Preaching: Nervous or not?

the first couple of years i preached weekly it was normal for me to get butterflies in my stomach right before the offering and into the first couple of minutes of my sermon. After 5-6 years i will sometimes get a little tense before preaching, but i don't think i get as nervous as i used to when speaking to my own congregation. Now put me in front of a new bunch of folks that i'm not comfortable with, and the butterfiles return.

 

I can't say I get nervous or that I don't; there is a moment of anticipation right before I preach, but I would associate that with living with the sermon all week and being good and ready to get it out. I'm sure I was nervous when I first started preaching, just can't remember.

 

If you do not get nervous to some extent then I would wonder about your walk with God. People who are too confident are placing their trust in themselves and their abilities.

 

You're not being too judgmental about another person's walk with God and whom they are trusting, are you?

 

That describes me well also. I think it is the task we are about to do and the impact - importance of it that gets some a little nervous.

Of course , the flip side to all of this is getting into the " pulpit" and think you have everything nailed down... never - Irepeat never try to preach on your own. If you don't know what I mean you will.

 

We cannot judge a person's motives but we can judge their actions. They can only judge themself.

How can it be judgmental to say that if I do not tremble before God and place confidence in ourself then we am too focused on ourself and my own abilities?

 

So because he doesn't get nervous, he must not have a close walk with God and must be relying on his own abilities? If this isn't judging someone's motives, what is it?

You've set up your own private standard for a preacher to have the right kind of walk with God: He must get nervous before he speaks. :laugh:

 

Can you explain then how someone can stand before a holy and righteous God and not have some kind of fear and trepidation?

It is one thing to fear God and quite another to fear man. I am talking about the attitude and posture one should have before God and His righteousness.

 

gb93433
Please check your private message box.

 

I'm on both sides. If I preaching to a new audience, I'm usually a bit nervous, but then I get into it.

But once I'm well-prepared at my church, I'm never nervous.

 

I had sent a private message to gb93433 demanding a public apology for his comments and he has not responded. Here are the messages

Originally Posted by go2church
"At first I thought your where joking and just left off the smiley face. Then I read the rest of your posts and I all I can say is wow!

How dare you question me and my preaching from a couple of sentences. Your attempts to make your comments reference our relationship to the Lord ring hollow and lack any of the needed sincerity to match the Pharisaical comment I quoted above. I don't know how old your are, but you need to grow up! I demand a public apology."

gb93433
"I did not know I was accusing anyone of anything. Could you quote the post you are referring to or the post numbers?"

go2church
"Post #23 - If you do not get nervous to some extent then I would wonder about your walk with God. People who are too confident are placing their trust in themselves and their abilities.

Public accusation, requires a public apology"

My only conclusion is that gb93433 thinks he has done nothing wrong or doesn't care, either way it shows a lack of character and courage.