Monday Reflections...sermon post...you get one shot at it

The above picture is the lemon tree, well pruned and manicured by Stephanie, on the corner of our washer/dryer shed in Florida.  It produced much fruit this year because of a good pruning last year.  It is amazing what can happen when you take some away and yet get more.  

Another Christmas Sunday has come and gone.  I stood in front of another church on this designated Sunday and observed many families coming together for worship.  Sometimes it is the only time some will come into a church.  I know that some call them "Chreasters," meaning those who only come for Christmas and Easter.  There may be a funeral or wedding brings these ones through the doors of the church but I as a pastor, a minister of God's word, am so glad they are here and for Sundays like this.  

The pressure is great on these Sundays.  I feel like I have "one shot" to get it right.  I'm "swinging for the fences" to produce a "grand slam" sermon.  It is down to the last seconds and I need to make a 3 point shot for the win.  The football leaves my hands with no time on the clock for a "hail Mary" attempt to win the game.  Okay, enough sports analogies to make the point that I realize that it might be the only time some of them might hear the name of Jesus for a whole year.  What will they hear about Jesus from my lips?  I will say it again, the pressure is great on these Sundays.

This Sunday was the opportunity to look at a small portion of the 60 prophecies of Christ found in the Old Testament.  All 60 prophecies have been fulfilled through Jesus' first coming.  Some of the prophecies are so detailed.  For example, the Messiah would ride into Jerusalem to the praise of the people not just on any donkey but the foal of a donkey.  Another, how about the price in which the Messiah would be betrayed for and then who would end up with the money and how he would get it? 

The Bible gives so much detail that is traceable so that we might be strengthened in our faith when our hearts have been changed by God.  I can draw the lines from the Old Testament to the New Testament but unless someone's heart is changed by God, it probably still sounds like a really good theory.  The 10 points given this Sunday might have been very educational but I know that the "3 point shot for the win," the "walk off homer" and the "hail Mary" catch are not my doings but God's.  I can draw some lines but He is the One who connects the dots in someone's heart to respond in faith to believe.  

So I continue to pray for all who walk through the doors of this church and any church during this time of the year.  Even if it is only once before me and whatever I can say to point to Christ as the Messiah, I am so thankful that the effort of salvation is not tied to my proficiency on a specific Sunday.  

I am so thankful that salvation is tied to the perfection of Jesus' faithfulness to His Father's will.  I just tell people of it, commanded to do so, like the shepherds after seeing baby Jesus in the manger and the blind man receiving his sight.  I think of different ways to convey the same story over and over again and prayerfully wait for a response not to what I have said but to what Jesus has done.  This keeps me taking that "last second shot", throwing thr "hail Mary", and "swinging for the fences" on Christmas Sundays.

Adam