Tomorrow is Easter. Or perhaps better stated, TOMORROW IS EASTER!I ask that you stop for a minute or five and offer up a prayer for our worship service (or the service you might be attending). As Perry Noble says, "Pray like crazy for this weekend's service." I have no idea who will be in our church, but I know they will hear about Jesus. I'm sure there will be people far from God who need to hear this message, I pray their hearts are soft, that they are fertile soil. For others I pray it will be a sweet reminder of the Christ we follow.
Easter has an inherent tension for pastors. The "C & E Christians" (Christmas and Easter) will be making an appearance. People who don't normally come to your church will be visiting. There is a chance that lives will be transformed and eternities changed. I don't take that lightly, but I always fear that many do not take that serious enough. There is added tension because Easter is the celebration of the risen Christ, and the joy and grace we are afford through what he has done for us, that which we cannot do.
For my sermon I will be stealing a framework from Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. I will be talking about the words and works of Jesus Christ. I believe it is a good sermon, but more importantly is is a God-honoring Christ-centered message that makes clear who we worship is fully worthy of that worship. To borrow a bit more from Perry Noble, we will make His name famous and we will push back the gates of hell a little bit further.
So pray. Pray for me, for those coming to the church, for my message, for God to act in amazing ways, both in our church and in this world.
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3 comments:
Chris:
Please expound upon your statement: "For my sermon I will be stealing a framework from Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle."
What did you mean by "stealing"?
Driscoll preached a sermon a few years back that was influential on my own sermon today. I'm guessing it was 2004. I borrowed from his idea of presenting Christ on what Christ said about himself and what Christ did while on the earth (The Words and Works of Jesus). I wanted to attribute to Driscoll that his message was influential on my sermon, though we took different routes in where we went (Driscoll often preaches 60-90 minutes!).
And I should say too, that it was clear Driscoll borrowed from others (Lee Strobel and C.S. Lewis) in his version of the sermon. Original content, but influenced by others. I just wanted to make sure I was giving credit where it was due.
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