"What Are You Talking About?"

What a beautiful and crisp morning we're having today! Praise God! With a chance of rain today, the sun just poke out with its rays and shone on my whole body as I sit in my bedroom preparing for the Ohio gospel meeting this weekend. The warmth of the sun rays reminds me of God's rays of love. Thank You, God, for the rays of love that shines on our fragile, frail and yet precious soul! Lord, have mercy on us!

I am working on four lessons based on the book of Romans 8. Remember, Romans is one of my favorite book in the Bible. There's so much in there that brings complete answers to life's questions. Everytime I read the passages (though it seems I have done so over a thousand times), there's never a dull moment! As I prepare my lesson, I wrestled with the thought of this question, "How will the people respond to the message I give for God?" "What if they become bored when I go blah, blah, blah.?" It is as if, in the tv program, Different Strokes, Arnold Jackson asking his brother, Willis, "What are you talking about, Willis?" with a stare!

I like what Mike Cope shared in his blog regarding him struggling with preaching and the congregants struggling with hearing (seeing):

"Plus, you know that YOU are not ready. Not nearly as far along spiritually as you thought you'd be by now. Too caught up with grief and compromised by knowing your words go beyond your life. The Word of God is sharper than any double-edged sword, and you can feel the wounds from its blade.

And you're quite certain the listeners aren't ready. They're tired. They've heard it before. Their lives are challenging. They may want more than you can deliver.

But the moment comes. The text is read. You pray that God will pour through you the gift of preaching.

And then something happens that goes beyond preparation, beyond communication skills, beyond clever twists of phrases.

It's preaching. Despite your failures, despite your clumsiness, despite your personal inconsistencies, the Word of God has its say. A great mystery, far beyond what I can comprehend."

Jesus shared with the people the parable about a sower in Matthew 13. Not all the people will be able to take in the seed (Word) and be pierced because their hearts may be hard, rocky (cannot develop roots) or filled with weeds (problems and worries of life). Some will take in the seed (Word) deep into their heart and will never allow anything to take it away. The pressures of life will do just about anything to take the seed out of the heart of each soul. When we're not taking in the powerful Word of God, we may end up saying, "What are you talking about?" like when the Disciples didn't fully understand the teachings of Jesus, "But the disciples understood none of these things, and the meaning of this statement was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said." Luke 18:34 (NAS)

"Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory... ...so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. " Ephesians 3:13, 17-19 (NAS)

Everytime I finish a sermon, my prayer is a prayer of apologizing knowing that in my own feeble way, I could not nearly express the love that He has for us. I feel like I want to tear out the flesh of my skin, break my ribs and have you look at my heart. But that's physical. The love I have for God and for all those in the world is spiritual. I trust in the Word of God, when I preach and teach, to do what I can't. Only the Lord knows what lies in the heart of every living soul!