My fellow pastor Larry Bertrand tells about a pastor in Pasadena who wrote out his sermon, spoke for a long time and lost his place while he was preaching. Acknowledging the problem, he said, “I guess I’ll just have to start over.” A little boy on the front row spoke for many in the room when he exclaimed, “NO!”
Call me odd but I love listening to preachers. All morning long I have listened to the videos of my homiletics students as they preached. When they bow to pray on the video, I find myself bowing and praying with them, even though they delivered the sermons several days ago. God chooses to use the proclamation of his word to draw people into relationship with himself.
Paul describes how God saves those who confess with their mouths “Jesus Christ is Lord,” and believe in their hearts God has raised him from the dead. Quoting from the prophet Joel, Paul predicts that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But we can’t call on someone we don’t believe in. Nor can we believe in someone if we have never heard of them. How can we hear without preaching? Preachers can’t preach unless they are sent. Messengers who brought a good report were welcomed in the ancient world as those with “beautiful feet.”
The church is still God’s primary method of sharing his “good news” with the world. We preachers do not always get it right. Sometimes we put our congregations to sleep. At other times we are redundant, and we repeat ourselves. Preaching may even seem foolish to others. But God uses the “foolishness of preaching” to save those who believe. Good news! Our God is mighty to save. Call on his name today and watch what he does.
