Dan here
So wow! That's pretty much all I have to say. I've been feeling really disconnected from God lately and distant, but guess what. Jesus still lives and still moves and still wants to be there for his children. Let me explain.
Last night I preached my very first authentic sermon. I wanted to preach about how God can always take bad situations and turn them to good. So I started out by talking about a sprint commercial that I love so very much. I'll post the link here...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kl1CNffn0M. The title of my sermon was "No Rain, No Rainbows." Anyway to make a long story short the sermon ended up being about 15 minutes. I had timed myself at 23 minutes and I thought that was a decent amount for a first sermon. However, when I actually got up to preach it I was incredibly nervous and spoke fairly fast, I also forgot a few illustrations, so that is how I lost time.
I was feeling ambivalent about my performance afterward. A lot of people praised my effort, but I kind of just felt like it was an A for effort kind of thing. I did however think it was the best sermon I've gave to date, which isn't saying much because my experience includes speaking once at Lennon when i was like 10, and three sermons I gave for my expository preaching class. Anyway, I felt alright about the sermon because I knew it was a message God had laid on my heart.
Well here comes the wow. Today I got an email from the parent of one of my teens. She told me about how my sermon had really touched her and especially about how my story about High School and my GED really related to her own son. She said that it gave her hope for him and that maybe he could follow in my footsteps. I guess he wants to be a minister and is considering Houghton.
I've never felt so good in my life. I feel like I'm finally doing what God has called me to do, to bring the hope and love of Jesus Christ into the lives of others. I may not have everything figured out yet and I may not be the most skilled orator, but I know what my calling is and God confirmed that in a big way last night.
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Awww! That's awesome, Dan! That really is. It's good to see you feeling better and to see God working in peoples' lives.
ReplyDeleteWow Dan that is great! Please remember that even Jesus got tired of things and downcast. He would try to get away by Himself, but His disciples or people always found Him. Please also remember that Jesus had all the same difficulties and feelings and struggles that we go through, including probably wanting to get married, though He knew what His calling was. He was very misunderstood while physically on this earth.
ReplyDeleteYou're still grieving your mom too, and there is nothing wrong with that at all! Some time you might want to consider preaching a sermon on grief. Remember, Jesus also wept when He visited Lazarus' tomb.
I'm glad you touched someone with your sermon. I'd love to hear one of your sermon's sometime, maybe I'll get that chance in the future.