Years ago I visited a large church and walked into the restroom. It had those old hot air hand dryers instead of paper towels, the ones where you pushed a button to start the dryer. Someone had taped a note on one that said, “Push this button for a pre-recorded message from our Pastor.” It made me laugh. It also humbled me a bit and was a reminder to make sure the messages I shared with my congregation were timely, relevant expositions of God’s Truth.

John 4:24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

For almost three years in retirement, Cheryl and I did not worship in the congregation that we served for over thirty years. We waited until they had a new full-time called pastor. We went to his installation, and then stayed away for a while longer so he could settle in to his new calling. In the time we were not attending Grace, we visited over 75 different congregations around the country. I led worship and preached at a few of those, but mostly we were there to be fed and worship.

We encountered a lot of different preaching styles, and a wide variety of messages. Most of them were good public speakers, engaging their listeners with stories and persuasive speech. But in over half the services we attended, they didn’t preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. There was nothing wrong with what they did say, but they left out the message that should be shared in every worship service. If there were people there that day who did not know that forgiveness is a free gift from God for Jesus sake, they would still not know it when they left.  If a believer came to worship needing to be assured of his or her forgiveness, they would not have heard it in that message. It would be like getting a blast of hot air and nothing more.

This is a reminder to those who occupy a pulpit – myself included – that people need to hear the message of God’s grace in Jesus Christ clearly proclaimed every week. I was taught that the Gospel message of God reconciling the world to Himself through Jesus, not counting men’s sins against them, should predominate in every message I preached. We are to be all about sharing this Good News.

This is true for all followers of Jesus, not just preachers. We live in the certainty of forgiveness and life and salvation for Jesus’ sake. We know His death paid our debt, His resurrection opened heaven for us, and our eternal life has already begun. What can you do to share that with the people you meet today?