Germany part.1

During our first week in Germany we had company meetings. It was a good time to draw back from our respective countries of service and hear good speaking, attend workshops, and just fellowship with friends. The highlight of the week, however, was when one of the speakers (I avoid putting his name here for obvious reasons) recited the first 8 chapters of Romans from memory......

...did you catch that? From memory! This young man, who is a pastor from the States, simply used God's Word to minister to us and let me tell you; that 20 or so minutes represented the best sermon I've ever heard in my entire life. I was amazed at how strong the Word is when it's not accompanied by much trivial commentary; not to upset pastors, but the strength of the message is always in God's Word and not in the cute stories......and this sermon was 8 chapters full of the truth; unabridged, unchanged, non-paraphrased, and directly convicting.

I remember taking the class "pastoral ministry" at university---it was an incredible class that looked at the biblical mandate for pastoring as well as the rich history of the church as this role has been undertaken---I was reminded after hearing this sermon that the role of the pastor/christian worker is to bring the Word into contact with people. Far too often we try desperately to invent new and clever ways to entertain people, but it hardly ever has anything to do with the Word. I'm reminded afresh, like I was during that class, that God's message must be heralded in the form that it was given; not with much to do about ourselves, but making much about Jesus, the cross, and all it entails....because, as Paul writes in the first chapter of Romans, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."