Put The Fish In The Boat!(Preacher)

While visiting a church, the preacher was doing a series of messages on being "fishers of men."  I listened to his message waiting to see how he would bring it home to the people.  He never did.  It was simply an informational message but not instructional and certainly not activating the individual to become fishers of men.  There is such cowardice today in all sectors of society regarding making things challenging and personal.  Recently I was listening to an interview by the great singer Linda Ronstadt.  She was asked the difference between a great singer and a great performer.  She said that there were many of her back up singers who were much better singers than she.  She went on to say, "you have to have a story.  Your story might be heartache, loss of some sort or failure.  You have to relate your story to the audience with passion and then all great entertainers at some point make the transfer from themselves to the audience."  Wow, I thought, that is exactly what good preaching should be!  I went back and look at Peter's message on the day of Pentecost.  He told a story to a gathered crowd and he told it with personal passion.  Then at just the right moment he turned the story on the crowd.  Hundreds became converted to the God of his message that day!  Preachers must understand that we are not simply lecturers or instructors.  We must tell the Story, tell it with a personal experiential passion and at just the right moment we must make the hearers take possession of it in their souls.  If we never get from "me to them", we will never be successful.  If we fail to cause the hearer to experience the message then we are not accomplishing New Testament preaching.

May we as preachers review our sermons and honestly ask ourselves if we are making a transfer of ownership to the people?