I've been pastoring now about 30 years, and
I wish I had known this when I
was just coming out, starting at the very
first church I was at, but it's been
having people help me with my sermon preparation.
And you know, you tend to think, well,
gee, that's not very spiritual, that's what I
get paid for, and blah, blah, blah.
But in the last 15 years, every week,
almost without exception, I've had a group of
about a dozen people in our church, and
the church I pastor is the Pembroke Baptist
Church in Pembroke, New Brunswick, near Woodstock.
So anyway, every week, there's about a dozen
people that we meet on Monday night, and
I say to them, this is what I
think I may be preaching on this Sunday.
Let's discuss it.
Let's read the verses that apply about it.
And do you guys have any personal connection
to this?
How does it apply to you?
What does it make you think about?
What does it make you ponder?
How do you see yourself applying it?
So anyway, I don't know how I just
stumbled on this.
I'm sure there's other pastors do it, but
I've never heard of any other pastors doing
it, but it works for me.
Because so many weeks when I was pastoring,
previous to that, come Saturday night, I mean,
I knew what I wanted to say, but
to get it all together, to feel like
you had the confidence to say it, and
you know, Saturday night, Sunday morning, wrestling, what
am I going to preach on?
How am I going to preach on it?
So anyway, the last 15 years, this is
what I've been doing.
So we'll get together on Monday night over
a cup of coffee in somebody's home or
at the church.
It's open to anyone in the church.
Usually there's about 10 to 12 people show
up.
Anybody can do it.
And it's become like our small group Bible
study.
So we'll go around the room reading a
verse.
If somebody doesn't want to read, they can
just elbow the guy next to him and
say, you read.
We'll go around and we'll read maybe a
half a dozen, 10 verses, whatever I'm going
to be preaching on.
And then we'll really pray sincerely, Lord, would
you please point your finger to me on
one of these verses?
And then we'll have just maybe a few
minutes of silence, a few moments of silence.
And I'll say now, what is God saying
to you?
Is there a verse here that God is
speaking to you about?
And someone will say, well, you know, verse
three makes me think about something going on
at work.
And they'll start to say, this is what's
happening at work.
And I think God could help me with
this verse.
Or verse five, you know, makes me think
of a rough time that I went through.
And I've got my blank piece of paper
and I'm just writing notes like crazy.
So this is about a one hour small
group discussion on this.
And this is how I've been preparing my
sermons for the last 15 years.
Now, I feel inspired on Monday mornings when
I get up, I feel inspired by God.
This is the direction to go in.
And in fact, I think it through for
a couple hours, Monday morning early.
I even share it with a group of
people in the nursing home Monday afternoon at
1.30. But then Monday night, I say,
this is what I, this is what I
feel God's leading me to do, possibly this
Sunday.
This is what I shared at the nursing
home.
Let's discuss it and see what, how, how
would that apply to you?
And I'm telling you, we have some of
the greatest discussions and talk about a grassroots
relevant sermon that comes together.
And in our group, like we've got two
young ladies, Nolly and Anita, they're 20 years
old.
So I get a whole different perspective from
them, right?
Then we've got their grandparents who are in
their seventies, Norton and Annie.
So I get a perspective from them.
Then people from other denominations are there.
There's people from different denominations that come to
this, you know, and they have a whole
different background growing up in a different, different
type of a church then that I'm in.
So it's just such a blessing because not
only that, but we're all doing personal devotions,
but we're doing them as a group.
So I'm reading the Bible.
I'm saying, Lord, would you speak to my
heart from these verses?
But I'm doing it in a room full
of people.
And they're all doing the same thing.
Lord, would you speak to my heart?
And yes, sir, here it is.
Verse five or verse six.
This is a verse that God is speaking
to me about today.
We pray, we talk about it.
And then we say, now, what would God
want us to do about this?
So I'm reading a verse that says something
about treating people as I should.
So I share, you know, gee, this makes
me think about this.
But here's what I should be doing about
it.
So I just hope that that would be
some little help to pastors.
There's a pastor that I really respect, Harry
Wilson.
And we were talking about this one time
at a conference.
And Harry said, gee, how do you keep
it from turning into a stew, you know,
a sermon stew, like just a whole bunch
of stuff all thrown in together.
But that's not the way it goes, actually.
It's really amazing how the Lord helps us
in studying these verses, talking about them, applying
them.
And so I leave Monday night at eight
o'clock from somebody's home or whatever, and
I'm ready to preach Monday night for Sunday.
I really am.
I've been up early Monday morning in my
own devotions.
I've done the thinking about it.
I've spoken at the nursing home.
We've discussed it as a group.
And Monday night, I'm ready to go to
preach.
So I haven't had to try harder to
be prepared for a sermon for the last
15 years.
That's how it all comes together.
And I hope that's of some help to
somebody.