Making It Plain

Many, many times I listen to ministers begin each and every sermon with,"I would like to thank this or that...blah-blah... and I count this being here as an honor and a privilege to minster to you this morning..." And indeed, as I thought about it, it is an honor to be chosen to preach to God's people. God in as much trusts that speaker to say what He has given the speaker to say. This person has studied, prayed and is well equip to say and pray the way God has instructed him/her to do. The speaker has taken his position seriously and is not just saying what he thinks sounds good just to increase CD sales and to get a hefty love offering in the end. He/she is not just pulling at the heart strings of emotion for the majority of the congregation to run around the church and be all out of breath to trick them in believing that the church service was really good only to try to make account of the words spoken and it was all fluff and nothing to sustain them for the week....

The question is when has one exceeded the overflow? There just comes a time where we have to stop and assess our lives and ask ourselves some practical questions. Is it what God called you to do? Are you doing more than what He said to do? Granted, sometimes we just can't help ourselves being made in His image and He being more than enough; however, after His work, the Word states that He saw and said it is good. There was a moment where He canvased all. When do we see what we have done and can call it good? Was it in God? Was it in ourselves whose agenda is subject to change? God has told us to plan and write it down. He tells us to make it plain . Why would such simple instruction be note worthy? Could it be that we could lose focus, be discouraged by others, be influenced by some other idea, or be predisposed to be a man-pleaser? I believe I wrote about this before; however, I have received new insight on the matter. It was about that ministry where the pastor taught th...