This fellow stopped me after church the other evening. I was the guest preacher there and about to walk out the door and drive home, a good 90 minute task. I was tired and he had a joke to tell me and another preacher friend.

“You seem like a together person,” he said in my direction. “Comfortable in your own skin. Good sense of humor. So, I have a joke for you.”

He began, “Did you hear the one about Billy Graham, the Pope, and Oral Roberts all dying and going to Heaven at the same time?”

How do you say, “Yes, I’ve heard it a few dozen times and didn’t like it the first time?” You don’t. You stand there and try to look like you’re listening.

It took the poor guy forever to tell the story, of how God said they had arrived unexpectedly, that their mansions were not quite ready yet, and would they mind if He sent them to purgatory for a bit first. He told of a conversation between God and the devil, in which the Lord was asking permission from hell’s warden.

It went downhill from there.

Continue reading “Knowing What is Worthy…and What Ain’t Even Close” »

A friend wrote to me of his concern with his prayer life:

“One of my big problems with praying is when I get ready to pray in public–or even in private–I can’t think of something new to say. I sound so repetitive in my prayers. How do I increase my vocabulary?”

My immediate thought is that, while I certainly understand his desire for freshness in his prayers, vocabulary has little to do with it. The issue is not the word-choice but the heart-cry.

After receiving my friend’s note a few days ago, I decided to sit on it until inspiration provoked a proper response.

Sitting in church this week and worshiping along with the congregation for the first half of the services before walking to the pulpit and preaching, it occurred to me that staleness and dullness affect far more than our prayers. Our worship–meaning everything we do in worship services such as preaching, teaching, announcing, leading hymns, etc–could use a periodic infusion of freshness.

So, let’s get to it.

Here are five suggestions for freshening up your prayers, sermons, everything about your public worship leadership. Please do not miss the caution at the end.

Continue reading “Getting Fresh With God” »

You worship that which you do not know. But we worship that which we know…. (John 4:22)

It’s not easy making generalizations about the worship activities of every person on the planet, other than this one: something within the heart and soul of each human cries out–reaches out, strains, hungers–toward its Creator. The forms which that heart-cry take are as varied as the races and cultures of men. Some bow before the waterway flowing through their village, some sacrifice to the volcano looming above their community, and some build massive cathedrals which they decorate with ornate images, all as expressions of their worship. Others enter their church, their synagogue, their meeting place, and sing hymns, offer prayers, read from their holy book, and give offerings.

For those who worship the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ–for those of us who call ourselves Christians–making some generalizations is easier. We share many things in common, not all of them desirable.

I know five things about your worship, Christian. You make safely conclude these are likewise true about my worship.

1. You don’t do it very well.

Continue reading “Five Things I Know About Your Worship” »

Some of us work with words. As much as a farmer works does with the soil and a potter with the clay, we deal with words. Writers, pastors, teachers–we are wordsmiths.

And therein lies the challenge. Unless we stay close to the Lord and keep a steady eye on our assignment, it’s possible that in time we can send forth empty words to do our work for us. We can fill a page or an hour with words and words and more words. Eventually, we think that’s all we need to do, just speak words.

You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say, “In what way have we wearied Him?” (Malachi 2:17)

Addressing the people of the Lord, the prophet Malachi is in no way limiting his message to the professional priests and ministers. All the Lord’s people were guilty of the sin of word inflation.

It’s an easy trap to fall into, filling our worship on Sunday with so many words. And leaving the church thinking we have done something worthwhile just because we spoke some words, read some written words, and sang words printed in a book or flashed on a screen.

The Lord in Heaven is sick and tired of words that are multiplied and inflated as though He were some mindless professor grading term papers by their weight.

Continue reading “Ineffectual Worship: Wearying the Lord With our Words” »

I know what it is to bore myself with my preaching.

It’s not putting words into the Lord’s mouth to say that one thing the Living God utterly despises is limp, weak-as-tea ministry rendered by insipid, bored disciples who would rather be doing anything in the world than that.

I have been guilty of this. And if you have been in the ministry for any length of time, my guess is you know about this kind of failure also.

You possess endurance and have tolerated many things because of My Name, and have not grown weary. But I have this against you: you have abandoned the love you had at first. (Revelation 2:3-4)

The church at Ephesus was doing a hundred things right and one big thing wrong: they had lost the heart for God they had at first. They preached and taught, they ministered and served, they prayed and witnessed. But their heart was not in it any longer.

And that negated the entire thing.

Remember how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. (Revelation 2:5)

If you think that sounds like what the Lord said to another church down the road a few miles, you would be correct.

I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16)

Lukewarm religion. Passionless Christianity.

The worst kind.

Continue reading “The Worst Kind of Christianity” »

How many aspects are there to a pastoral ministry? A thousand? There’s preaching, studying, pastoral calling, counseling, administration, writing, moderating business meetings, conflict resolution, teaching, prayer, denominational service, motivation, planning meetings, mentoring, correspondence, communication, and cartooning. (Okay, I just put the last one in there because it was always a part of my pastoral work.)

Now, under each of those categories there are subdivisions. “Preaching” involves various kinds of preaching, different styles and reasons and goals. “Studying” may involve learning the original languages, reading theological textbooks, combing through commentaries, reading books of sermons, and pursuing all kinds of online resources.

Okay. Now, here’s the point.

If we made a list of one thousand aspects of a typical pastoral ministry, we would find someone somewhere who is passionate about each one.

I guarantee you that someone somewhere is passionate about writing a column for the church newsletter, someone else is passionate about staff meetings, another is passionate about pastoral calling in the homes of members. A huge percentage of preachers is passionate about delivering sermons and a smaller percentage about doing the study which preaching requires.

Passion. It means a single-mindedness. Whatever is our passion turns us on, drives us, pulls us, motivates us. We love it above all else. If the ministry were taken away from us today, this is what we would miss most.

Figure out the five worst jobs in your ministry, pastor, and somewhere there are preachers who love those tasks above all else. The human animal is complex and comes in ten thousand varieties.

No, ten billion is more like it. With no two alike. Anyway….

I cannot quit thinking about a conversation with James in my office one day. He had pastored several churches and owned two seminary degrees, but at the moment was “between churches.” As the director of missions, I was the denominational go-to guy to help him find a church. At least, in his thinking I was.

“I have to preach, Joe!” he said, growing excited. “It’s in my blood! I’m passionate about preaching.”

I knew that about him, and therefore used that moment to make a point.

“Jim, that might be the problem, my friend.”

“What do you mean?”

“Preaching should not be your passion. Jesus should be your passion.”

Give him credit. Jim took that like a man. In fact, he settled back down in his chair and, after a moment, said, “Wow. Thank you for that. You are so right.”

So, what is your passion, preacher? And how does it compare with your passion for Jesus?

Continue reading “Passionate about Passion!” »

So, what’s your philosophy of worship?

You don’t have one? Well, as my friend Jerry Clower once said about the ‘ego,’ “If you don’t have one, you oughta be getting yourself one, because you’re going to be needing one!”

Your philosophy of worship would tell how you think people worship best, who can do it, and under what circumstances. What kind of worship does the Lord treasure most from people like yourself? And what advice could you give a younger Christian on how to get the most–and give the most!–during an hour devoted to worship.

Personally, I’m still learning. (I’d better learn quick, since I’m team-teaching a course on Worship Leadership at the Orlando extension of NOBTS the first week of January!)

But, here’s where I am at the moment….

Continue reading “What I’m Learning About Worship” »