Preaching "In View of a Call"

Tom,

Thanks for the suggestions. What is your opinion of the James passage? (5:13-20).

I am not a huge fan of hard core salvation messages per se. I try and present the Gospel message in all of my sermons, but trust that the Lord will speak through all of the passages one might attempt to exposit. I may be wrong in this approach, but for now this is how I feel. Additionally, I do an alter call, but never preach to it. I never want emotions to be a part of the plan of salvation. I'd rather lead someone to the Lord in my office than in a 15 minute prearranged service slot at the end. Again, just my thinking.

I will be working over this passage for a week and praying for discernment.

I know one single sermon out of a dozen I have already preached for them should not be such a big deal, but every now and then God gives a preacher a homerun, I want this to be one of them. It is also the first sermon of 2008. It is a pivotal day in the life of this church. I need to be there with....bells....err, angel wings on.

I am not preaching Sunday night, they have a special singing. (Country churches and their singings. lol) But I will be there. They love to show me off to the guest singers.

Above all, I need prayer for wisdom and humility.

Thanks,

Kevin

raying:

 

sounds good to me... you have to be true to the Word and your own personality.

You'll do well!

 

I have two expository passages that I have used in the past for this purpose, and for the two initial sermons in a long-term interim pastorate.

1. What is a Church? (Exposition of Mat 16:13-20)

2. What is a pastor? (Exposition of Eph 4:11-16)

I have notes if you want to email for them.

 

I pray God leads you in this .

When you come to a church you have a ministry and they have a ministry. What both of you have to do is see if God is leading those two minstries to join together.

I also suggest you look over Joshua chapter 1.

I will be using this as a message on Dec. 30. I will be filling in at a church that Sunday.

I know you said you would prefer to talk with someone about Christ one on one type of thing. This is important, but make sure you clearly present the way to Jesus .
Repentance, frogiveness of sins, total faith in Jesus Christ as Savior & Lord.

Brother, God will lead you in this. Seek Him, preach for His glory, preach for a verdict.

 

That is exciting; I'm just starting to be ready to prepare to be looked at inside and out; just finished up a Masters of Ministry at Temple Baptist Seminary.

Did you send tapes out to churches along with your resume, or only on request? If you didn't preach, do you plan to dust off one of those sermons and use it in front of the congregation then? I would feel funny spending 10-15 hours polishing a sermon tht's only going to be heard on tape by a few people ever.

I agree with the "Gospel message out of something toher than traditional Romans Road" idea - I have one out of Luke on Zaccheus, contrasting his faith also with the rich young ruler's attempt at works in the previous chapter, that I'll likely use.

Anyway, I'll introduce myself in another post, but just a warning - I will not be on here much. I find boards too addicting generally, and want to read everything. I basically am only getting on here to say "hi" and maybe a few other things. (For instance, I am tempted to but will not post in the "What should I have done?" question that this is one of those moments that makes me thankful to be legally blind

 

glad you are doing well.

 

Thank you all for the replies. I was voted in as pastor a week ago with 100% agreement. Infact, I am moving into my office today. (I painted and cleaned it yesterday.) Oh, BiVo pastors SHOULD know how to paint and....well.....you pretty much need to be able to do EVERYTHING.

I will give some more updates soon!

K

 

Re" Use your "Sugar Stick" Sermon!

:wavey: Hey Friend,

What you want to do as you go preach "In-view-of-call" is look thru all your old sermon files (pray as you do of course) and then pull out and use your biggest, sweetest, most appealing "Sugar Stick" sermons! :laugh:

Do you know what that means? It is the sermon(s) that you have preached before, you felt comfortable preaching, had good Biblical material, good illustrations, some good jokes, and one that really clicked with YOU and the LISTENERS! You know, it is the sermon(s) you went home after preaching and thought to yourself, "WOW! I really did great today... that sermon was effective and wonderful... even if I do say so myself!" :laugh: Make sense, dude? So, you go for it man... pull out that 'Sugar Stick' and let 'em have it with both barrels. That is what I always do when I preach "In-view -of-call," and it has never let me down, yet. I have NEVER gone "In-V-O-C" where I did not get a unanimous vote or near unanimous. And I am sure that using a Suger Stick did not hurt.

By the way, I hope it goes very well... and how can you go wrong with your Sugar Stick, right? Right! LOL :smilewinkgrin:

Godspeed

 

:wavey: Back at ya!

I will respectfully submit that I have never preached a "sugar stick" sermon.

I respectfully submit that I am not a big joke teller.

I respectfully submit that I have never finished preaching and said or thought, "Wow, I really did great today."

I preached a sermon on prayer from James 5:13-18. I did as good a job as I know how and I am now their pastor.

I have been blessed with a little flock who loves me and who desired to be guided to a great maturity in Christ and who desire to grow the kingdom. I have only been on the job less than a week but I can tell you that God is in this.

Pray for me as I learn and grow and lead and teach.

k

 

good to hear! will be praying.