This past Sunday we had quite the crowd in worship. Now, I know that it's popular these days to "not be into numbers" but too often that's just an excuse - we're not reaching anyone, so I'll just say "I'm not into numbers."
After a week of low attendance, we were jam-packed. It didn't hurt that many had come for the family who provided special music or that a couple was celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary and the whole family showed up.
But I heard some really interesting comments on the service. It was very well-received - one woman who sat up front made the comment (and absolutely meant it as a complement) "now that's some old-time preaching!"
I'm not sure if it was old-time preaching or not, but whatever it was, it's what I know how to do. I am in a series on the full armor of God, and this week I was speaking on the shield o
f faith. I used lots and lots of scripture to make my points (maybe that was the "old time preaching"), but I also used stories from the second Lord of the Rings movie, the Two Towers. One scene dealt with the arrows rained down on the orcs and the importance of holding a shield to ward off arrow attacks.Then there was the scene where Theoden, king of Rohan is urged to go out to fight against the army of evil. "I will not bring further death to my people. And I will not risk open war."
To this, Aragorn replies, "Open war is upon you, whether you would risk it or not."
My point was this: open war is upon you if you are a Christian, whether you would risk it or not. If you're on God's side, Satan's arrows are flying. Maybe the "Old time preaching" part was that I mentioned the reality of spiritual warfare and of Satan.
Whatever it was, if it was old time preaching or whatever, I would have liked to have shown the video clips instead of just describing the movie. But it seemed to work pretty well anyway.
1 comment:
Good to hear you are preaching on one of my favorite topics! Too many people don't "like" to hear that we are at war but we certainly are-- Even if it isn't a "likeable" subject!. I've spent a lot of years praying "The Armor" over all of you ever since I learned I could. One thing I am impressed with that shield of faith is that the arrows are extinguished--completely put out. For ever so long, I thought that they were just deflected, which was good in itself, but it just really excited me when I realized that they were put out--gone--kaput! I've needed that a lot lately. My shield has had some pretty big dents but the neat thing is they can be mended just by asking Him. Uh Oh, Now I'm preaching MY sermon on it!!
Post a Comment