I felt today that there was a spiritual wall between me and the congregation. It was as if all the words that I spoke bounced off that wall and felt to the ground. After service, I asked several people about what stood out to them about the message and I can tell that they were having a difficult time articulating what was spoken during the preaching.

What was very interesting to me is that even if people were not able to necessarily articulate what I preached about, they left the service joyful and filled. I asked one member today about what he feels going home after service and he said, “I feel a lot better than when I came in.” And I can see that many shared this sentiment. After service, there was a lot of laughter, conversation, and fellowship that wasn’t always present when people didn’t understand what I preached on. I believe it was God’s grace that He still gave us a joyful hearts as we left the service.

Also, through my seminary class on preaching, Dr. Charles kept emphasizing the importance of presenting Jesus in every sermon. I’m not sure how to do that for every sermon and yet, that is something that I want to strive after. And at least for today’s sermon, I felt that I did present Jesus to whom we must look to, to save us from our sins.

Another observation that I made was that I spent as much time, effort, and prayer as I did with my previous sermon, which almost everybody understood. Yet, not many people understood this one. I still don’t really have an answer why that was the case. Perhaps, the lesson is that the movement of the Holy Spirit is not formulaic. Just because you do x doesn’t mean that God will do y.

Last observation that I made was, previously, when people didn’t connect with my message, I used to feel really defeated. In fact, there were many times, I felt like crawling into a hole and never coming out because it was so embarrassing. However, today, even if not many people connected with the message, I knew that I did everything that was within my power to preach the sermon God wanted me to preach.

In conclusion, I am grateful that I had an opportunity to preach the Word of God today. And as much as it is a challenge, I am looking forward to doing it again next week.

Also, if I can ask you for a favor, could you please listen to it and let me know in the comments if the sermon made sense? And whether it resonates with you or not? In fact, I would appreciate any kind of feedback. The more honest, the better. Thank you so much and God bless!

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