When Your Sermon is Only a Single

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Philip Nation in Leadership, Preaching | Leave a comment

baseballAs preachers, we want to see phenomenal results every week when people encounter God through our worship gatherings. One of the primary means of encountering Him is through the declaration of what God has said about Himself through the Scriptures. But, we are not always great at it.

Each week, we hope that our sermon will be a homerun. However, I’ve hit a lot more singles and doubles than triples. I’ve hit even fewer homeruns. In all honesty, there are many Sundays my sermon feels like a poorly executed bunt that I have to hustle out to first base. So what are you to do when you just hit a single?

Remember, to begin with, it was not your sermon. The truth you are proclaiming is not your truth. It is God’s message to God’s people and those He is calling into submission to His sovereignty. It is easy to slip into an ownership mode about the sermon. After all, we tell stories about our family, our life, our struggles, and our walk with Christ. But none of “us” should be the centerpiece of the message. It is His truth about Him.

Stop allowing your identity to be wrapped up in your performance. So you hit a single. God is still God. You are still you. Remember the counsel that you give out so quickly to machinists, stay-at-home moms, engineers, and students: “Your work does not define you. Christ now defines your identity.” Seek to do all of your work as unto the Lord and remember the respective roles in the proclamation of the gospel. As the old adage goes, we are just beggars telling other beggars where to find bread.

Pray more for the effect of the truth than the delivery of your message. As you prepare for the message, spend more time praying for the people who hear it than for the lips who speak it. We must not fall prey to the temptation that our words will be the deciding factor over someone’s daily decisions or eternal destination. This is not to dissuade you from praying for yourself through the process. It is, however, to make your focus on the God who moves in the life of all people, including the preacher.

Accept your fallibility. I hate to stumble through a phrase or tell a bad joke or fail to connect with a crowd. Last Sunday, I misspoke during my message and said “awoken” when I meant to say “awaken.” I hate doing stuff like that. As much as I hate it, my church family actually loves it. For many preachers, true or not, you are perceived to be the smartest person in the room. Telling the occasional lame duck joke or mispronouncing a biblical name is actually endearing. When we move off the need to be the smartest person in the room, perhaps, just perhaps, God will shine brighter because of our humility.

Expect the proper response. Our focus should be on life-change because people saw Jesus, not heard from a preacher. In my life, I am trying to focus more on the response of people to the overall act of worship which has the Scriptures as its center point rather than to my witty banter. The truth is the truth no matter what. So, if your outline was not memorable and your voice cracked, it does not matter. The question we must ask is: “Did I state the truth of God’s Word and ask people to respond to it?”

Commit yourself to serving Christ and His church well. In no way do I want to excuse myself or you from poor preparation or shoddy workmanship. When last Sunday seemed like it fell short, then do what you know must be done. Pray more diligently. Meditate on the Word with greater eagerness. Ask for the filling of the Spirit with more desperation. Seek godly counsel from pastors who have walked this road longer than you. Whatever you do, do not settle for being a poor workman before God and His Word.

Singles happen. In fact, in baseball, they are normative for any team. But they must not be satisfactory. In our work of proclamation, we should expect the supernatural to occur in people’s lives. I want to see people radically transformed by the power of the gospel as often as possible. So, let’s go about our work with earnestness seeking the power of the gospel for the good of all people. Swing for the fences and allow God to do His work. Remember, sometimes you sow seeds, sometimes you water what you cannot see is already planted, and sometimes you get to do the harvesting. Whatever our role each week, savor the work of Christ done in you.

Keep Calm and Carry On

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Philip Nation in Life | Leave a comment

I have a copy of the iconic poster “Keep Calm and Carry On.” It has become such a common saying in my life that my boys gave me a framed copy of it for Christmas. If you have never heard the story of its origins, you’ll find this three minute video a fascinating bit of history.

Transition to a Going Church

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Philip Nation in Church, Discipleship | Leave a comment

The Great Commission given by Jesus in Matthew 28 is familiar. Too familiar. With its familiarity, we face the temptation of it losing its impact. Let me remind us what it says,

Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Recently, I shared with our church five changes and one empowering reminder that we need to keep in mind if we are to follow Christ’s commission to us.

Change #1: Move from working as campus chaplains to advancing as kingdom missionaries

  • Churches are not to hide on campuses.
  • We are told to “go” or “as you are going.”
  • Wherever people are is where we are to be.
  • The church campus and gatherings serve as launching pads, not as a monastery.

Change #2: Move from participating in religious programs to becoming lifestyle disciple-makers

  • Programs are the paths of least resistance because disciple making is mess.
  • Programmatic growth is the last vestige for sterile ministries.
  • We want relationships that result in eternal transformations.

