The Preacher's Greatest Helper

25"All this I have spoken while still with you. 26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you – John 14:25-26 NIV

The other day I was in a pastors’ meeting and the topic of preaching came up. Imagine that, the topic of preaching being discussed at a pastors’ meeting!

Anyway, the jest of the topic involved this: “Preach simple sermons using only one thought or point. When the people go away, they will remember only one thing that you said.”

Of course, we all laugh, because that is pretty much true. Now there are exceptions to this. Some will remember more than one thing and others will not remember anything. But generally speaking, most take with them one thing. So sermons shouldn’t be too long and not have too many teaching points. Keep it simple.

The long part I agree with. Thirty to thirty-five minutes is plenty of time to say what needs to be said. Some can go longer for two reasons: First, they have over the years trained their congregation for it, and Second, they are good at communicating the Word. But for most of us, 30-35 minutes is gracious of the listeners to give us.

The part that I disagree with is the “keep it simple” by limiting the message to one point. One pastor said, “Yeah, all I do is preach one point now days – just one!”

Let’s see, did Jesus practice that theory when He launched into the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7)? How about the Olivet Discourse regarding the end times (Matthew 24-25)?

On a more personal level, if this is all people can handle, then why are we encouraged to read so many chapters from the bible during the week in our devotions (about 30-35 to be exact)? Often times we are reading several chapters a day. If it is true, that we only take with us a small amount of bible understanding after being exposed to the Word, then what we should do is read an average of one chapter of the bible a day – no more.

But massive amounts of bible reading is good for us even though we may not remember all that we read. Just knowing that spiritual seeds are being planted into our minds and that a spiritual cleansing of renewal is occurring by being expose to the Word is worth all that extra reading (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 5:26).

But here is the real deal. It is true that normally, the average person will walk out of the typical Sunday service remembering only one thing. But this is where the Holy Spirit comes in to help and to assist. Jesus said, that the Holy Spirit will accomplish two things for those who believe in Jesus: First, He will teach you what we need to know, and Second, He will remind us what we were taught.

At the meeting we all laughed because as preachers and pastors, we put in a lot of hard labor in preparing messages, only to conclude that people will not remember it all except for one point. Help! But that’s human nature and what do we expect, right? God understands this so He said, I am going to send you a Helper who will assist you in your teaching of My Words, so that when the time is right, and when it is most needed, the Holy Spirit will bring to people’s remembrance ALL that I have taught them. This is comforting.

Here’s the thing to remember. I do not adjust my messages to fit the condition of the people. Instead, I give to the people meaty messages designed to help them to reach for the stars and chomp on some juicy morsels of truth. I also give them lots of it. That is, lots to think about. Because at end of the message, although they will walk away taking with then only one thought, I know the Holy Spirit will be with each person reminding them of what they were exposed to when they need it the most. If I only expose my people to one point in my message, then that’s all the Spirit of God is able to remind them of. But if I expose my people to several points in my message, then the Spirit of God has several points to choose from as reminders.

I also understand that when I conclude my message on Sunday with a prayer and invitation, that is not the end of my message, but only the beginning. The rest of the message will be preached by the Spirit of God in the form of more “teaching lessons” and “reminders.” In actuality, my sermon is only the introduction of the Holy Spirit’s on-going message. When I stop and sit down, the message continues to be preached by the Helper whose function is to teach and remind.

So do I get discouraged over the fact that only one point is remembered by the people who leave the service? No. If teaching my people the Word was all up to me, I would be miserable and so would they. But it’s not up to me. God the Holy Spirit during the sermon is illuminating people’s minds to understand the Word as it is being taught; He is also softening and bringing conviction to hearts that must repent; He is bringing comfort to souls who need it; He is also providing greater insight into understand Jesus and the Father’ love and will for our lives. This is just what takes place during the message. Then after the message is over with – although I am done, the Holy Spirit continues His teaching and reminding ministry.

I got the greatest Helper in the world! I don’t need to adjust my message to only having one point. If anything, I need to pour it on and preach as if there will be no tomorrow. God’s Spirit will decide what kind of truths the listeners will need to be reminded of during the course of their lives.

I want to fill people’s hard drives with lots of biblical file folders so that the Spirit of God will have many folders to choose from to bring back to remembrance the things the average person in my church has been taught and exposed to.

Remember this: Just because a person may only take one thing with them at the end of a message does not mean all the other things were lost. Believe me, it’s all there filed away waiting to be “clicked on” and opened up by the Spirit of God.

What Tiger Woods and Barak Obama Teach Us

The sins of some people are blatant and march them right into court. The sins of others don't show up until much later (1 Tim. 5:24 MSG).

