Yesterday I had the privilege of speaking both at my home church and the one I attended for more than twenty years. I had an opportunity to turn down the second one, but the first one was a necessity as our pastor was speaking out-of-town at another church. Rather than saying I was too busy, I stated that as a condition of my speaking, I would have to be able to leave early in the service (it was two hours filled with seven speakers) to speak at my church. They agreed and so I was the first one on the list. Yesterday ended up working well except for the fact that it made me extremely tired.
In order to not make it too easy on myself, I used two different passages of Scripture and gave two different messages. I was quite proud of that fact as I had thought about using the same message, but expanding it more for the longer one. I am glad I decided not to do that because it gave me another message and I could give the right message to each congregation. The message I gave at 10 o’clock was more of a celebratory message as it was the kick-off to the church’s centennial celebration. I used the first five verses of Psalm 105. The next message was one to apply teachings on wisdom to life in general. It came from James 1:5-8 as that is where we are at in the book of James.
Overall, I felt that I was a little off in my delivery of both messages. I am sure it is something that I could continue to work on and improve if that is something that will continue to happen through my life. However difficult I thought it was and how much I feel like I stumbled around, there were still people blessed by both messages. Members of each congregation thanked me for the message that I brought. I have no idea how or why God chooses to use someone like me, but I am glad that He does.
Corporate Church 