Sermon review

If there's anything you hear again and again about Third Avenue Baptist Church, it's that we want to be as Word-centered as we can possibly be. You can see this desire worked out in numerous ways, but this morning I was reminded of one in particular.

Several months ago, Adam and I attended a Sunday School series called "Living as a church." One class was on preaching as the foundation for church unity. There were so many insightful things said in that class (you can read it for yourself here). One thing I took away was the importance of making time to deliberately review the sermon, both individually and with others. I've benefitted so much from intentionally talking with Adam and other members about the sermon, whether over lunch after church or other times throughout the week. This is such a practical way to seek unity in the church through the shared experience of hearing the Word.

I also remember someone in the class commenting that he and his wife devote their Monday devotional time to reviewing, meditating on, and praying through the previous day's sermon. What an awesome discipline to insure that we are not just hearers of the Word but doers as well.

So, that's what I did this morning and was even more impacted by the preaching of the Word than I was when I was actually sitting there! May that motivate you to have your own personal sermon review this week.

(One of our elders just completed a two-week series on the book of Habakkuk. I highly recommend it. Once it gets posted, you can listen to it here.)

"Though the fig tree should not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield no food,

the flock be cut off from the fold

and there be no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD;

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

GOD, the Lord, is my strength;

he makes my feet like the deer's;

he makes me tread on my high places."

Habakkuk 3:17-19