I STILL GET CALLED 'PREACHER'

One fellow has even shortened it to 'Preach'. 

It's one of the things I do as a pastor!  Every Thursday is sermon day!  I try to push everything else aside and focus on developing a message for Sunday. 

Three times a year (March, August, and December) I go to a retreat house for five days of prayer, study, and planning.  This is where I listen for God's direction for my preaching.  Developing a plan takes a lot of the stress out of the week-to-week task of preparation.  It allows God to work ahead in my thinking;  sometimes I'll carry ideas in my mind for weeks before I get them written down.

Most of the time, sermon writing is such a partnership with God.  However, occasionally I struggle.  There have been more than a few times when I've written three different sermons in a week - and still felt uncomfortable! 

Yesterday, I started on my topic:  LENTEN EMOTIONS - Weakness...Pontius Pilate.  When I started typing, my mind went a direction that I had not anticipated.  Five hours later I had a message that did not reflect my original intentions at all.  Those hours flew by.  I couldn't type fast enough!  And now, I can't wait for Sunday morning to preach it!

I have often felt that I can't accept credit for the end result.  So often, it just seems to flow from God through His Holy Spirit!  I am SO GRATEFUL for this - I can hardly express it!

Preaching is a big part of what I do.  It's the most public thing I do.  I hope that God is still using sermons to impact His people!

I Corinthians 1:21 (The VOICE)
[Paul writing] For in God's deep wisdom, He made it so that the world could not even begin to comprehend Him through its own style of wisdom;  in fact, God took immense pleasure in rescuing people of faith through the foolishness of the message we preach.