We need to understand though that this is not unique to our time or our place. In fact we are provided with a number of instances of this very problem in the Scriptures.

Moses- Ex 32

After being on the Mount with the Lord. Moses had to return to reality and the reality was that the people of Israel were already turning their hearts away from the God that had delivered them.  Can you imagine how Moses must have felt? Here he was meeting with the Lord of Lords and his people that he had sacrificed so much for were worshiping a golden calf!  Talk about depressing! So then Moses has to go into leader mode and rebuke the people. Not what I would want to be doing after meeting with God.

As a minister I can relate.  It seems that the moment i walk in the door after coming back from a trip I am confronted with the fact that there are people even in my own church that are more concerned with worldly matters and there own self satisfaction than the movement of God.

Elijah- 1 Kings 19

In 1 Kings 18 Elijah has this amazing victory over the evil prophets of Baal. God worked a miracle beyond anyone’s belief and Elijah was left standing as His victorious prophet.  Fast forward to chapter 19 and Jezebel has threatened his life.  Elijah must have been wondering why God would give him such a victory only to allow him to be killed by the same evil that he had been trying to overthrow.

Sound familiar? I think we all know of someone that has come home from a mountaintop experience to be confronted with a life crisis. Whether it be an issue with work or home, personal, material or emotional we all know of someone that has had to face a crisis.

Jesus- Lk 9:41

Yes!! Even Jesus had to face this problem. Jesus goes up and is transfigured and discusses what His death will mean. I imagine that this was an exciting conversation. To be talking about the salvation of the people He had created surely got Christ pumped. But as He came down off the mountain the first thing He was confronted with was a complaint about His disciples. His response clearly shows His concern.

Don’t you just love to have to deal with complaint’s? They are bad enough when you are not coming off a mountaintop experience but having to be dragged down when you are focused on things much higher and nobler is quite rude.

The point is the world is going to be ready to destroy our optimism and excitement but we cannot let that divert us from the course that we must take. The closeness with God always reveals to us what we need to do so we need to do it!! Now go do it…..NOW!!

1. Bathe it all in Prayer: I find that it is important not only to pray during the process of preparing a sermon but I take an extra step. The night prior to my preaching, after everyone in the house has gone to bed, I go to the church. Before I do anything I go to the altar and stay still and quiet, then after awhile I will begin to speak to God. I will tell Him what my heart has been burdened with and ask Him to remove anything that is of me and not of Him. I will pray for people who I think He would have hear this message or people I think He is preparing for service in our ministry. I will walk around the church and as God lays certain people on my heart I will pray for them  specifically. I will touch every seat at least once. I will touch the instruments and pray over them as well as the sound board. At the end I will return to the altar and be silent.

2. A Message that Educates: I believe that many people in the church take the Scripture at surface level and so whenever I preach I try to peel back layers of Scripture taking it into context and revealing things about the culture and symbolism of the time. As I did last time I tried to get people to identify with the characters in the passage even if very little detail is provided sometimes if we dwell and think about what was said it can work wonders.

3 A Message that Encourages: Now this is tricky because I know I will not encourage everyone. The ones I seek to encourage are the ones in the trenches. The ones that see the ministry for what it really is. Many times that will be simply to preach a message that dwells on the next point. Unfortunately the people who need encouragement the least wnat it the most, but I feel like a congregation in the traditional declining church needs more conviction and less stroking.

4. A Message that Convicts: Let’s be honest, our world is in hellish shape. People, church people that is, need to wake up. The do not need to be told how great they are doing they need to be told it is all going to be alright. Their ears have been tickled for far to long and I follow the example of Christ and lay heavy words on the religious leaders of our time. Through these words the entrenched ministering Christians will find confirmation of what they fel and want but cannot or are to afraid to express. I had a man stop me as everyone was leaving and tell me that I made a bunch of folks mad and that that what he thought a preacher should do.  And I think he was spot on.  People do not like to be called out and they do not like to feel broken or imperfect and sometimes when that illusion or delusion is broken  they get upset.

I am unapologetic about what I preach. Sometimes I am afraid but I try my best to listen to God.  I added a story and removed a point from my sermon at the last minute simply because I thought it was too much from me and not enough from God. It is a process. I am fine tuning it. Maybe someday I will be able to preach a good one!!