I am intrigued with what is going on with Tiger Woods. I know some of you probably heard enough and I really can’t blame you for feeling that way. After all, what really is the big deal? The revelation of a famous athlete (or actor, rock star, or politician) having an affair may titillate, but we hear of it so often that it rarely does shock us.

But upon closer inspection, there are three main characters involved in these things. First, there’s the “entitled men,” those who sincerely believe that they are deserving of having affairs. Second, there are the “willing women,” those who make themselves available to such men because of their image and, I guess for the thrill of the moment. Third, you have the “deceived wives,” those who hurt the most by the affair and all the publicity that comes with it.

Okay, so these are the same players over and over, nothing really changes. So why am I so fixated on this?

I may be wrong in explaining this for others, but for me, it all boils down to being “betrayed.” The image of Tiger Woods was all a fraud although his talent was very real. I dislike golf. I personally see no value in it. But that’s me and that’s why I do not have a billion bucks.

But I did like the image I often received with regards to Tiger Woods -- the low-key demeanor, manners, and a sweet smile of countless sports-page photos, and magazine covers. He seemed like a really nice guy, and personally, I’m sure he is.

But for me the larger lesson is not what Tiger Woods did. It is not about his affairs (not that I am trying to excuse them, I’m not!).

What really bothers me is all that went into in constructing a public figure in order to create profit and power. Like any other normal kid, Tiger came to us young, single, and filled with hopes and dreams. Then right before our eyes, this young man was transformed into a sensational superstar because Buick, Nike, Gatorade, Gillette, EA Sports, and Accenture saw profits to be made.

I guess in the eyes of some, Tiger Woods was sort of god-like. He was made out to be a symbol of tolerance, monogamous and the center of a happy family. The public ate it up. Although I don’t like golf, I would become fixated to my tube watching his latest highlights and listening to his interviews. Tiger was bigger than life itself.

Now while this marketing ploy was going on to show us Tiger Wood’s good side, the other darker side was conveniently kept from us. Those who knew of Tiger’s questionable character ignored such things in order to keep giving to us the image that we wanted to see and hear about as well as to keep the profits coming.

In fact, in order to keep Tiger’s image from totally unraveling, his wife is being asked to stay with him for anther two years and if she does, she will receive a huge payment of $55 million. The powers to be want to keep his image alive as much as they can in order to rake in the profits. Remember, here was a man who made about $100 million playing golf and the other $900 million came from endorsements. There are huge profits in marketing the right image before the public.

So again, why am I fixated on this? Because this is how Barak Obama came to us as well. Just a short time ago, he was not even heard of. Then the media got a hold of him, started to market his image and he became the most powerful leader in the world.

Like Tiger Woods, those who know Barak Obama’s darker side are not going to say anything either. We the public will have to find out ourselves – and we will. Paul told Timothy that the sins of some people will go before them and land them in court, while some sins are trailing behind and will not come to full exposure until some time later. Oh yeah, we will find out, but the cost of finding out who the real Obama is may come at a time when it may be too late for some.

The media is doing all it can to keep Barak Obama’s candidate image before the public even though his policies and ideas are making life worse for the country.

Now there is greater reason why I am fixated on the Tiger Woods controversy and it is this – Just like the powers to be gave birth to the image of Tiger Woods and Barak Obama, so it will give to the world at the right time the image of a “false messiah” known as the Antichrist.

This person will be introduced to us and over night he will become a sensation to the public. His charm, his charisma, his innocence, his wisdom, his personal and public skills will be highlighted and the world will be stoked! Just like millions of people have been betrayed over the real Tiger Woods and Barak Obama, so they will be betrayed over the real agenda of the Antichrist. He will tell the world that he has their best interests in mind, but the sins of some men will follow them in order to be revealed at a later time.

When the Antichrist’s true agenda is made known, which is control over as many people as possible and to be worshiped (Rev. 13:15-16), scores of people will already have been given the mark of the beast and will be forced to use the mark in order to live. And here’s the dirty little secret: He will tell the world how important it is for them to have the mark. How it will be for their own good. How it will make their lives much better. “Trust him,” he will say.

Once people cross over the line of no return, this is what the bible says: 9A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, 10he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb (Rev. 14:9-10 NIV).

Betrayed? Yes! Deceived? Yes! And the price of blindly following the image of someone who was created over night by the powers to be and the worldly media will be eternal separation from God.

So I am not fixated on what happened to Tiger Woods because I love golf, I don’t. I am not fixated on Barak Obama because I don’t like the guy. I got nothing personally against him. I pray for him and our country. He is my president and the man whom God has raised up to lead this country. God does not make mistakes. Everything is going according to the plan of God.

