Jack’s Winning Words 8/6/14
“There’s a great power in words, if you don’t put too many of them together.”  (Josh Billings)  I once saw a cartoon, showing a minister preaching, with Jesus sitting in the front pew…sleeping.  Whether it be in a sermon, a business presentation, or in general conversation, it’s best to get to the point and move on.  Once, while preaching, I saw a woman poke her dozing husband.  I hid a smile as he jerked to attention.    ;-)  Jack

FROM MICHIZONA RAY:  I'll be brief.====JACK:  There was a minister in our area preached for over a day trying to break the record for the longest sermon preached.  More impressive was the minister who preached the shortest sermon, going into the pulpit and simply saying, "Love!"

FROM HONEST JOHN:  We are up in Stratford at the Festival.   Just saw Man of La Mancha....we are missing that kind of idealism today....to reach the unreachable stars.    The Tea Party preaches what I call "Downerism"....they seem to be reaching up their own derrières.====JACK:  I remember hearing Robert Schuller preach, using the Man of La Mancha as an illustration..."To Dream the Impossible Dream."  The Man of La Mancha is one of my favorite stories.

FROM GUSTIE MARLYS:  Clem always sat in the back row of the choir loft where he could "rest his eyes" and I would not see him and kick him!  Ha!  I think he absorbed more of the sermon than most tho.====JACK:  Now that I'm on the other side of the pulpit, I'm able to identify with what it means to sit in the pew (or in the back row).

FROM TARMART REV:  I wish I could find it and know that I have it filed somewhere . . . it was a take off of Peter answering Christ's question of "Who do people say that I am?" Peter's response was with a long sentence full of descriptive theological terms to which Jesus replied: "Who?" ====JACK:  How would you or I feel if someone shouted from the pew..."Get to the point!"? 

FROM RJP IN NAPLES:  That absolutely was not me and Chris did not poke, just nudged. ====JACK:  I usually noticed that you were "engaged" while I was preaching.  But, as a salesman, you had probably practiced that expression while listening to your customers.

FROM DR. PHIL:  Jack,  I was sitting in church the other week next to my wife. I fell asleep and she nudged me. It is really great to be able to fall asleep in church once in a while. I am relaxed with the Lord.====JACK:  That's funny, because Mary has done the same thing to me.  My response..."I'm just resting my eyes."

FROM RS IN TEXAS:  I heard once that the key to a good sermon was a good beginning, a good ending and not too much between the two.  Quality not quantity?====JACK:  It's true.  A sermon should have an beginning that captures the attention...and an ending, good enough, so that the summary of the content will go out the door with the listener.  I once knew a pastor who kept an alarm clock in the pulpit, set to the length he wanted the sermon to be.  When the clock went off, he stopped...even if he was in mid-sentence.

FROM SBP IN FLORIDA:  When I watch Joel Osteen. I note that he has a message , develops it, directs it to YOU....and winds up in thirty minutes, All of which encourages further contemplation on my part. "Less is more." "Short and sweet." "Brevity is the soul.....====JACK:  One of the good things about TV preaching is that it's governed by a set time frame.