Not Preaching
I want to preface this post with this. Tomorrow is going to be a hot and spicy Sunday of teaching direct from God’s Word and you won’t want to miss it, but I’m not going to be the one teaching in the morning.
I have preached every Sunday from August 2008 until tomorrow. Tomorrow marks my first Sunday not preaching in over 7 months. Don’t get me wrong, I love to preach and teach God’s word, I believe it’s what he put me on this earth to do, but I can’t put into words the burden that I carry every week as I prepare to preach from God’s inspired Word. Every Saturday evening my mind is occupied. I am thinking about the message that I have prepared to inspire, challenge, and prepare people for action. I’m thinking about what God will do through the message, and how important my delivery of it is. I’m also trying to recall everything I have researched, studied, and read over the last week as it will be crucial to my ability to deliver the message. It’s like writing a 10 page research paper each week and then reciting it from a few note cards. My mind and heart are heavy with responsibility, and sleep is hard to come by.
So, you would think on the evening before a Sunday when I’m not preaching that my mind would be clear and all that usually overwhelms and excites me would be far form my mind, but you’d be wrong. I’m so excited about what God will do through the teaching tomorrow that I probably won’t be able to sleep tonight either. It might sound like I’m a constant basket case, but I believe that the more care and attention I give the teaching of God’s word each week, the more possibility it has to impact someone. IT SHOULD BE IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO OCCUPY MY MIND EVERY WEEK!
I pray that God will never allow this zeal to fade from my heart or mind, and if it does that he will raise up a man to replace me; because the teaching of God’s word deserves it.
