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In more than three decades of my Christian life, I have been blest by 2 types of Daily devos'
(matter not exceeding 500 words) in universal Christian literature. Not only those Devos'
which have a different theme everyday but also the ones which revolve around a certain
theme over a period of time, say a fortnight, have richly edified me. In fact, both
styles have their own inherent advantages. If the former style caters to the varying
spiritual needs of a christian from day-to-day, the latter aims 'to ground'
a child of God in a certain subject in order he derives the full benefits of the
deep insightful study of a certain topic, spread over a fixed span of time.
In my Daily devo page, I have consciously tried to go in for 'a blend of both the
styles' whereby within a constant theme, I would be aiming to focus on different
facets of it which admittedly is a closer imitation of the 'Constant theme' style
than the 'Varying topics' one.
Having dwelt on the topics
- “The Christian journey”
- “ The Conquest of Canaan” and the
- “Lent season”.
in the previous months, now in the months of April and May, considering that
post resurrection of Christ (one of our concluding themes’ you would remember
in the meditations of March, was Resurrection), birth of the Church was a
landmark event in Biblical history, I want to cast the spotlight on the Book of
Acts (which records the birth and growth of the Church). This would ensure to a large
extent continuity of thought albeit under the ambit of new subject.
Once again, let me wish you a happy and an edifying read…
Suresh Manoharan
April 12th
The “Super” Sermon recipe
“Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to
him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” –
- Acts 2:37
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I had concluded yesterday’s meditation with the promise to focus
on the passionate sermon of apostle Peter on the Pentecostal day,
which as the above-captioned Scripture portion points out “pierced”
the hearts of people, who were listening to it.
As then, even now what makes a sermon a “Super sermon”? The recipe for
it comprises of three ingredients. The anointing of the Holy Spirit
(more than possessing the Holy Spirit, Peter was possessed by Him),
which makes the preacher passionate, quotations from the Scriptures
(we see Peter quoting from OT Scriptures not less than 3
times-
Acts 2:17-21,
25-28,
35), which makes the sermon authoritative
and a sense of history that conversion (read edification) of even one
soul for good would make Heavens go bananas
(Luke 15:7),
which clothes the preacher with the grandeur of a History maker!
We see all these ingredients in overflowing measure in Peter’s first
sermon and no wonder people who heard it were moved to ask,
“What should we do”.
As one Biblical scholar observed…”The test of a preacher is that his
congregation goes away saying, not, ‘What a lovely
sermon!’ but, ‘I will do something!’ “
Say Preacher… “Are you toeing Peter’s line?”
Prayer:
Father, we your humble servants called to be Your spokesmen, despite our many imperfections,
commit ourselves into Thy hands to be filled by Your Spirit, because without Thy Spirit’s
anointing, our messages, however high in intellectual value, would fall flat. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.
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