Winter 2005

ARTICLE TOOLS

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Coming out of seminary, I mistakenly thought that the purpose of preaching was to convey information. That was before my trip to India. About a year after I planted Jacob's Well, a friend invited me to India to do some preaching, but it wasn't until I arrived that I learned I would be preaching 14 times in 11 days.

At first, I was angry. How could I possibly prepare 14 sermons in such a short time without all the resources I had back home? Though I am not proud to admit it, this situation exposed the way in which preaching had become, for me, about performing, about impressing people with what I knew. Now, there was no way I could prepare enough to do that.

Then, in the midst of my anger, I sensed God inviting me to something more than preaching. This was an opportunity to be discipled by him for the benefit of the people I was among and for my benefit. So I grudgingly agreed to not prepare. Even though the group was never the same, I also had a sense that I wasn't to preach the same message twice.

Instead I would show up and let God provide the words I needed to say, based on the people, their context, and what was happening inside me. So that's what I did for almost two weeks. Every single time for 11 days I wrestled with God on this issue, and every single time I was obedient, and he provided what I needed to say.

I have never felt so alive!

Every time I stood up, God was present. It wasn't as if creation ex nihilo was occurring, however. Snippets from previous messages would come to mind, passages of Scripture I had been meditating on (or had passed over too quickly) would come to life, aspects of my own journey became very relevant. Somehow among these elements and the chaos of the environment, creation occurred.

I simply ...

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