Preaching is work.

Preaching is work. When I leave the pulpit, I feel drained. Coaches tell their players not to leave anything in the locker room, but to pour it out on the field, on the court. When I come out of the pulpit, I need a nap, I need to rest.

Did you ever wonder what your preacher takes into the pulpit? I used to always use a full manuscript; this was because our church in Japan used a translator for the Japanese people so they could hear the sermon in their heart language. When we returned to the States, my wife advised me to switch back to using notes only. So I did, I began preaching from notes. The notes are reminders of what I am going to say, illustration starters, and a logical progression of ideas from beginning to end. I hope it is not boring, but here is an example of the notes I used last Sunday morning.

Matt. 35: 31-46 The Judgment
Intro: Jesus is judging two types of people: sheep & goats, not some who some behaved in one way & some another. Eph 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
1)The Son of Man is coming to judge; several things.
· He is coming in glory. He is coming in His transfigured body (Matt 17:2). He is not coming in the humiliation which He suffered as a man, but He is coming as the King of the universe.
· He is coming with His angels. With innumerable glorious angels accompanying Him, demonstrating the glory and honor of His person as God. The holy angels will be ministers of His justice.
· He will be the One before whom every knee shall bow (Phil. 2:9-11). He will be Judge of the whole universe, the Judge exalted above all (Rev. 20:11). He sits upon “the throne of His glory.”
· He is coming to gather all nations; all men will be gathered by the angels & brought before Him. The word nations stresses that every last person will be gathered before Him in judgment.
· Christ now sits on the throne at the right hand of God. We can now come to the throne of grace for help (Heb 4:16). But when Christ returns, it will be too late to receive help. The throne of grace for the faithful is the throne of judgment for the unbeliever.
· Christ is not disregarding or minimizing the part of faith in salvation. We shall be judged for both our confession of faith & our works (Matt 10:32; Luke 12:8; Rom 10:9-10; 2 Cor. 5:10).
· Christ identified Himself with men in their suffering so He counts men as one with Himself. Christ said that if we serve men, we are ministering to Him (Isaiah 53:4). He said Saul persecuted Him when Saul was imprisoning & killing Christians (Acts 9:4).
2)The Judgment.
· When Christ comes, not only will there be a gathering, but there will be a separation - a separation of the good from the bad, of the sheep from the goats (Matt 13:49; Eze 34:17). The sheep at His right hand, the position of honor, glory, acceptance, and favor. The invitation is “come, ye blessed of my Father.”
· The goats will be separated from God. Christ says, “Depart from me;” words that mean a world of misery, of outer darkness, of weeping & gnashing of teeth, of everlasting punishment, without God and hope (Matt 25:30, 46). The goats rejected Christ and refused to be identified with Him while on earth.
· The question is which will you hear, “Come,” or “Depart?” Will Jesus say to you "Welcome to the joy of your Lord." or "I never knew you."?