books, God began to show me which way to go, how to bring the eternal truth to the contemporary context. It's not really about contextualizing the Scripture. It's about scripturalizing the culture. I mean, we can either decide that Scripture will direct culture or vice versa. Anyway, Sunday was good. It just made sense. And, then I still had some of the same experiences you had. The sermon wasn't long, for me, and still there were a couple of times that it seemed to drag. Sometimes I try to say something to jar people out of what I perceive to be a dead space. I think alot of it is just spiritual warfare and flesh. I've found that I just need to keep on preaching the truth, maybe louder, maybe quicker, maybe with a little more excitement. One thing that did come to me Sunday is this. We need to practice what we preach, but we also need to preach what we practice. I think that some preachers are afraid of being preachy. In other words, they shut off their gift when the service ends. I think that makes us irrelevant. I'd rather be preachy all the time than communicate that I'm somehow ashamed of the Word of God by my silence. I was really pumped about this past Sunday. It was one of those times of study alot like what you talked about. I mean, it was like the Scripture was just leaping out. One of the reasons it’s like this right now is that I am staying on the same passage. I’m preaching through the pastoral epistles. The first couple of weeks it was hard. I mean, there’s so much. But, as I just meditated on these books, God began to show me which way to go, how to bring the eternal truth to the contemporary context. It’s not really about contextualizing the Scripture. It’s about scripturalizing the culture. I mean, we can either decide that Scripture will direct culture or vice versa. Anyway, Sunday was good. It just made sense. And, then I still had some of the same experiences you had. The sermon wasn’t long, for me, and still there were a couple of times that it seemed to drag. Sometimes I try to say something to jar people out of what I perceive to be a dead space. I think alot of it is just spiritual warfare and flesh. I’ve found that I just need to keep on preaching the truth, maybe louder, maybe quicker, maybe with a little more excitement. One thing that did come to me Sunday is this. We need to practice what we preach, but we also need to preach what we practice. I think that some preachers are afraid of being preachy. In other words, they shut off their gift when the service ends. I think that makes us irrelevant. I’d rather be preachy all the time than communicate that I’m somehow ashamed of the Word of God by my silence.

]]> By: Rev. Michael http://www.twelvewitnesses.com/2007/08/06/preaching-with-power-2/#comment-7736 Rev. Michael Tue, 07 Aug 2007 01:42:48 +0000 http://www.twelvewitnesses.com/2007/08/06/preaching-with-power-2/#comment-7736 I have preached sermons I thought were embarrassingly horrible and many times they have been the sermons that get the most genuine positive comments. Then again there have been times when I stepped into the pulpit thinking I had one hum-dinger (sp?) of a sermon only to watch it fall flat. As one lady in my church put it while I was still glowing inside..."That was ...well...o.k." :0 ?!? Like you, the most incredible times have been when God took over a sermon while I was preaching providing me with awesome illustrations or tying ends and points together in ways I hadn't gotten all week. I told me church when they called me that I felt like one of the disciples at the feeding of the five thousand. I wasn't coming to them with amazing skills or all the answers. In fact I had no idea how to do what God had called me to do. I was simply going to have to go to Him, take what He gave me, and hand it out. He has never let me down. I've gotten in His way at times but He has never failed to provide. It boogles my mind every day that God uses worthless me to do His work. Our God is good isn't He? Michael I have preached sermons I thought were embarrassingly horrible and many times they have been the sermons that get the most genuine positive comments. Then again there have been times when I stepped into the pulpit thinking I had one hum-dinger (sp?) of a sermon only to watch it fall flat. As one lady in my church put it while I was still glowing inside…”That was …well…o.k.” :0 ?!?

Like you, the most incredible times have been when God took over a sermon while I was preaching providing me with awesome illustrations or tying ends and points together in ways I hadn’t gotten all week.

I told me church when they called me that I felt like one of the disciples at the feeding of the five thousand. I wasn’t coming to them with amazing skills or all the answers. In fact I had no idea how to do what God had called me to do. I was simply going to have to go to Him, take what He gave me, and hand it out. He has never let me down. I’ve gotten in His way at times but He has never failed to provide. It boogles my mind every day that God uses worthless me to do His work. Our God is good isn’t He?

Michael

]]> By: Lu http://www.twelvewitnesses.com/2007/08/06/preaching-with-power-2/#comment-7734 Lu Tue, 07 Aug 2007 00:30:22 +0000 http://www.twelvewitnesses.com/2007/08/06/preaching-with-power-2/#comment-7734 <i>He has no wrath left for you - only love... Whatever shame or guilt or idea that God is holding sin against the child of God is a lie of the devil that only has power in our belief that it is true, and it is nothing like being true... There is love and redemption waiting.</i> I realize this post is about the power of <i>preaching</i>, not blogging, but this part of your post was exactly what I needed to hear. It echoes the words God spoke to me last night as I sat on the floor weeping over sin that has held me captive for most of my life. It occurred to me as I read it this afternoon that you were probably preaching it at the same time God was speaking it to me. ---The timing of it all just amazes me... Thanks for sharing it and once again being God's conduit for Truth. He has no wrath left for you – only love… Whatever shame or guilt or idea that God is holding sin against the child of God is a lie of the devil that only has power in our belief that it is true, and it is nothing like being true… There is love and redemption waiting.

I realize this post is about the power of preaching, not blogging, but this part of your post was exactly what I needed to hear. It echoes the words God spoke to me last night as I sat on the floor weeping over sin that has held me captive for most of my life. It occurred to me as I read it this afternoon that you were probably preaching it at the same time God was speaking it to me. —The timing of it all just amazes me…

Thanks for sharing it and once again being God’s conduit for Truth.

]]> By: Steve Austin http://www.twelvewitnesses.com/2007/08/06/preaching-with-power-2/#comment-7731 Steve Austin Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:55:31 +0000 http://www.twelvewitnesses.com/2007/08/06/preaching-with-power-2/#comment-7731 Sometimes you're the candle, sometimes just the mirror! Sometimes you’re the candle, sometimes just the mirror!

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