My lesson this morning was "Revive Me To Share Your Word." I'm doing a month long series called "Revive Me According to Your Word." It's taken from Psalm 119:25. The elders had asked me to continue their routine of assigning September as "revival" month. In thinking through how I could make it work for me, I decided to do a 30 day challenge. It's sort of on the order of a 40 day challenge that some mega-churches have done. I created a schedule for each day of the month with a passage from Scripture and a thought. For instance, September 1 is "God's Word Created the Universe" with the text being Psalm 33:6. Each received something similar. The whole month focused on the Word of God. I also listed my sermon topics and texts as they came up in the schedule. It appears to have been well received. The elders really liked it and several members have said so as well. I've been told to do it again.
Mt. Dora has done an incredible job of incorporating the video projector into our worship services. It is used for announcements before Bible class, in between Bible class and services, and then after services. Eddie, Doug, and Gene (I'm not sure who else might be helping out) really have kept focused on making sure that the announcements are kept up-to-date. From the beginning they have expected me to use it as well. It has made my sermon creation process quite different. I not only have to think through the message I want to get across but also how that message is to be presented visually on PowerPoint.
My lesson today mixed clip art that I found on Google's Images section with slides containing outlines. I started off with a brief summary of Matthew 28:19-20 and Mark 16:15-16. Then I talked about how intimidating "all nations" and "all creation" must sounded to the apostles who probably hadn't been much more than 50 miles away from their homes at any one time. I showed that "all nations" are our neighbors, friends, family members, co-workers, and classmates. I also suggested that a congregation needs to think globally (supporting an overseas mission work) and locally (reaching out in our own back yard). I finished with some practical suggestions of how we can revive our interest in sharing God's word (the theme of the day). Suggestions such as invite a friend, pray for a friend, go with someone who enjoys teaching others, and so forth. I felt it went well. I have a new wrinkle in my presentation - I now have a monitor in front of me so I can view what slide is in the screen behind me and I have a control that allows me to advance the slides. I can now work at my own pace. Hopefully the presentation flow will get better.
I will pick up next week where I left off in Romans 12. I was doing a series of lessons on the Christian life from that text and will continue next week. Don't know just yet what I'm going to do afterwards. But stay tuned.
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