Good advice as you listen to preaching

J.R. Vassar:

• Trust that there is a cumulative effect to your pastor’s preaching. Don’t expect him to hit a home run every week. It is impossible. Receive the sermon trusting that God will add it to the work that He is currently doing in your life and bring forth fruit. Your pastor’s sermons should be supplemental to the work God is doing in you through your own times in the word.
• Define the win. Don’t judge your pastor on whether he is funny or dynamic or captivating. If your pastor is preaching the bible, exalting Christ, keeping the Gospel central and applying it to your context, then you have a great pastor and you should thank God for him. Stop complaining about your pastor’s delivery; pray for your receptivity. I hear people criticize their pastor’s preaching but never scrutinize their own listening. Maybe the problem is not what you think it is.

Read the rest.

HT: Z

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Sweet words

This week I have blogged about what Proverbs says about our words.  I’ve used the acronym “FACTS” to describe our words:  Few, Apt, Calm, True.

This leads to the final letter of the acronym: “S” for sweet words.  Few, Apt, Calm, True, and finally sweet words. The ESV calls these “gracious words.”  “Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.” (Proverbs 16:24).”He . . .whose speech is gracious, will have the king as his friend.” (Proverbs 22:11).  What can sweet words do?

◦    Peaceful words (Proverbs 15:1)
Sweet words can bring peace instead of war.  This is “the soft answer that diffuses wrath.”  Or  the wisdom according to James that is “from above . . .  peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy.” (James 3:17).

◦    Restoring words (Proverbs 10:17; 25:12; 28:23)
Sweet words can restore those who have sinned.  “Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold is a wise reprover to a listening ear.” (Proverbs 25:12).

◦    Instructing words (Proverbs 15:7; 13:14; 31:26)
Sweet words can instruct the ignorant, the simple, the young.  “The lips of the wise spread knowledge.” (Proverbs 15:7). Of the virtuous woman we learn,”She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.” (Proverbs 31:26).   Sweet, instructing words involve parents teaching children, older women instructing younger women, godly men discipling younger men, and spiritual leaders training the next generation.

◦    Rescuing words (Proverbs 14:25; 24:11-12)
Sweet words rescue the perishing.   “Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?” (Proverbs 24:11-12).

Are you using your tongue to evangelize, to proclaim the gospel?  If your words could be used of God to save one person and you were silent, would that not be a terrible sin?  I know God is going to save whom He will, but the disobedience of silence is a sin nonetheless.  Don’t be disobedient to the heavenly command to proclaim the truth.

◦    Encouraging words (Proverbs 12:25; 15:23; 16:24)
“Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.” (Proverbs 12:25).”To make an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season, how good it is!” (Proverbs 15:23).

Who can you encourage this week  with a personal word face-to face pointing out an evidence of grace in their lives?  Who can you send a note, an e-mail, or call just to encourage them in some way. It won’t cost you a dollar, won’t take more than a few minutes, but it may just be what someone needs that day or this week.  A word of encouragement is priceless and precious!  Why do we express encouragement so rarely?

◦    Delivering words (Proverbs 31:8-9)
Sweet words can deliver those in oppression―physically or spiritually.  “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” (Proverbs 31:8-9). Who is God calling you to speak up for?

◦    Gentle words  (Proverbs 15:4)
“A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.” (Proverbs 15:4).

For more on wise words, you can read or listen to the message I preached on this theme.

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All that truly matters is eternal

“A famous cathedral in Europe is known for its three arched doorways that lead from the vestibule into the sanctuary. Over the right entrance, these words are carved into the marbled archway: “All that pleases is but for a moment.”  Over the left entrance, leading worshippers into the sanctuary, are chiseled these words, “All that troubles is but for a moment.” Visibly etched over the main archway, leading down the center aisle, is this inscription: “All that is important is eternal.” The message is clear for all who enter the sanctuary. All that is temporal is ultimately trivial. What is truly important in the present is that which will be important ten thousand years from today.

This engraved message, chiseled over the center aisle, is the central theme of Psalm 90. In life, we often become concerned with what is passing away, that which troubles or pleases only momentarily. Unfortunately, we are then most prone to lose sight of what is eternal. This psalm is transcendent, towering over time and eternity, written to remind us that what matters most in life is not the temporal but the eternal, not the physical but the spiritual, not the visible but the invisible. In other words, all that truly matters is eternal.”

Steve Lawson, “Psalms” in Holman Old Testament Commentary. p 81

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Only one life. . .

Remember this today!

Only one life ’twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last! –Author unknown

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