Ecclesiastes 12:10

   I wonder at times if I developed reverse speaking in tongues.  Instead of the ability to speak and the person hear me in their native language, it seems when I speak to a person it is as if I am just speaking gibberish.   Ok, I know it is not really that. It is not my language that is off but people just are not paying attention. If a person is unwilling to listen it does not matter if I am speaking English or Cantonese they will not understand.   When God wanted to separate people, he confused their language (Genesis 11). When he had a message for the entire world, he made it so everyone heard it in their own language (Acts 2). "And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born?  … —we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God." Acts 2:8-11    Are we listening to those who are telling us God’s message today? I often hear people criticize preachers that they are not preaching th...

   Over the years I will often times have song leaders that will ask me the topic of my lessons so that they can pick song that will fit, especially the invitation song.  I glad they do but I’ll admit that I don’t make it easy with on title alone [1] .  The invitation song can be that tipping point that might make someone respond. A song that flows along with the message can be very effective in that process.    However, I noticed that many times people already have their own invitation song.   Not that we have everyone signing their own tune but rather the song of their heart and mind that is influencing their response.   Your see some are singing, “ I Shall Not Be Moved ”.  No matter what the lesson was about, no matter how important it is that they make a change, they are firmly planted where they are, refusing to budge.   For some their invitation song is “ Farther Along ”. The message may have hit hom...

   I can't stand the rambling preacher.  That fellow that spends his time talking about everything but his lesson.  The guy whose lesson on the Prodigal Son includes sections on picking peas, the best hitter in baseball and temperature of last night’s dinner.  Maybe it bother me more because I fear that I may just be that guy. Rambling might be entertaining (usually not) but it is definitely not edifying.  For the preacher, his purpose is to build up his listeners with his words not just fill time.   But that qualifier isn’t just for preacher however; “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.” Ephesians 4:29   This verse gives us a purpose (edification), a place (according to the need of the moment), and a plan (give grace) for our speech.  It also commands us to limit speec...

How's that for a shocking title!  Well before you think I’ve lost, it let’s consider a verse ; I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,  so that no one would say you were baptized in my name. 1st Corinthians 1:14-15     Why in the world would Paul be thanking God for not baptizing people?  Baptism clearly is very important in the Scriptures (Acts 2:38, 1 st Peter 3:21, Mark 16:16). Jesus commanded it, the apostles taught it and the text is replete with examples of it.  So what he doing?   Paul here isn’t talking about the person needing to be baptized but the person doing the baptism.  Baptism requires a person to be baptized and a person doing the baptism.  Here Paul is making a point that it doesn’t require a special person to do the baptizing.   This might be a shocking statement to us but it shouldn’t.   Jesus taught about baptism but he didn’t do the baptizing himself (Joh...

  It seems nowadays everybody got an opinion on everything.   Well, maybe that has always been that way but we didn’t have all the ways to express it in such a public manner. Facebook, Twitter, blog posts, email chains.  Whatever issue happens to pop up in a given day, I see so many folks quick to spew out their takes as if they were the end all and be all of the matter.   I think us preachers are the worst.  Maybe we get so used to people listening to us each week we think that it is us they are coming to listen to.  That just because an idea came into our head, its a gold plated diamond that must be given to everyone to look at and admire.    Truth is just because a man is a minister of the gospel it doesn’t make him an expert in every subject.  He’s not a political expert, business leader, constriction whiz, social guru, dietary genius, genius psychologist or great thinker.  He just a man tasked with repeating and rem...

  I once had an elder describe a person as a Biblical since he “ appears for a little while and then vanishes away ” (James 4:14).  Some verses are easy to apply to people.  I would like to think that someone might apply Acts 18:24 to me, ( an eloquent man … mighty in the Scriptures ), but my guess is it probably is one of these; Top Ten Verses You Don’t Want Applied To You As A Preacher 1.      2nd Corinthians 10:10 For they say, "His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible." 2.      Jeremiah 1:6 Then I said, "Alas, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, 3.      Job 19:17 "My breath is offensive to my wife, And I am loathsome to my own brothers. 4.      1 Timothy 1:7 even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions. 5....

   Preachers worry about preaching “moving” sermons.   “Moving” sermons are ones that are either going to move the congregation in a different direction or move the preacher on down the road.    Even with that worry, a preacher should always be one that preaches the “ whole counsel of God ” (Acts 20:27) and speaks the truth even if it makes him some enemies (Galatians 4:16).   That being said, there are some sermons than should never be preached. The forbidding of these lessons is not dictated by the whims of men but by the word of God. Let consider some of those not to be preached sermons: 1.      The Old Wives Talk But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women . 1 st Timothy 4:7 This kind of lesson has found its way into our modern vernacular.  An old wives tale is a superstition or traditional belief that is regarded as unscientific or incorrect. These are sermons that have a lot of opinions a...

Young fool... only now, at the end, do you understand...!   The other day when the new Star Wars trailer came out, I realized I am not young anymore.  The stars of the movie of my youth are now old people.  Which then make me old!  I used to think of myself as a “young minister” but time is telling me otherwise.  The advantage of age is experience.  I am by no means fully experienced, but after a while you get to seeing some of the same situation again and again.  So I thought I would share some experiences and the lessons I’ve learned from them, so others might gain some insight. Here are in no particular order, are some things you might face in ministry [i] . 4. A New Hope The Story :  You have taken a new work and everyone is excited.  The congregation has been dealing with many different struggles and needs, but now YOU have come and everything is going to be perfect!  You will solve all the problems and bring everythin...

