However over the years, as we have sung those hymns and read those texts and heard those sermons hundreds of times, they tend to lose their edge and even become stale, a little trivial.
One of the best things we can do in an hour of worship is to take down the amazing truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ from the pedestal where we enshrined them, dust them off and restore them to our daily lives where they belong!
In today’s message, I want to remind you of some of the precious truths of the Gospel which need to be dusted off and returned to service in the Kingdom…
That last sentence is the transition statement that leads into the body of the sermon. Every introductory story or illustration should be followed by a transition sentence to help the congregation see where you are going.
Note: I’ve used that story as the lead-in to a week of revival services. After telling it, I’ll say something like this: “One reason for a time of revival is to take down off the mantel (or pedestal) all those great truths of the gospel of Jesus and dust them off and restore them to their rightful place in our lives! So this week we’re going to be talking about the love of God, the forgiveness of Jesus Christ, and the good news that everyone who believes in Jesus will live forever!” I will add, “When the week is over, you may not have heard a thing you didn’t already know. But if we are successful, you will love them so much more!”
Story Three.
I was preaching on something and having a hard time getting it across. Many in the congregation had grown tired of trying to grasp whatever I was saying and were taking a brief nap. In the middle of my ordeal, 7-year-old Holly Martin turned to her mother, Lydia, and asked: “Mother, why does Doctor Joe think we need this information?”
I have loved that child ever since!
Every pastor ought to be stopped about halfway through his sermon and made to answer that question: Why do the people need this information?
Today, let’s look at the WHY of the gospel. Why do we need to be saved? To live for God? To spread the Word?
Story Four.
I tell a story—which is too lengthy for this space—of meeting with the disciples of an Indian guru who was attracting the attention of a lot of young people locally as well as throughout the country. I’d read up on their doctrine and knew that they taught God had lived on earth in human form in every generation since Creation. According to their guru, Abraham was God in the flesh, as was Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Krishna, Buddha, Confucius and so forth. And, at the moment, the latest incarnation of the Living God happened to be that guru.
One night, in a confrontation with the guru’s disciples before a group of teens and their parents, I questioned this doctrine. “All those others you mentioned are dead and buried. But Jesus Christ came out of the grave and is still alive. That makes Him a zillion miles above all those others. What do you do with the resurrection?”
