Preaching is more than words on a page

I'm going to try to explain the inexplicable.It is only my opinion, biased as it might be, but I believe the facts bear it out.

Here tis: There is nothing on this planet, no feeling, no expression, no idea or action that compares to preaching when it's going well. It is, I believe, from God himself. I do not mean just the words that were written, thought of, expressed or acted upon. I mean the entire enterprise, from begining study, what some call exegesis, to the end of the preached sermon on Sunday. When God is in the mix, and I'll say it up front that God is not always allowed in the mix and when that happens, a preacher often knows it before-hand but certainly somewhere about in the middle of it all that notion comes to the forefront, there is nothing on the planet that is like that.

Let me give evidence. Peter was a fisherman, a gifted fisherman but a fisherman nonetheless. Of course, he traveled with Jesus for about three years and heard some wonderful teaching, but as far as I can see he never preached a sermon in those three years.

Then on the day of Pentecost, he preached.

He laid the sermon out as if it were a table setting. He cut the listeners to the quick with his fascinating and riveting description of Jesus, his friend, mentor, Rabbi, savior. "All Israel, then, know this: There's no longer room for doubt—God made him Master and Messiah, this Jesus whom you killed on a cross," he said. The listeners were stunned. Who was this Galilean who was storming the gates of hell to build a church?

They asked, "Brothers! Brothers! So now what do we do?"

^38-39Peter said, "Change your life. Turn to God and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so your sins are forgiven. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is targeted to you and your children, but also to all who are far away—whomever, in fact, our Master God invites."

With words from the throneroom of God, Peter challenged, moved, loved into being a church. A church...

⁴⁰He went on in this vein for a long time, urging them over and over, "Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!"

They listened. Against all odds and against all of their heritage and their upbringing and their religion, they listened. Where Christ had been dismissed, Peter was listened to.

Why? Was it the seminary he attended and the teaching he learned there? No, he attended none. Was it the exegesis of the scriptures? No, we see no prior study. Was it his theological background? Did I not say he was a fisherman who became a second-occupation preacher?

No, the key to it all was the Holy Spirit came that day blowing hot wind into the words that came out of Peter's mouth.

And the result on that hot day in Palestine? "That day about three thousand took him at his word, were baptized and were signed up. They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers."

See, no matter the preacher, no matter the message even, without God's Spirit being involved, nothing happens. Let no one tell you that it happens each week, either. If it did, we'd be building bigger and bigger and bigger churches instead of cutting the roles and shutting down the buildings we have now.

It's not about education, study, or even creativity -- although all are important. But a fisherman stood up and built the first megachurch...in an afternoon. We should never forget that message.

Sunday I felt that flow of the wind, and I'm grateful. Words came flowing out like water through a hole in a dam. Persons were moved, apparently, with those strangely unsettling accolades of a happy congregation coming back toward me. Two couples said they had been looking for churches and they loved what we were doing at this one and would be back. In the spirit of the Spirit, we were all moved, I believe.

But was it the sermon preparation, the education provided in eight years of Course of Study? I believe not. For whatever reason, and again I believe it truly doesn't happen every week, it happened this day.

To paraphrase a populare television commercial: I don't always drink from the living water, but when I do...