Change #3: Move from a perceived home field to active global engagement

  • The mission of God includes our community but does not end with our community.
  • God calls the church to the world.
  • God calls our church to be a global sending center.
  • God calls every believer to be a global missionary.

Change #4: Move from creating consumers of religion to community builders of the church

  • Baptism is the public declaration that you have surrendered your life before God’s sovereignty.
  • It is secondarily a public alignment with the church family.

Change #5: Move from being knowledge junkies to Jesus followers

  • Too often, our knowledge has outpaced our obedience.
  • It is easier to desire behavior modification from masters of biblical trivial pursuit. But that is not discipleship.
  • “The gospel of sin management has produced vampire Christians who want Jesus for his blood and little else.” – Dallas Willard
  • Jesus wants followers. He began the apostles’ work with “Come” and ended his training with “Go.”
  • The gospel gives us the beautiful potential to be people who imitate Jesus.

 One Empowering Reminder: The authority and presence of Jesus is what makes all of this a reality.

  • Jesus has all of the authority and promised to never desert us.
  • None of the five changes are possible by our own wit and self-determination. Jesus, however, loves to do the impossible.

Francis Chan and David Platt Discuss Multiply

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Philip Nation in Discipleship | Leave a comment

Recently, Francis Chan and David Platt recorded a conversation about why they began the Multiply process. According to their website, the Multiply Movement is:

The Multiply Website is a central hub that contains resources to help you as you make disciples.

The Multiply Material is a 24-session discipleship experience where one person helps another understand what it means to follow Jesus, study scripture, and be the church. This material is available online and includes coaching videos and additional resources to assist you as you study through the course.

The Multiply Gathering is a once-a-year simulcast with Francis Chan and David Platt that fuels the purpose of Multiply. We want to gather together with other followers of Christ in their local churches and homes and encourage one another in the disciple-making process.

The Story Behind Multiply from Multiply on Vimeo.

Motherhood and Prayer

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Philip Nation in Life | Leave a comment

Today, I am happy to share with you a wonderful post written by Kristyn Getty.

 

Reflections on a Mother’s Prayer by Kristyn Getty

In the spring of 2008 I first prayed for a baby, and in the spring of 2011 God answered that prayer with the birth of our beautiful daughter. My joy was full but so were the fears I wrestled. In some ways I felt like a baby Christian again, caught in a whirlwind of emotions, learning and applying what I have known and trusted into a completely new life – I know I’m definitely not the first to feel that!

Friends of ours had given us a card when their first son was born; it was full of prayer requests for his little life, a prayer for every day of the month. My prayers were not quite as coherent as those, especially at first, but the urgency of the moment drove me to my knees. “Help her, help me” baby prayers at 3am; prayers as I heard the baby monitor light up in the morning; prayers when I thought of her safety, her soul, her future; prayers with my husband; prayers while Eliza listened in.

When people found out that I was pregnant one of the most frequent comments I received was how my creativity would discover a whole new vista of inspiration as I became a mother. So, when Eliza came I was anticipating a fresh flow of profound poetic thought, but instead I was swept up in the constant flow of changes and feedings and “Old MacDonald had a farm!” I was expecting full sentences, but I was blubbering looking at my beautiful girl! I actually wondered if I’d ever be able to write again. I just about tucked some thoughts away to ponder later when my brain would start to fit itself back together again (still nowhere near a completed process!). As I continued to learn the wonderful balancing act and privilege of mothering, homemaking, writing, traveling and singing, Keith and I began to write a song for Eliza choosing this theme of praying for her, and the end result was “A Mother’s Prayer.”

My parents have faithfully prayed for me my whole life, and I remember when I was younger my mum met with other mums to pray for all their children – a “Moms in Touch” group in Belfast. Even just the knowledge of that helped me, and I want Eliza to know we are praying for her and trying to guide her in this context that reaches to the call and purpose of her whole life and an understanding of the Lord’s grace and faithfulness. We’re now in the toddler stage and some of the prayer needs are shifting. We wanted the song to reflect the different seasons – ones we had discovered and then those still to come. We also wrote it to remind us of our promise to pray for her through all the years we’re given. We hope this song for her – and even more our praying for her – might catch her ear and help guide her heart as she grows up.

Encourage someone: Send a FREE eCard containing this song - www.Gettymusic.com/ecard.aspx

Biography

Keith and Kristyn Getty, from Belfast, Northern Ireland, have been writing modern hymns for the church for more than a decade. Their latest album release, Hymns for the Christian Life, features new hymns for congregations and soloists such as “Christ Is Risen, He Is Risen Indeed” and “A Mother’s Prayer” as well as a ten-year anniversary recording of ”In Christ Alone” (written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend). When not touring, the Gettys live in Nashville with their daughter, Eliza, where they manage the work of Getty Music.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ... 37 38   Next »