Every so often, a publishing house will ask me to read a new manuscript about preaching and then write a short endorsement that can be used on the back cover. The month of August provided me with another of those occasions. Actually, I was greatly impressed by this new volume, and the blurb I wrote was quite laudatory.

For the next several weeks I would like to reflect on some of my impressions. The first is that it was obvious the writer had a great love for preachers and the work they do. There was no hint of “I know what’s best, so sit there and take it!” Instead, great care was taken to help the reader know that this was a true friend who was giving advice. As I read, I couldn’t help but compare this approach to my own and felt that far too often in my comments I come off like a know-it-all.

This given writer/Ph.D. also worked hard at helping readers discover what they were good at, as contrasted to quickly pointing out where they needed to improve. I found this method very appealing.

Care was also taken to point out the positives preachers need to hear. They already get more than their fair share of the negatives. For example, let me quote a few lines:

 “When asked to list the element of the church service ‘most likely to have an impact on my spiritual journey,’ the number one answer from listeners was ‘the sermon.’ Preachers did not predict their listeners would answer that way! Said a listener from a coastal state, ‘I like good music and my church friends, but I come on Sundays hoping for inspiration from the sermon, inspiration to encourage my spiritual growth.’ When asked to give advice to pastors, another wrote, ‘Recognize the power of your words.’”

I will share more with you related to this book in the upcoming weeks.

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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?

Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

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 Saturday or 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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Combining Resources – Part 1

Places in the Heart is a gentle, inspiring film starring Sally Field. The setting for the story is Waxahachie, Texas in 1935, during the Great Depression.

In the opening scene, Sheriff Spalding prays at dinner. His nine-year-old son, Frank, and younger daughter called Possum are seated at the table with their parents. “Father, please remind us in these hard times to be grateful for what we have been given.”

He’s just taken his first bite of fried chicken when there’s a knock at the door. The report is that a young black is “drunk as a skunk” down by the railroad tracks, and he’s got a gun. The sheriff leaves his dinner to make the arrest, never suspecting this is to be his last supper and his last prayer. One of the things we all fear most is having to face the unexpected all alone. But that’s the situation in which Edna Spalding finds herself.

Before long the local banker makes this new widow aware of just how precarious her financial position is. He encourages her to sell her house and modest acreage and to have the children raised by someone else. The rest of the film revolves around whether Edna will make it without having to succumb to the banker’s suggestions.

Strictly on her own, she wouldn’t have succeeded. But through a couple of unusual circumstances, Edna Spalding ends up with two boarders: Mr. Will, a blind World War I veteran; and Moze, an itinerant black handyman. For this group, it’s come together or else. Each must contribute what he or she can or no one will survive—kids or adults. Edna Spalding makes this clear: The children will be sent to other families, blind Mr. Will’s future will be in an institution somewhere, and Moze will have to go back to begging door-to-door for his meals.

Well, pull together they do. They survive a tornado plus enough human greed and violence to discourage all but the strongest of people. But this is an unusual group of five that’s formed—this small girl, this young boy, this widow, this black itinerant worker, and this blind man. They become an indomitable team.

There are great sequences of blind Mr. Will cooking in the kitchen so that the others, including both the kids, can pick cotton in the fields; of Moze telling Mrs. Spalding how to negotiate with the cotton buyer; and scenes showing how Edna is the inspiration and determination behind all that gets done.

After accomplishing the impossible by getting their cotton harvested before anyone else (which .results in a hundred dollar bonus), Mr. Will and Moze stay home while Mrs. Spalding and the children celebrate at a barn dance. Here there’s a touching scene where Frank, the young son, asks his mother to dance.

Back at the house, Mr. Will thinks he hears a noise outside. Moze doesn’t hear anything, but to please Mr. Will he goes outside to check the barn. There waiting for him are a number of hooded figures of the Ku Klux Klan. When the beating begins, Mr. Will hears it and feels for Sheriff Spalding’s old pistol in the closet. What follows is an incredible scene where a blind man with a handgun is able to stop the beating of his black friend by Klan members.

