Are you carrying around a spirit of unforgiveness – toward some church member who acted with malice toward you, some group that makes your life miserable, maybe even a church that left a scar on your spirit. Here is what A.R. Bernard says in his new book Happiness Is . . . :

Michael Duduit, Editor

Until October 31 you can save $125 on your registration for the National Conference on Preaching, which is April 7-9, 2008, in the Washington, DC. area. The theme is “Preaching and the Public Square: Where Do Pulpit and Culture Meet?” and the program includes great speakers like Chuck Colson, James MacDonald, Barry Black, James Emery White, William Willimon, Robert Smith, Mark Batterson and many more. Learn more at www.preaching.com/ncp

MOST INFLUENTIAL CHURCHES

Saddleback (Rick Warren), Lake Forest, CA

In a paper presented at the recent meeting of the Evangelical Homiletics Society, Jeff Arthurs and Arica A. Heald counseled pastors on preaching from texts that are themselves biblical speeches or sermons. One idea they presented: retell the biblical stories that lay behind those speeches.

It’s time to register for one of the Preaching magazine one-day preaching conferences in cities across the US, featuring two different seminar topics.

New Orleans (Oct 30)

This fall we are also launching a brand new seminar, “Growing a Biblical Sermon.” Developed in response to many requests, the conference will offer a solid guide to developing biblical sermons. The conference will be held in:

Nashville (Oct. 25)

Each conference features Dr. Michael Duduit, editor of Preaching magazine, plus a guest speaker. Cost is $95 for the first participant from a church, and $50 for each additional person; the cost includes lunch and a notebook packed with helpful resources. For more information or to register, visit www.preaching.com/events.

GAMBLING

In an article on “What’s Wrong With Buying Lottery Tickets?” Hal Lane observes, “Legalized gambling teaches the following principles:

1. Gambling is good. The state will give its seal of approval to a practice that has led many into addictive and destructive lifestyles. They will be sanctioning a false hope of instant wealth that has resulted in abandoned children, divorce, financial ruin, theft and suicide. They will lose the moral authority to oppose other forms of gambling that will follow.

2. Greed is good. The state will seek to entice players to take a chance on instant wealth. Instead of teaching the biblical principle that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, it will teach that the lack of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

3. It is good to educate the wealthy with money from the poor. Despite skewed statistics that attempt to say that lottery tickets are bought by a cross section of the economic spectrum, the truth is that the poor and desperate buy disproportionately more lottery tickets. “Those making less than $10,000 per year spend more than any other income group, averaging $597 per year. Furthermore, the top 5 percent of lottery players account for over 50 percent of lottery sales, spending on average $3,870 per year.” (Timothy A. Kelly, Family Research Council)

4. The end justifies the means. It is not how we raise money but how we use the money that determines the morality of the means. If citizens are OK with using revenue generated from lottery ticket sales, will state legislators next consider legalizing pornography and prostitution and earmarking those funds for students’ benefits?

Lotteries are thinly veiled cloaks for greed and selfishness. Christians can stand out as stars in a dark culture by refusing to participate in the many forms of gambling, including the lottery.” (Click here to read the full article)

Often at the end of that prayer time I’ll say to myself, “We could go home now. I don’t need to preach. God has done a work.” I think that’s a missing part in many services today – giving people those quiet moments to come forward for prayer. It’s not an evangelistic appeal; it’s a matter of saying, “Let’s pray about your burden.” I offer a pastoral prayer.

Gordon MacDonald wrote a whole article once on the power of a pastoral prayer. He talked about crafting those words – your intercession is so important to a church. Let them know you really care about them.

Preaching is worth it. It’s really worth the investment in putting good words together, in doing the study. People really do remember the sermons. They really are listening. Going that extra bit with the sermon is worth it.”

