2.6.26
Hey, Calvary Fremont –
I am on two radio stations and when I happen to be in the car when my program airs, I listen in. I really don’t know why I do – it’s a torturous affair. I repeat myself way too often; I say the same thing over and over; I notice that I can be quite redundant. But the aspect of my preaching that bothers me the most is how often I say, “Uh”. Sometimes it’s not so bad, but sometimes it’s every other sentence – or so it seems. I ask myself if it’s because of poor preparation or because of poor presentation skills.
I listen to other pastors on the radio and their delivery is smooth as silk whereas mine is like a buggy ride over a bumpy road. I think maybe my mouth can’t keep up with my brain and the “Uhs” are like a transmission slipping in a car just trying to keep up. My mom told me that whenever we went to Disneyland, I could never enjoy the ride I was on because I always wanted to know what was next. I was looking ahead and I, “Uh”, forgot where I was.
I’m told that a lot of the smooth pastors on radio have their “Uhs” and “Hmms” edited out. Maybe so – but I don’t want to pay the $1,000 a month it would take to make me come across as smoooooth. I value the smoooooth; I want to increase the smoooooth; but there is something greater than the smoooooth. The purpose of preaching is to bring man face-to-face with God in an existential encounter. The purpose of preaching is not merely the dissemination of Bible information or the downloading of theological insights – it is to bring men and women into a direct encounter with God.
The prophets who raised their voices in the market place were not giving Bible lessons or theological lectures – they were declaring the will of God for that generation so that they might turn from their sin and fall on their faces before a holy God. When Peter preached the first gospel message on the Day of Pentecost, he wasn’t reviewing the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus as if it were a history lesson which would be followed by a quiz. He confronted an unbelieving and wicked generation with the claims of God in Jesus Christ who is commanding all men everywhere to repent.
I have been guilty for far too many years of treating preaching as if it was all about the dissemination of Bible information, the imparting of theological insights, and the recitation of sacred history lessons. Hopefully, I preach now as a man wanting to bring men and women face-to-face with the living God who loves them, gave Himself for them, and calls them to a life of obedience and holiness and service and dying to themselves. And when this unfolds in the course of the preaching moment, when men and women come face-to-face with the living God who reveals His love and calls them to holiness of life and the obedience of faith – they don’t care about the smoooooth; they care about meeting with God.
And so, as I listen to myself on the radio and lament my lack of the smoooooth, the Lord reminds me that the purpose of preaching is to open a door in the room via the Scriptures so that God can come in and move among and meet with the people face-to-face in the preaching moment.
Be blessed and stay healthy and follow Jesus – Pastor Tim
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