Do Not Seek “Fancy” Sermons to Feed Your Spirituality

I used to get stressed when I was looking for the “Perfect” speaker for a revival.  As your pastor who is responsible for your spiritual growth, I believe that finding just the right speaker for the congregation is crucial.  Since SBC has only two revivals per year, it was my sincere desire to invite a “great” speaker who could feed SBC as they had never experienced before.

This desire led me to “famed” speakers.  However, I realized that it is not easy to find a speaker who is aligned with the spirit of house church among those speakers.   When I heard a famous speaker, I would listen to his tape only to realize that he is not the right person.  Unknowingly, I was stressed as this process was repeated.  Then, recently, I had a breakthrough as Reverend Young G Chai gave me an insight.  He pointed out that it could be harmful rather than beneficial for SBC to invite the best speaker available.

This phenomenon is often observed in mega churches.  In such churches, the pastors are basically great speakers.  On top of that, they often invite “great” guest speakers to preach to them.  With such events, the congregation is used to “great” talks and any “good” sermons become not good enough to them.  In addition, they could become judges of such sermons.  Therefore, it is important to look for a speaker who has practiced what he preaches rather than simply a “great” orator.  Also, the listeners should be able to find God’s message regardless of the level of skill of speakers.  This was what Reverend Chai told me.

SBC does not have a frequent guest speaker’s sermon.  In addition, SBC members are known to be doers.  Therefore, there is no reason for any concern.  Still, this became a chance for me to be freed from the burden of finding a “great” guest speaker.  After this experience, I started seeing many people whom I would like to invite to speak to SBC.

This logic should be applied to SBC members also.  Rather than seeking pleasing words to ears, you should pursue God’s voice for yourself.  More than anything, keep the words which speak to you and become a doer, not a hearer.  I strongly dissuade the practice of listening to “great” sermons on the internet.  Very rarely will an internet listener think of God’s voice while he listens.  He only seeks something that appeals to his emotions.  That is why whenever the talk is not pleasing to him, he simply moves on to someone else.

As this practice continues, we develop a tendency of seeking sermons which are pleasing to ears.  This practice leads us to be deaf to God’s voice.  This will not help us to be doers either.  This practice only guides us to be judges of sermons.