Preaching and Preachers

The Pitfalls and the RomanceSomeone may ask on the practical level: What do you do, then,when you suddenly find while preaching that this is happening to you?You will find that you have to think very quickly, and see to it that youround off this sermon you are actually preaching, and which hasdeveloped while you were preaching. You have to make it an entity initself. You will have to re-arrange it in certain ways and make certainadditions and elaborations and so bring it to a conclusion and climax.You must not leave it unfinished but work it out to its own logical endand conclusion and application. All this obviously implies the elementof freedom while preaching; and the ability to do it grows withexperience.Another element in this romance of preaching is that you neverknow who is going to be listening to you, and you never know what isgoing to happen to those who are listening to you. It may be the turningpoint in somebody's life. Thank God it is so not infrequently. 'Thefools who came to scoff remained to pray.' Men who may have comein to the service in a state of utter hopelessness go out rejoicing-converted,regenerated, new men and women. Their entire life has beenchanged, and you have been involved in this and played a part in it.Is there anything in the world that compares with this? There isnothing-nothing at all. This is the most wonderful thing that canever happen to a human being. You are standing there between a souland God. Eternal matters have been dealt with, and eternal destinieshave been determined.Another very frequent experience is that people will come to you atthe close of a service and say; 'Do you know, this is astonishing; ifyouhad known my, or our, position you could not have preached moredirectly to it.' It was the very thing they needed. Some problem, someperplexity, some difficulty, some tragedy had been oppressing them,and you have been given the very words that were necessary. I havea friend, a very fine pastor in another country, who had been persecutedto such an extent that he had had to leave. He and his family hadintended settling in another country. But they were passing throughLondon and so happened to come to our service on a Sunday morning.3°1