   They say you should never watch a legal drama with a lawyer or medical show with a doctor; they just can’t get over all the little things that are wrong.  I guess you can say the same thing about a preacher.  I’m probably insufferable to be around when people talk the Bible and religion in public forums.  If it is movies about the Bible or TV shows referencing scripture, it always amazes me how many details they get wrong.  It isn't just the media that does it.  Sometimes it is people that are attempting to preach and teach. The “pastor” in a funeral that called Lazarus Jesus’ cousin. The devotional message that referenced the blind man Jesus healed on the way to the cross.  The Bible verse that isn't a Bible verse (God helps those that help themselves?). When they says “it says in the Bible” when it never comes close to saying that.       I’ll be the first to say (and show) that sometimes speakers misspeak.  W...

   If you ever have spent any time on the internet you have seen them.  The ads pose as news that have some shocking statement or breaking story that promises more information is just a click away, then you click and well it isn't quite what you expected it to be.  This form of advertising is known as clickbait.  The way it works is the ad provides just enough information to make the reader curious, but not enough to satisfy their curiosity without clicking through to the linked content.  The content is usually isn’t very good or accurate, but that is not the point.  The goal isn't to inform you but to drive you to the site and increase advertising revenue.  They aren't meant to provide you content or real information just garner your attention.    Clickbait may be a relative new phenomena but the concept is as old as the hills.  False religion has been using it for thousands of ye...

      Over the years I have noticed a strange paradox with preachers.  You can often tell if a man was not prepared for a lesson when they go too long.  You would think unprepared speaker would run short but in practice it doesn't work that way.  I've heard speakers that “run out of soap” mid lesson but then ramble and repeat to fill the time.  Maybe the lesson just seems longer since his thoughts lose cohesion and he begins to veer off course.  Preachers (this one included) often make the mistake of thinking that if they are speaking, it automatically must be worth listening to.  But when a preacher hasn't put in proper study and considers his words carefully, it ends up just being babble.      It seems to me lots of preaching in our religious world today is just that, a bunch of babble.  There are a lot of popular sayings and stories but not a lot of Bible and personal ...

   It was a perfect sermon.  When Paul speaks at the Areopagus in Acts 17:22-31, the sermon was everything that a preacher could want.  Before the lesson, a buzz had been generated (Acts 17:18).  He had an educated audience open to new ideas, wanting to hear him speak. (Acts 17:19-21).Even the location gave the lesson a sense of importance.    His presentation had all those things that your speech teacher tells you to add to be effective.  A great opening hook (The Unknown God), quotes from people that would respect and admire, great individual lines that would stick in your memory.  It paints vividly a picture of a powerful God that created all but is missed by man in his ignorance, a God that has been wanting for mankind to reach out to him, so he can save them from destruction.  It closes with a might crescendo, a call to change, and a reason to act.  It is simple yet profound, gentle yet challenging, respectful yet d...

  I tend to watch a lot of sports on television, so I also tend to watch a lot of commercials.  While I love recording shows so I can skip through the commercials, it just seems wrong to not watch a sporting event live, so I have to muddle through the ads.  I might not be so bad if they weren't the same commercials over and over.  What’s worse they are not even good commercials.  Mostly, they’re not all that funny, or entertaining.  Why do they keep showing them the same old things over and over again?   Well, years ago my father explained to me a little something about the nature of advertising.  The key is not necessarily to entertain, or to get noticed but to be remembered!  For example, there might be a lot of buzz about the funny ad that ran during the Super Bowl.  People can tell you what the ad was about but nothing about the specific product. It was a car ad but which car company? You see that ad was noticed b...

  An Ad hominem attack is one that rather than dealing with the situation or issue, you attack the person making the argument.  Some people by their character and conduct make this an simple job. It’s easy to state their flaws and let that ruin their words.  It might be easy but it's not always right.  Those whose arguments are only about tearing others down will themselves be easy to tear down.   Over the years, I have noticed the men that have had great success in long term ministry are not “brother bashers”.  It can be easy to pick out the flaws we see in others but that attack eventually will turn sour.  To last, you have to lift people up not tear them down.  Some of the preachers I think most highly of are ones that I can barely ever remember having a negative word to say about anyone .  These men are completely sound and will reprove error but they don't attack people .  They preach to problems not pe...

Monday morning scattershooting while wondering, if Walker Texas Ranger was the first reality television show?     My friend Monte Ginnings often would say to me, “ there is no right way to do the wrong thing; however there is a wrong way to do the right thing” .  That axiom is very true when it comes to church work.  I see a lot of us trying to do the right thing but the wrong way.  When we attempt to spread the Gospel but do it harsh and disrespectful way.  When we try to correct error but rather that teaching in a patient way we grow angry and lash out.  When we let personal attacks hit us in such a way that we feel justified in returning “fire with fire”.  Our cause is just but our methods are anything but. Paul mentions that “wrong way right thing” mindset in Philippians 1:15-17. “Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am a...

Monday Morning Scattershooting while wondering about my obsession with Stockholm Syndrome. At first I thought it was a bad thing but now I am starting to really like it.   I worry about redundancy in my preaching.   Redundancy is when you just keep doing the same things over and over.  It's kind of like the lessons are in a feedback loop, they keep returning to the same subjects over and over.  As a listener, I hated when a preacher would get up and a minute into the lesson I’m think this again? Now for a preacher to some degree, repetitiveness is your job.  Your job is repetitiveness. You are doing your job by being repetitive. The truth of the Gospel need to be taught again and again [*] . But redundancy can take your symphonic ideas and turn them into background elevator muzak.     So how do you avoid redundancy? Here are some things I have tried  1.  Keep Good Records The computer age has been very helpful in ...