Thoughts from this Morning

This morning I preached at Grace Fellowship; I based my sermon on Acts 2:42-47. The main point was this: If we believed that Jesus has given us his all, and is continuing to give his all, and will give us his all, then we would be a community of people living out of awe.

I've had mixed feelings today as I mulled over how things went. My hope and prayer is that something connected with those at Grace today. I'm aware of my own need to experience awe at Christ; there are wonderful moments of intimacy with Him that happen when I find myself in worship, and something connects. That's the kind of stuff I hoped to communicate today, that others would experience the same. Saturday after I practiced the sermon I watched a portion of the Hillsong DVD Savior King. The combination of music and lyrics makes many of these songs very powerful. For example, "Here in My Life" has a resounding chorus:

You are my freedom
Jesus You're the reason
I'm kneeling again at your throne
Where would I be without you here in my life?

As I've reflected on this morning's thoughts, I know I could make a lot of improvements as a communicator. I'm young! I'm a young preacher and I tried a knew method of sermon prep this time. I didn't try the old reformed way. My hope is that as the life of Holy Spirit is formed in me more, that it will show any time I bring the spoken word. I hope that I can be more relaxed, more real, more effective as a communicator. I realized that while many of the concepts I talked about this morning were great, the problem is just that, there were many concepts! I tried to take the audience on a journey, but I think I made a few unnecessary stops. There are probably two months worth of sermons in what I said this morning.

I think one of the things I most desired to communicate was the burden that Jesus has for his bride, which is US. Many of my friends, even my parents, have experienced betrayal, pain, and hurt at the hands of church members and church leaders. Jesus experienced insult, hurt, and betrayal by church leaders...AT THE VERY MOMENT HE WAS SUFFERING AND DYING TO PAY FOR THEIR HURTING AND INSULTING AND BETRAYING! He loves the church, has given his all for the church, and even now with all its failings and problems, Jesus is still giving his all to the church. So are we righteous in our response to turn our back on that which Jesus loves the most on this earth? I hope that those who have little time or respect for the church will not find in this a finger in their face, but a pleading, a prayer that they would be open to the process of healing, of seeking fellowship again; of joining community again, even when it's not meeting your needs, even when its messy.