So here I was it was Wednesday afternoon, and I was reading over my lesson for youth that night. I had put it together and felt pretty good about it and now it was time for me to go and deliver it. When I printed it out I went ahead and printed out my sermon for Sunday.
Thursday came and went and I had not done a whole lot but research notes over the next few chapters of 1 Corinthians which is where I am preaching right now. THursday night we have a softball game so I go and while we are there P.J. gets hit in the eye with a softball and she seems to hurt most of the night. The next morning she gets up and she sees spots and lines everywhere so I take her to the doctor. They examine her eye at the eye doctor and then rush us over to a retina specicalist. THere we sat for the majority of the day waiting to see what was to become of our little bulldozer. We are finally seen by the specialist and relieved that there is no surgery needed just rest and a lot of eye drops. So I rush to our softball games, get through that and go home for the night.
I got up Saturday morning and read over my ceremony and notes for the wedding I was performing that afternoon for some family friends. We get through with all that and teh reception and go home where I am going to just read through my sermon for Sunday and go to bed. And here it all falls apart, I cannot find it anywhere. I looked all over the house, my truck, Tara's car all the places I could have misplaced it and it is nowhere to be found. No sweat, I'll just get up early Sunday morning and go re-print it from my computer at the Betty Griffin House. I get there and it is not saved, I have to basically take notes out of my commentaries, and take things from my head and put together a sermon in about 30 minutes and it usually takes me upwards of about 4-5 hours. As I start, I figure I have some extra time to work on it at the church because I can work during Sunday School and then my cellphone rings. I normally don't answer while I am working on sermons but I thought it may be important and it was, my mom and dad were up all night with my dad's blood pressure and would not make it to church. So, now I am going to spend that hour in Sunday School.
To make a long story short I was embarassed and started out my sermon Sunday morning with an explanation of all these things. We go through the service and went to lunch. I got compliments on teh message, I had several kids at softball practice tell me it was a good message, and I was baffled.
At the end of the day, when small group was over with and I was sitting in the house I just laughed at myself. THis verse came to mind.
1 Corinthians 1:31 Let he who boasts, boast in the Lord.
In other words I can do all the work I want on a sermon, I can pray over it, type it, study it and so on. But until I fully grasp the power of God and know that it is His message that I share, and understand that His message will prevail I am just being silly. THat sermon flew because I prayed that God would use me that day, and He did end of discussion.
So work hard at whatever you can, whatever you do and remember God has the final say and if He is in it, your work is futile.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
No comments:
Post a Comment