I Am Prayer!
What does it mean to have your identity defined by a practice? Crying out to God regarding the oppression of his enemies, the Psalmist said, “In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer” (Psalm 109:4, ESV; emphasis mine). The footnote in my Bible says the phrase means “I am prayer.”
Preaching with Humility
When I even think about writing on the topic of preaching with humility, I feel like a conference preacher I heard several years ago who was assigned to preach on this same subject. He opened his message by asking, “Doesn’t preaching on the subject of humility immediately disqualify you from possessing the quality?”
Preaching Without Notes
“Try it! You’ll like it!” no doubt was one of the most successful and effective advertisements of the 1970s, maybe of all time. It was the creation of some brilliant ad execs for Alka-Seltzer, the well-known effervescent antacid and pain reliever.
Preaching by GPS
Like most people, I’m spoiled with the GPS app on my phone. All I have to do is plug in my destination, and I get step-by-step instructions on how to get to where I‘m going. While I regret not memorizing addresses and directions much anymore, I have to admit that the GPS feature is so accessible, off-the-charts convenient, and relatively dependable.
The New Normal: Preaching to a Camera
In a perfect world, preaching is normally a point-in-time experience in front of a live audience. However, we don’t live in a perfect world, and these certainly aren’t normal times. We’re currently living with a ‘new normal’ in just about every area of life and ministry, and that includes preaching.
The Proverbial Pandemic
If there has ever been a time that pastors could legitimately say, “They didn’t teach me this in seminary,” it would certainly be now during this COVID-19 global pandemic. We’re all having to navigate new territory and uncharted waters, whether it be learning how to use unfamiliar technology or just finding an ample supply of toilet paper. Of course, there are people on the planet who are in much more dire straits. Nonetheless, it’s definitely a season in which all of us are having to learn stuff that we haven’t been taught.
The Trigger of the Spirit
The Spirit of God who indwells the preacher is the most powerful force in the universe. And God has ordained a system in His Trinitarian economy that provides every safety mechanism necessary to prevent us from accidentally hurting ourselves or someone else with His Spirit, but at the same time enables us to engage His Spirit in our work whenever we are ready to fire. He’s done this by ordaining prayer to be the primary way we engage His Spirit in the Christian life and work, including our preaching.
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