But I am fixated on both these men because of the examples that they represent: Overnight stardom; public approval and a god-like acceptance; and a dark side strategically kept from the public. These two men give to us a visual of the one great leader to come – inspired by Satan and every trick in the book will be used to dupe the world into accepting him and his ways.

Don’t let the Tiger Woods and Barak Obama examples elude you. There is a lesson here to be learned. Stay alert and be vigilant. God is providing for us and for the world teachable moments. Class is in session.

Moving From Time To Eternity

Read the following quote and tell me of who was this said?

"There lies the most perfect ruler of men the world has ever seen . . . [and] now he belongs to the ages."

One of the Caesars? No. Napoleon? No. Alexander the Great? No. Eisenhower? Patton? MacArthur . . . or some earlier military strategist like Grant or Lee or Pershing? No, none of the above. How about Rockne or Lombardi? No. Or Luther? Calvin? Knox? Wesley? Spurgeon? Again, the answer is no.

For someone to say this statement it must have been someone influential, persuasive, and admired, don’t you think so?

When he was 7 years old, his family was forced out of their home because of a legal technicality. He had to work to help support them.

At age 9, while still a backward, shy little boy, his mother died.

At 22, he lost his job as a store clerk. He wanted to go to law school, but his education was not good enough.

At 23, he went into debt to become a partner in a small store. Three years later his business partner died, leaving him a huge debt that took years to repay.

At 28, after developing a romantic relationship with a young lady for four years, he asked her to marry him. She said no. An earlier youthful love he shared with a lovely girl ended in heartache at her death.

At 37, on his third try, he was finally elected to Congress. Two years later he ran again and failed to be reelected. I should add it was about this time he had what some today would call a nervous breakdown.

At 41, adding additional heartache to an already unhappy marriage, his 4-year-old son died.

The next year he was rejected for Land Officer.

At 45, he ran for the Senate again and lost.
Two years later, he was defeated for nomination for Vice President.

At 49, he ran for the Senate again . . . and lost again.

Add to this an endless barrage of criticism, misunderstanding, ugly and false rumors, and deep periods of depression and you realize it's no wonder he was snubbed by his peers and despised by multitudes, hardly the envy of his day.

At 51, however, he was elected President of the United States . . . but his second term in office was cut short by his assassination. As he lay dying in a little rooming house across from the place where he was shot, a former detractor (Edwin Stanton) spoke the following quote mentioned above. By now you may know it was spoken of the most inspirational and highly regarded president in American history. Abraham Lincoln.

When we think of greatness, success, and great leadership, we imagine great speeches that dazzle the heart because of how things are said, rather than on what is being said. We also think of cool wardrobes and a look of sophistication. But we often do not connect the dots of -- bitter hardship, unfair and undeserved abuses, loneliness and loss, humiliating failures, debilitating disappointments, agony beyond comprehension suffered in hard fought match in the boxing ring of life, while climbing from bottom to top.

Listen, no one deserves the right to lead without his or her fair share of bumps and bruises, pain, heartache and failures along the way. For those who get to lead without such things are actually intruders who got there with the help of a bias media and their own constituency.

When will we learn that anyone who is worth following has in some way paid their dues in life? They have come through the fire having been melted, reshaped and refined. As Paul once said, they bear on their bodies “the brand-marks of Jesus” (Gal. 6:17).

America is following a man who has no experience with the private sector, with operating his own business, with running anything except being a community organizer. And for the last year it shows!

On the positive side, we the people get to go through the fire of pain and cleansing, so we can emerged, melted, reshaped and refined. The next time we get an opportunity to vote we will be that much smarter, wiser and experienced. We will have paid our dues. We will have learned our lesson. We will not vote for a candidate who knows how to talk, but has no experience to back up what he says. We will look for a man or woman who has the qualifying marks that fit the job. We will go to the polls much more educated, more determined not to be duped, and more refined through the lessons learned.

Solomon once wrote, “Why is there a price in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, when he has no sense” (Prov. 17:16)? In other words, it is foolish to think that one can buy wisdom. Instead, wisdom comes with experience, having been tested and tried in the valleys of life.

Someone who has gone to a reputable university and paid for his or her education (or had someone else paid for it) does not make a person wise after graduation.

Experience in life does; being sincerely teachable; and talking less and doing more.
These things not only apply when electing someone to public office, but to all areas of life – marriage, business, and church office, to name a few.

Only such people like Abraham Lincoln are able to move from time to eternity and end up belonging to the ages.

Here's a Cartoon To Watch

Back in 1948, this cartoon seemed weird and so out of touch.

Now it is as relevant as watching the Superbowl

Better watch it now before it gets pulled.

Make Mine Freedom (1948)