Proclaiming God's Word to a Hurting People

Thinking about the people in the pews.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

For the past year, before I preach, I stand in the back of the auditorium until the song right before the sermon.

Some of you probably wonder why I do that. No, it’s not to pump myself up - like an athlete before a game, and it’s not to see who is and who isn’t there or who comes in late.

I started doing it when I hurt my back last summer because standing up the whole time was better on my back than going back and forth between standing and sitting. It also helps calm my nerves when I’ve battled anxiety attacks before preaching. Somehow, standing in a place where no one can see me helps to keep anxiety in check.

But standing in the back has helped me with my preaching in a way I didn’t realize it would. It gives me a chance to consider what my brothers and sisters in Christ are going through in their lives.

• Some are battling depression.

• Some are discouraged by health problems that are piling up instead of going away.

• Some are enduring extreme loneliness because of a spouse who has died or has abandoned them.

• Some are exhausted and stressed because of a difficult situation at work.

• Some are struggling with a particular sin they feel like they will never beat.

• Some are worried sick because of a loved one who has turned away from the Lord.

The gospel is a message of hope, justice, mercy, love, forgiveness, sacrifice, healing, encouragement, peace, and rest, and it’s for people who desperately need to hear it and be reminded that it’s true.

Why do you think it’s called “good news?”

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. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)