Deflecting Honor to the One Who is Honorable

Tuesday is for Preaching

Assuming you are a) called to preach, b) work and pray hard over and in the text, and c) lean into the Holy Spirit as you preach, you will receive many “pats on the back” from a congregation that has ears to hear. So what do you do when the end of the service “glorification of the worm” ceremony takes place. (That’s what Howard Hendricks at Dallas Theological Seminary called the glad-handing of the pastor at the end of many worship services.)

Deflect it brother. God will not share his glory with another. How? Here are some suggestions of things that I have used over the years:

  1. “All the messages are good, when we just keep our finger on the text.” 
  2. “Isn’t God’s word marvelous.”
  3. “Jesus is an extraordinary Savior, isn’t he?”
  4. “Aren’t we blessed to be able to carry around and read the very words of God whenever we want to?”
  5. “Anyone can preach when the Holy Spirit is convicting hearts.”
  6. “A preacher often preaches best when he struggles the most and brother, I struggle to apply this text myself. Would you pray for me?
Exodus 34:14
(for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD,
whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),
_____________

Don’t play with the glory of God men. Give him all the glory, He is worthy of it. And if you play around with it, you will get burned. Worse, you will corrupt your soul. It is an intoxicating brew to have people tell you that you are a great preacher. It will make you drunk with yourself. But the power is not in you. It is in Him and His word. NEVER forget that and you will remain usable to God. Forget that, and you quickly become disposable.


3 thoughts on “Deflecting Honor to the One Who is Honorable

    1. Carole, it’s all about what is in the heart isn’t it? A simple thank you can be just as effective. My heart is simply to give young, talented men some ways to remind their hearts, that it is all about God and not their gifts.

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  1. A friend once explained the matter of Glory to me and it has always stuck. She said that Glory belongs only to Him, He is the only One Who is able to handle it. If we keep any of it for ourselves, we are painting a target on our chests because the evil one is drawn to Glory. It’s like the sin of Achan when he kept the devoted things. It brought complete destruction.

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