{"id":433,"date":"2018-12-05T11:37:20","date_gmt":"2018-12-05T19:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/migrate.bettersermons.org\/?p=433"},"modified":"2020-06-01T11:39:21","modified_gmt":"2020-06-01T18:39:21","slug":"the-sermon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/the-sermon\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sermon"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Sermon<\/span><\/div>\n

\".\"
\nBy Greg Brothers<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Photo: Kristin Smith<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The scripture has been read, the special music sung. Standing in the pulpit, I do the same things I always do before a sermon: arrange my notes, take a sip of water and then smile at my wife in the audience. These things done, it\u2019s time to begin.<\/p>\n

This will be the 332nd sermon I\u2019ve preached in this particular church.<\/p>\n

And for the 332nd time, I wonder why I\u2019m here.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not enough<\/strong><\/p>\n

To be sure, I\u2019m a pretty good preacher. Not a great preacher. Not a Morris Vendon or a Dwight Nelson, much less a Billy Graham. But give me 12 hours and I can usually come up with the kind of sermon my daughters would give a B+.<\/p>\n

Coming from a pair of teenagers, that\u2019s high praise.<\/p>\n

Then too, my audience is more than just \u201cpretty good.\u201d No, the people in this church listen to me\u2014and as they listen, they follow along in their Bibles. They pray for me when I stumble or search for the right word. They even remember to turn off their cell phones\u2026most of the time.<\/p>\n

No, it\u2019s a blessing to worship with these people\u2014but as I stand in the pulpit, I realize how much I need a blessing in return. They look tired, many of them. They look worried. And some are in so much pain, it is all they can do to listen as I speak.<\/p>\n

See the man there? He just found out that his wife\u2019s been having an affair.<\/p>\n

The woman behind him? She goes in for a biopsy next week.<\/p>\n

The couple on her left? They\u2019ve not seen their daughter\u2014their only child\u2014in 26 years.<\/p>\n

So what do I tell these people?<\/p>\n

What makes me think my \u201cpretty good sermon\u201d will make a difference?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all I have
\n<\/strong>
\nIn the end, all I can offer people is a text\u2014a text and a testimony.<\/p>\n

The text is my scripture for this morning.<\/p>\n

The testimony comes from those hours of study and prayer: It is the testimony that this text speaks to others. It speaks to me. And what it says, I now share with them.<\/p>\n

When I do this, I am like a P.O.W.\u2014like one of those pilots who are shot down, captured and then locked away in solitary confinement.<\/p>\n

No sooner do my guards close the door, however, than I hear tapping on the walls. The tapping forms letters. The letters form words. The words tell me that<\/p>\n

I am not alone, that I have friends, that whatever help they can give is mine for asking.<\/p>\n

But having heard this message, I must now pass it along to the next cell.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what I do on Sabbath mornings. Slowly, painfully, as best I can, I tap out a message to my people\u2014the message I\u2019ve heard through that text. It is the message that we are not alone. That we have a Friend. That whatever help He can give is ours for the asking. And no, I don\u2019t always get that message across. Sometimes, I don\u2019t hear what the text is saying. Sometimes, I don\u2019t know how to pass it along.<\/p>\n

But until somebody else shows up, I\u2019ll keep tapping away.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I preach.
\n______________________________<\/p>\n

Greg Brothers pastors a two-church district on the Oregon Coast. The church members he cited are real, but that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean they exist. This article was reprinted with permission from the April 2007 edition of the North Pacific Union\u00a0Gleaner<\/em>. Better Sermons \u00a9 2005-2008. Click here for<\/span>\u00a0usage guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Sermon By Greg Brothers Photo: Kristin Smith The scripture has been read, the special music sung. Standing in the pulpit, I do the same things I always do before …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":434,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433\/revisions\/434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}