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Picking your party According to William Barclay

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I’m reading William Barclay’s commentary on the letters to the Corinthians and his commentary on chapter 3 is amazing for 2019.

“This identification with some party is the acceptance of slavery by those who should be kings. In fact they are masters of all things, because they belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God. The man who gives his strength and his heart to some little splinter of a party has surrendered everything to a petty thing, when he could have entered into possession of a fellowship and a love as wide as the universe. He has confined into narrow limits a life which should be limitless in it’s outlook.

How Long Does it Take to Write a Sermon – According to Jerry Seinfeld

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I’ve been listening to interviews of Jerry Seinfeld in the background at work lately, and he said something that is about the best description of writing a sermon that I’ve ever heard. He was asked how long it takes to write a 75-minute show.

“That’s like asking God how time goes into making an oak tree? I don’t know, I do it every day, I do it all day, I don’t know, it’s a tree. I plant it, it grows, eventually, it’s an oak tree, who the hell cares? It’s all I can do. I don’t know…”

I think that’s how was able to survive working at the Rescue mission for 2 years when I might have to preach a sermon any night that my volunteer for chapel didn’t show up. I think that is how I’m able to be a bi-vocational pastor now. Yes, there is some needed sermon prep time to get ready for the sermon, and YES there is some rest time after the sermon to chill and relax, but otherwise, all of my time, all of life, is sermon prep time.

Which also reminds me of 1 Peter 3:15. Some apologists have stolen that verse to mean that you should always be ready to argue about Jesus, but that’s not what it means. It means always be ready to explain what you are doing from the perspective of Jesus. Let everything you do be an outpouring of your faith in Christ, so that you are always ready to explain that Christ is the fuel of your life.

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, — 1 Pe 3:15

1 Peter 3:15 graphic



 

We Can’t Reach Something We Are Afraid to Touch

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[13] He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. [14] And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

[15] And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. [16] And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” [17] And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Mark 2:13-17 ESV

One of the brilliant things about poverty as mission shows up here. Jesus wasn’t afraid of the tax man. Since the man Jesus was talking to couldn’t take away anything that Jesus had, Jesus wasn’t afraid to talk to him. Jesus might not have even had the case to be bitter towards what Matthew had taken in the past.

If we fear for our lives, we won’t talk to dangerous people.

If we fear for our wealth, we won’t talk to those that steal.

If we fear for our comfort, we won’t talk to those who impose.

If we fear for our good reputation, we won’t talk to those that are below us.