In dealing with spiritual gifts, occasionally, a member will notify you that he believes he has a gift about which you have serious misgivings. How well I remember Abraham, our first convert from the neighborhood, saying, “So much has been done for me by the people of this church that now I want to do something for somebody, too.”

“What is it you want to do?” I asked.

“Preach,” came the definite reply.

Now even the staff faces our much-degreed student congregation with a dose of hesitancy. But, I recognized that this black man’s appeal had validity. It is hard to be continually on the receiving end. So we scheduled him to preach on a Sunday evening.

Abraham did surprisingly well for a man with no training and little formal education. The experience only whetted his appetite and he was back again soon, very soon, wanting more of the same.

Three men were invited to share the preaching time one Sunday morning, and among them was Abraham. The other two were well-educated and had years of Bible study behind them. I spent several sessions with Abraham helping him prepare for his eight minutes.

When the morning arrived he appeared very nervous, and I soon realized he had been drinking. I began then to doubt the wisdom of this venture. (It should be stated parenthetically that drinking is far more tolerated by the poor people in the inner city than by the accepted white suburban Christian standard.) You can imagine my surprise when he presented a sermon clear and moving, beautiful in its simplicity. It was short, but it had great feeling. He clearly did have a gift which the Lord could use.

I complimented him after the service. “Oh, Pastor David,” he said, “I was so nervous about getting up in front of all those people and talking that I just had to have something to help me. But, you know, I think I can do it next time without the nip.”

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You can learn how to develop highly relevant Sunday sermons that grab the attention of your congregation and help your listeners respond effectively to the deep truths of God’s Word. David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions. We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

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In Part 20, I ended with an assertion of how the role of spiritual gifts has become distorted. This approach toward gifts is indicated in the attitude of church staffs toward their congregations. In so many instances, the clergy begin with a program and then ask, “How can we get our people to fit into it?”

At Circle Church, we began with our people and asked, “What gifts do they have? How can we help our people use these gifts in ministry either inside or outside the structure of Circle Church?”

Here is an immense difference! The gifts of the people determined our program.

We didn’t want to moan pleadingly, “If we had twenty more neighborhood tutors, we could fill our quota.” We started with the gifts of the people. Perhaps there are thirty who feel they have a gift of teaching and would like to meet this special need of deprived neighborhood children. They then are the quota. Only then do we make the neighborhood contacts. The program must never control the people!

If we do not have people who are specifically gifted to meet the needs of a given program, then we drop the program.

This would be true even in areas that are considered very important in the church. Let it be stated strongly, however, that we believe the Holy Spirit to be perfectly adept at distributing gifts properly among the people of the congregation. Thus, the truly important areas of ministry are automatically taken care of through His divine foresight.

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Pastor, when “sermon prep day” rolls around each week, do you face the task of preparing another sermon with a frown on your face? If so, you’re not alone. Many pastors literally dread preparing their Sunday sermon. There just doesn’t seem to be an easy solution. The good news: David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions. We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

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Recently, I received a morning call from Moody Radio, asking if I would be willing to answer a few questions later that day regarding the state of the American church. I said yes to the invitation, but I’m not sure I did all that well on-air. Partly that’s because it’s tough to convey the deep feelings I have in just a couple of minutes of airtime, especially when the questions don’t necessarily set me up for what I want to say.

Churches differ a great deal as to what’s happening. Because I still get to visit quite a few diverse congregations, I believe I have a sense of what’s going on nationally. So as I mentally prepared for what I would say, I reduced my comments to this one truth: For the most part I don’t pick up on a sense of URGENCY in the vast majority of American churches. Re-said, there’s no feeling like the two-minute warning has sounded and if we’re going to pull things out, this has to be the time to do it.

I attempted to convey my conviction that these are critical days, but almost before I got started the time was up, I was being thanked for my observations, and the program was off in another direction.

In the new book I have written on Revelation, To Those I Love, I Leave…, I had a better opportunity to share the intense feelings I have about the time in which we live. This week I am putting Chapter 2 online at my website www.Sermon-Coach.com. Thank you for taking the time to read it.

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No matter what type of Sunday sermon you need to create, David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions. We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

Share and Enjoy