The Lord told me to tell you....

I made that error early on in my pastoral career. I was strongly impressed by the Holy Spirit, in concert with the Word of God, to speak forth to the people in the church I led, but instead of speaking in a manner where I let them draw their own conclusions based on the Word, I used the phrases, "God told me..." Still wish I had not done that, but no harm came of it, and we all chalked it off to an over-zealous new preacher. :thumbs:

I am still, at times, strongly impressed by the Lord in certain cases, but I have learned to take people to the Word and let them receive the same impression by the Holy Spirit instead of me usurping His role.

Hand-in-hand with this same topic comes the oft-used phrase, "I was going to preach on this topic, but the Lord told me to preach this other instead..." Shame on the preacher who goes down that road, and funny how that impression from the Lord always seems to go with something that has happened in town or in the life of a church member.

We wrongly act the roll of priest when we usurp the power and authority of the Lord in these matters, and He is perfectly able to lead us in a certain direction 6 months in advance as the morning of the sermon. :thumbs:

 

I have it heard said theough that a pastor had spent week going over/preparing His sermon message, and then before he started to speak from the pulpit, God "directed/led" Him to tach/preach on something he had not spent week preparing on...

believe that is a rare exemption, bu the Lord will "break in" at times when we least expect him too!