I heard two different sermons recently. One was classic Bible exposition. Explaining the Biblical narrative with accuracy. Telling us how it happened and how the characters in the Bible felt or what they were thinking. It was all true. I had a hard time paying attention to what was being said.
The other sermon was a message about God in the real world. It was heart felt. It talked about real people and real places in our world today. He talked about how God was at work today and how people were helped and healed and saved. I hung on every word.
The radio and YouTube are filled with preachers who know the Bible inside and out, who know ancient languages, who can tell us with great detail how and why it played out in ancient times. They can tell us how Moses felt or what David was thinking. This is the letter of the law that is awful to hear and dangerous to our faith.
Pastor Wayman Mitchell was an expert on practical righteousness. He ministered to real people with honest fears and hopes and dreams and failures. He made it clear that God could help us in the here and now. Some other pastors in our Fellowship are good at this. Some are not.
I do not care why Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. I want to know how to avoid forbidden fruit in my world. I want a word in season when I am ready to give up. I want a living hope for today.
"who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." 2Corinthians 3:6
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