The following was first posted in August of 2019. The Covid-19 virus began to replicate in humans....in Wuhan....China....about two months later:
It may come in this way....the last great movement of God in America....the preacher....any preacher....many preachers across the America....arrive at church a little disheveled....as if they hadn't had any sleep the night before....for they hadn't.....in fact they have been tossing and turning all weekend trying to prepare a sermon that they believe God may have put on their heart. It goes like this....the congregation detects something as the uptempo music ends....and the preacher's shoulders are as if they are sagging. Is something wrong they wonder....has the sale for more land for the addition fallen through? The pastor begins by saying that the holiness of God is an awesome thing to be confronted with. He's not looking at the congregation while talking as he usually does but his eyes are lifted to heaven. Maybe this is the setup to a humorous but informative anecdote....he's done that kind of thing before....but his wife is sitting in the front pew....and her lips are moving in prayer. This is no humorous but informative anecdote coming! The pastor reads the Parable Of The Ten Virgins....while his eyes lower to meet those in front of him....and he begins his sermon...."Beloved....how much oil do you have available to trim your lamp.....for you may need it soon....and even if our Lord tarries in His return....we must have oil for our lamps at all times!"
It may not happen this way....but each Monday I look for reports on how this preacher or that preacher was extremely solemn in the pulpit....and the congregation responded to his message with equal solemnity.
It has been over seven years since I wrote that last sentence....and I still look for clues with friends....'Did anything unusual happen in your church service'?....I might ask....or most of the time....as recently as this past Monday.....a simple...."How was your church service yesterday?" And then I have my own pastor's sermons that I put on this grid.
Do you have certain prayers....or even one certain prayer....that you might pray.....every day of your life? Most of us do....I would think. I am very regimented in this. I have a litany of names that come into my prayers each and every day of my life. One of those prayers is this.....almost but not quite verbatim...."Lord....I lift up all of Thy faithful shepherds to you....that thou might have mercy upon them....and bless them....that we in turn might be blessed!"
Please notice the words...."faithful servants....for that is who I am praying for....good men....far more faithful Christians than I will ever be....but primarily because of the church age that they live.....they are ignorant of many things that they have never been taught. So they may indeed sweat while they plead with God in their prayers....for wisdom in the sermons and in their pulpits. I know that they do this....but they still need the Holy Spirit to move over them....and thus we should desire the Holy Spirit....in His perfect timing....to move over these faithful men....all over America....as a strong wind on the wheat field....forcing the flower head of the stem to bow down.
Why do I know these things about preaching....and they do not? First of all....I am not alone....in fact I am at the end of a long line of pilgrims marching towards the Celestial City....who knows that....not everywhere....but generally....the glory has departed from the American evangelical church pulpit. Secondly....there is always a remnant....with remnant preachers like John MacArthur and R. C. Sproul....and many others of whom their names you would recognize.....and tens of thousands of others....whose names you never have....nor ever will hear.....for they preach in smaller or seemingly insignificant churches....that are hard to find....but still exist....maybe at least one....in every large community in America.
So maybe it will be tomorrow that God has chosen to begin to awaken many in this generation? Maybe not? Maybe it will take a national catastrophe to shake us to an awakened state? If so....that may not be long at all. In the meantime....here is a sermon by John Piper....that I haven't heard since I added it to this original post back in August of 2019....but I think that I will listen to it again right now!
