Acceptable to the Lord

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14 NRSV)

If you have ever heard me preach then you have most likely heard Psalm 19:14 in some translation or version. It is the verse, that we pray, before the sermon at any and almost all of the Worship services that I lead, whether it is Sunday Worship, a funeral, a wedding, or whatever the occasion.

I begin every sermon with this prayer and I end it with a prayer, as well.  You see, I need God's help.  In fact, I need God to speak through me, because I really don't know what it is that He would have me say to all of you.  I don't need to use a lot of words. A lot of words would most probably come out of my own ego and would not be helpful to too many people. But, God can touch each of us with a whole lot less words.   

Just prior to the beginning of each service; I also usually pray something to the effect of:  "Send your Holy Spirit that your people might hear your Word, your will for them, and not mine." I depend upon the Spirit of God to open the ears of each of the hearers so that everyone one might hear God's word, his will for them. His word, his will and not mine.

One of the rules I try to follow in sermon writing is to never talk politics. I cannot even begin to imagine myself endorsing a candidate from the pulpit! I have been asked about this by a few people as there are  some who seem to think that this is the preacher's job.  However, the pulpit is for preaching the Good News of the Kingdom of God.  It is not for promoting a partisan view of the kingdom of this world. In regards to preaching politics, I am confident that it would definitely be my political views that would be expressed and not God's. 

Sharing the Good News of the Kingdom through Jesus Christ is not about pleasing man.  It is about pleasing God. In fact; often, people will not be pleased with the message that pleases the person sitting in the pew next to them.  Sometimes the very same sermon that will bring comfort to one hearer, will bring conviction to another.  That, my friend, is the work of the Holy Spirit.  God knows who is going to be at Worship on any given Sunday and He knows what they need to hear.  And, if they have ears to hear, they will hear just what He wants them to hear.  Thanks be to God!

It always amazes me when people tell me after the sermon that they were so moved when I talked about..... (whatever it was they heard).  I don't tell them that I didn't actually say what they heard. If that's what the Spirit wanted to say to them, if that's what they needed to hear, then so be it.  And... the glory belongs to God!

Help us LORD!  May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts and minds always be pleasing in your sight, O' Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.

God's Peace - Pastor J.