In a way this action is typical of the film. None of the five have a whole lot to give, but somehow the love of each for the other, and the contribution of each to the whole, makes it all work. Because of this mixture the simplest of lines—“Are you OK?”—carries more power than you might expect.

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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?

Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

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 Saturday or 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

Off-Load Stress – Part 13: Readings – 5

Patrick of Ireland
(377-460)
Lorica, or The Breastplate

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ’s birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In prayers of patriarchs,
In predictions of prophets,
In preachings of apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Radiance of the moon,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.

I arise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me;
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s hosts to save me
From snares of the devil,
From temptations of vices,
From every one who desires me ill,
Afar or anear,
Alone or in a multitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and evil,
Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul.

Christ shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that reward may come to me in abundance.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks ,of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

_________________________
The Harper Book of Christian Poetry, Selected and Introduced by Anthony S. Mecatante, “Patrick of Ireland,” Anonymous, pages 13-15.

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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?

Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

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 Saturday or 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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Off-Load Stress – Part 12: Readings – 4

 A few days after returning to Bristol from his few weeks in Germany, and at a time of great financial distress in the work, a letter reached him from a brother who had often before given money, as follows:

 “Have you any present need for the Institution under your care? I know you do not ask, except indeed of Him whose work you are doing; but to answer when asked seems another thing, and a right thing. I have a reason for desiring to know the present state of your means towards the objects you are laboring to serve: viz., should you not have need, other departments of the Lord’s work, or other people of the Lord, may have need. Kindly then inform me, and to what amount, i.e. what amount you at this present time need or can profitably lay out.”

To most men, even those who carry on a work of faith and prayer, such a letter would have been at least a temptation. But Mr. Miller did not waver. To announce even to an inquirer the exact needs of the work would, in his opinion, involve two serious risks:

1. It would tum his own eyes away from God to man;
2. It would turn the minds of saints away from dependence solely upon Him.

This man of God had staked everything upon one great experiment—he had set himself to prove that the prayer which resorts to God only will bring help in every crisis, even when the crisis is unknown to His people whom He uses as the means of relief and help.

At this time there remained in hand but twenty-seven pence ha’penny, in all, to meet the needs of hundreds of orphans. Nevertheless this was the reply to the letter:

 “Whilst I thank you for your love, and whilst I agree with you that, in general, there is a difference between asking for money and answering when asked, nevertheless, in our case, I feel not at liberty to speak about the state of our funds, as the primary object of the work in my hands is to lead those who are weak in faith to see that there is reality in dealing with God alone.”

Consistently with his position, however, no sooner was the answer posted than the appeal went up to the Living God:

 “Lord, Thou knowest that, for Thy sake, I did not tell this brother about our need. Now, Lord, show afresh that there is reality in speaking to Thee only, about our need, and speak therefore to this brother so that he may help us.”

In answer, God moved this inquiring brother to send one hundred pounds, which came when not one penny was in hand.

The confidence of faith, long tried, had its increasing reward and was strengthened by experience. In July, 1845, Mr. Miller gave this testimony reviewing these very years of trial:

 “Though for about seven years, our funds have been so exhausted that it has been comparatively a rare case that there have been means in hand to meet the necessities of the orphans for three days together, yet I have been only once tried in spirit, and that was on September 18, 1838, when for the first time the Lord seemed not to regard our prayer. But when He did send help at that time, and I saw that it was only for the trial of our faith, and not because He had forsaken the work, that we were brought so low, my soul was so strengthened and encouraged that I have not only not been allowed to distrust the Lord since that time, but I have not even been cast down when in the deepest poverty.”

_________________________
George Muller of Bristol, Arthur T. Pierson, The Baker and Taylor Company, pages 166-168.

———————————————

Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?

Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

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 Saturday or 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