I remember back in the fall of 2003 I was preaching my first sermon. It was a Sunday evening at Omaha Bible Church. My text was Acts 17 and I was admittedly quite nervous. When I marched up to the pulpit I looked out upon the crowd and saw many people that I was familiar with and so therefore was comforted. However, I looked into a couple of our edlers’ eyes and I was struck with some fear.
Thankfully our elders are godly men who are strong biblical guys, but at the same time, they intimidated this young first time preacher.
Shortly thereafter I met with my pastor (Pat Abendroth) to get some good constructive feedback. During the time I expressed my apprehension as I began to preach. I will never forget what Pat said, it has been echoing now for 5 years:
“If you are walking up to that pulpit and you are not absolutely certain that you know exactly what that text means and what we are supposed to do in light of it then you need to sit down. You should feel like you know that passage better than anyone in the room…because you have studied it all week long. If this is not the case you should not be preaching.”
Gulp. I am thankful for good pastoral advice like this. This quote is also balanced with years of Pat saying that you are to fear God rather than man. He is the one who is said to be the judge in the context of preaching the word! (2 Tim. 4).
This has been helpful, both convicting and motivating, for me. Hopefully it will serve you preachers and teachers as well.
