Something happened at Oak Street Sunday night when I finished preaching that I have never experienced before. I still wonder what took place if anything. To be honest I was more than a little uneasy with the situation.
I preached on John 11 even though it was a last minute decision. I struggled all week and had several different ideas but nothing that felt as if it were from God. I woke up this morning thinking I would have been better off standing before everyone and telling them I had not heard from God so I wasn't going to say anything. I don't take preaching and or teaching the Word of God lightly, the last thing I want to do is mislead someone or try to teach something beyond my knowledge, which I have done in the past with disastrous results. I want to be as accurate as possible when I speak.
Last night was one of those nights when it just seemed I had nothing to say and was trying to be totally reliant upon God to give me the words and scripture He wanted to use. When I finished speaking and then prayed there was a strange silence and no one moved, no chairs scooting, no yawns or other loud noises, simply silence, not a single person moved......very strange, like I said I was uneasy, so to break the silence I say, "Do you want me to keep going?" what a goof.....It got people moving though.....LOL.....
I say amen to the closing prayer and look up and there are 60 eyes staring back at me I thought, WOW, they finally know how dumb and un-informed I really am. They must be trying to figure out what in the world they have just witnessed, kinda like a bad car wreck you just can't peel your eyes away from it....LOL.... Usually people are beating down the doors to get out, maybe everyone was too tired from all the activity over the weekend and I disturbed their sleep and they were coming out of their nap haze.
Well, I look at it like this. If God spoke to even a single person and somehow God was glorified by me standing up there, then I thank God for using me. Just don't stare, it's not nice.
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4 comments:
Mike...I have never experienced that. It was strange, but I thought the message was good.
LOL...I was still sitting there waiting for someone to make the first move. --Just didn't want to be the first one to look eager to end the service ;)
You did a great job, though. I didn't know you weren't prepared.
Mike, I know how you feel. I had an experience like you just described two weeks ago. I had struggled all week to find what it was that God wanted me to preach. I can honestly say that when I finished I had no idea what I just preached on. It had to be the worst message that was ever preached by any preacher in the last 2000 years. I started not to give an invitation at the end of the train wreck, but went ahead and gave the invitation and before we finished the first line of the hymn a man who has been visiting for several weeks came down and rededicated his life to the Lord.
Great right, oh no, I was so caught up in feeling sorry for myself that I did not even mention it to those present. Mike, your message was very good and I am learning that even when we feel like we have not given God our best, He can still use his Word to change lives. God Bless and keep preaching the Word!
You said something that night that God has respoken to me 2 more times this week.
I'm never eager to leave God's presence (there were way more than 2 or 3 gathered there in His name)...I can't wait for eternity with Him, when we will never been distracted or drawn away from His Glory.
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