A Fresh Word

There are a couple of phrases I've read in my Bible over and over again. "The word of the Lord came. Thus says the LORD."

You can find these phrases in the lives of Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Amos, Micha, Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Obadiah, Haggai and others. God gave each of these fresh words to share with His people. Often the words were hard and words calling for repentance.

How did they receive these words? There were times when leaders came to the prophets and asked if there was a word from the LORD. Often the prophets responded they would ask. Then they would go off alone and seek God for a fresh word. Sometimes those words came immediately. Other times they sought for days on end before the word came.

Take the average preacher who preaches three times a week each year. Now I realize this has changed. Many preachers only preach once or twice a week. In the past preachers preached Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday nights. In a half a dozen year span H.A. Ironside preached over 6,000 times in the early 1900's. That meant preaching over 1,000 times a year.

I have a friend who has pastored the same church for 23 years. He not only preached three times a week for all those years. He also taught a Sunday school class during that time. He has ministered the word of God 4,784 times there. That does not include funerals or outside events. My pastor served my home church faithfully for 34 years. He preached over 5,000 messages there. Today he still serves as interim pastor in different churches. In his seventies he still preaches the word of God.

Here is the question for all preachers. Can we say those messages we preach were fresh words from God. Are current sermons fresh words from God? I am not referring to sitting in some prayer trance for days on end to get something new. We have revelation from God in the scriptures and we are commanded to share that truth. Even so, do we rush off to the commentaries and copy what they wrote or preached about the same passage? Do we study diligently or take short cuts through other people's sermons. A practice I abhor.

A friend of mine used to pray for me before preaching. That prayer echoes in my mind this morning, "Lord I pray that you preach the message to Matt before he ever preaches it to us." I think he wanted me to preach a fresh word burning in my heart and not something that did not touch my soul first.

Fresh words require prayer. They require meditation. They may also require time in commentaries for insights. That is a far cry from finding someone else' sermon and preaching it because it takes less effort. Preaching does take effort. Anointed preaching takes much time alone with God in prayer. It takes digging beneath the surface of a text.

This past Wednesday night God gave me a fresh word. I will not share it here. Suffice to say that word touched me first. The insights gained were all directed at me. I saw things in that passage I had never seen before. In the past 30 years of preaching I am sure I taught on that passage at least a dozen times. The first time was when my pastor let me preach in my home church the summer after my senior year. I was scared out of my mind and nearly backed out. The wise words of a friend helped me not to back out.

The message I shared Wednesday did not resemble the one I preached back in the Sumer of 1985. This latest version burned in my heart like lava about to erupt from a volcano. God preached it to me before I shared it with the people. He revealed things I never discovered before. One lady commented afterward, "I enjoyed that. You were fired up. I like it when you are fired up." I was fired up because preached that word afresh to me first.

Don't the people of God need fresh words from God? Don't we preachers also need fresh words from God? They still come if we are willing to wait on the Lord and do our due diligence. A fresh word is needed today.