Icicles From the Pulpit

After a string of powerful services at church and youth camp I preached a dud this past Sunday morning. In the middle of preaching it I knew I was not anointed. I could see it in the eyes of the people. It felt cold, lifeless, and boring.

I thought I heard from the Lord about what to preach. I studied. I prayed. That sermon still felt like an icicle hanging from the pulpit. I had no fire. Passion seemed to be wanting. It made me sick. I was bothered. The putrid feeling of that morning still haunts me while vacationing in Ruidoso, NM. What is harder to deal with is that I will not preach again at FBC Seminole for another thirteen days Lord willing.

Perhaps some preachers become callused to preaching icicle messages. I am not and do not ever want to be. Preaching is serious business and I take it serious. There are so many factors involved in preaching anointed messages. The preacher must first prepare himself. The scriptures must be studied. God must give revelation of truth. God must inspire and endue the preacher with passion and fire. The people in the pews must come hungry for the word of the Lord. There are many factors that effect preaching.

Preaching icicles from the pulpit only produces cold hearts in the pews. Could this be a large part of the problem in the church today? Have preachers lost the fire? I sure feel I did this past week. What gnaws at me is I do not fully understand why. I know I was tired physically but that caused me to rely on God even more. Before I mounted the steps to the pulpit that morning I remember crying out to God how inadequate I felt for the task and needed His help.

Truth was preached. Some responded but I know the difference between messages of ice and messages of fire. At youth camp I could sense the Lord working in me and through me. I saw those students paying attention. I saw truth sinking into their souls. I watched the Lord bring conviction and save the lost. Those were messages of fire. Sunday morning had the chill of an icicle hanging from the sermon.

What can I learn from this? One thing is not to take anointing and fire of God for granted. Secondly, this makes me feel more inadequate for the task of preaching and more dependent on God to help me. It doesn’t matter that I have been preaching for twenty-five years. I still need God each and every time. Thirdly, I must become totally and completely dissatisfied with ever preaching messages like that again. I am human and probably will but that does not mean that I have to like it. There are not excuses. Icicles from the pulpit can never be justified.

I will not quit. I have preached bad sermons in the past. I will preach bad ones in the future too. I will go back to the Lord and pray for fire in the next one. I am also grateful for these days of renewal to reflect on the whole experience. I want fire in my soul as much as I want fire in the sermons. I want fire in the hearts of our congregation so they disdain icicles from the pulpit.

I got the title for this blog from something I read this morning. The author wrote if the preacher is not baptized with compassion and unction, icicles would soon hang from the pulpit. May that never be the case at FBC Seminole. May that not be the case when I preach outside the church. May that not be true when any of us preachers stands behind the pulpit. I am determined my next messages will be filled with fire from God. Icicles cannot remain in fervent heat. That’s the cry of my heart. More heat and more fire but no more icicles.