Also in the November-December issue of Preaching: Interviews with Eugene Peterson and Max Lucado, “Blue Man Preaching,” “Preaching the Psalms as Stories,” Part 3 of Michael Quicke’s series on “Preaching and Trinitarian Worship” and much more.

A life-long city man, tired of the rat race, decided he was going to give up the city life, move to the country, and become a chicken farmer. He found a nice, used chicken farm, which he bought. Turns out that his next door neighbor was also a chicken farmer. The neighbor came for a visit one day and said, "Chicken farming isn't easy. Tell you what. To help you get started, I'll give you 100 chickens."

Stewardship is a vital topic for pastoral preaching, and the need for fresh ideas and resources never ends. David N. Mosser has provided a service to pastors with his new The Stewardship Companion (Westminster John Knox). Mosser takes one text for each Sunday from the lectionary calendar and offers a brief meditation linking that text to a stewardship thought. The book will be valuable not only to lectionary-based preachers but to any pastor seeking to provide ongoing stewardship education to a congregation.

In his new book The Crucifixion of Ministry (InterVarsity Press), Andrew Purves reminds pastors that it is His ministry, not ours. He asserts: “Our strategies, action plans, pastoral resources and entrepreneurial church revitalization techniques have become not the solution but the problem. Our ministries need to be crucified.” This is a valuable book to help pastors reassess their own ministries.

Preachers need to understand the culture, but even more they need to have tools for leading their people out of the cultural confusion that characterizes our age. J.P. Moreland has provided a powerful guide for pastors in his book Kingdom Triangle (Zondervan). The triangle includes these elements: recovery of the Christian mind; renovation of Christian spirituality; and restoration of the power of the Holy Spirit. This is an important book for church leaders.

(Click on the title to learn more or order from Amazon.com)

The pastor was having difficulty with his assigned parking space on the church parking lot. People parked in his spot whenever they pleased, even though there was a sign that clearly said, "This space reserved." He thought the sign needed to be clearer, so he had a different sign made, which read, "Reserved for Pastor Only." Still people ignored it and parked in his space whenever they felt like it.

"Maybe the sign should be more forceful," he thought. So he devised a more intimidating one, which announced, "Thou shalt not park here." That sign didn't make any difference either. Finally, he hit upon the words that worked; in fact, nobody ever took his parking place again. The sign read, "The one who parks here preaches the sermon on Sunday morning!"

“None are so empty as those who are full of themselves.”  (Benjamin Whichcote)

__________________

I must hold the television remote control in my hand while I watch TV. If the remote has been misplaced, I'll miss a whole show looking for it. (In an emergency, I can survive by holding a calculator.)

When I lock my keys in the car, I will fiddle with a wire clothes hanger and ignore your suggestions that we call road service until long after hypothermia has set in. Oh, and when the car isn't running very well, I will pop the hood and stare at the engine as if I know what I'm looking at. If another guy shows up, one of us will say to the other, "I used to be able to fix these things, but now with all these computers and everything, I wouldn't know where to start."

When I catch a cold I need someone to bring me soup and take care of me while I lie in bed and moan. You never get as sick as I do, so for you this isn't an issue.

I can be relied upon to purchase basic groceries at the store, like milk, or bread. I cannot be expected to find exotic items like "Cumin" or "Tofu." For all I know these are the same thing. And never, under any circumstances, expect me to pick up a copy of "Cosmo" or "Better Homes & Gardens."

When one of our appliances stops working, I will insist on taking it apart, despite evidence that this will just cost me twice as much once the repair person gets here and has to put it back together.

I don't think we're all that lost, and no, I don't think we should stop and ask someone. Why would you listen to a complete stranger – how could HE know where we're going?

You don't have to ask me if I liked the movie. Chances are, if you're crying at the end of it, I didn't.

I think what you're wearing is fine. I thought what you were wearing five minutes ago was fine, too. Either pair of shoes is fine. With the belt or without it looks fine. Your hair is fine. You look fine. Can we just go now? (from Mikey’s Funnies)