Pastor Tim Green's Message

Mark 10:17-34

1. (Vs. 31) "But many that are first shall be last; and the last first."

There is a crowing day coming. Those we see reigning as religious kings (by the glamor of religious heritage or the glory of denominational royalty) on this earth will be set aside and the faithful will be lifted up. This has always been a principle with God. When God sent Samuel to anoint a new king, Samuel saw Eliab and declared that he must be the one. But God said, "Look not on his countenance, or the height of his stature...for the Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance but God looketh on the heart."

Look not on the size of his church, quality of his staff, amount of mission's giving or depth of the budget. Look not whether his is director on some board, officer of some association or leader of some group. "For the Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance but God looketh on the heart." Faithful stewardship important to the Lord.

2. (Vs. 29-30) "...There is no man that hath left..."

God sees the proper motivation of sacrifice and rewards accordingly on this earth. We often dwell on the problems of ministry but if a pastor has invested into and loved his people there are earthly rewards that are available or given him. How many times has the pastor been blessed with cars he could not afford, houses he did not buy and perks for which he did not ask. Win the lost to Christ, disciple them and they will make the pastor an object of their love for Christ. They will be brothers and sisters that will have a stronger bond than any blood relative would be.

3. (Vs. 28) " Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee."

Abandonment is essential to the growth of the Lord's church. It is easy to settle into comfort zones that deny an amount of risk taking for Christ and His church. Many risks were taken for the glory of building and establishing the church but comfort zones limit God's ability to grow the work. What has been risked as of late for the cause of the church? Where is the reckless abandon that was instrumental in a church's beginning. Could it be that we have more to lose now and the comfort zones have replaced the "nothing to lose" attitudes of our beginnings?

4. (Vs. 22) "And he was sad at theat saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions."

This rich young ruler had come to the right person, had come in the right spirit, had asked the right question and had received the right answer from the Savior Himself yet left lost. Pastor, no matter how hard we may try, we will not win them all. We must remember that we are the tellers and not the savers. Not all of them will gladly receive the Word so do not grow weary in well doing, just keep doing well.

Hope this is helpful.

Tim

Sermoneering

Years ago, Andy Stanley spoke at the C3 conference at Fellowship Church and while I did not attend, I did order the CD's and these three rules for delivering messages have changed the way that we think about sermoneering. I looked for it on the internet, and could not find the outline, so I thought I would post these three key questions we must ask before making any presentation.

1. Is the context appealing
You started reading this post probably because the Pope led you to. There is enough intrigue to catch your attention. Much has been said recently about contexualization and the need for us to understand that not every program or presentation is universally accepted or for that manner effective. If we are to be missional in our approach, we have to ask ourselves the context question. Is the context in which we plan to speak aiding or detracting for the listener's ability to receive the message. Everything from strange sounds and odors to dirty floors and burned out light bulbs can all detract from our message getting across. Our dress, the use of multimedia all come into play. Is the context appealing for my listener. It too must be mentioned that the context may change as the listener changes. It is also important to note that context does not mean good or bad. The context of Chuck-E-Cheese is a great context for a 5 year old's birthday party and a hospital is a great context for a sick person but neither are great environments for the other. Before we go to speak, we must ask ourselves if the context is appealing.

2. Is the presentation engaging
The first book on preaching taught that attention is something you pay. We need as communicators to understand that it costs our listeners (and readers) time and effort, and if we begin the habit of wasting their time they will begin the habit of going elsewhere. Every message of Christ was engaging, it grabbed the attention of the listeners and left them wanting more, not realizing where the time went. It is a sin to take the most interesting book in history and proceed to bore people with it, but unfortunately we often do. To fight this we must tell stories and interact with the crowd as often as possible. We live in a narrative society and stories engage.

3. Is the content helpful
Andy says in his talk that comedians are engaging, but they are not helpful. Comedians have trained themselves to ride the wave of the crowd and know when it is time to go deeper and when to move on. And although very engaging, comedy is not helpful. Our task as communicators of God's word is to engage the crowd in a conversation that will in the end help them to take spiritual steps. We must always look at it from the critic's phrase "so what's your point!" A great environment and engaging delivery are only as good as the content is helpful.