God's Fools

D. vs. 3- I feel the same way. That is why I have a prayer blog. Need prayer. Talking with my friend Luanne in Indiana. He asked how I became a preacher. When I accepted the position, I told the leadership that I would need support and I would need prayer. I cannot do this.

C. Who is equal to such a task? I heard Rush Limbaugh one afternoon talk about how a listener had written an e-mail that was so encouraging to him. He said that many times he wanders if anyone really cares what he has to say, who cares what his opinions are? Many times I stand up here with the same thoughts.

E. Dr. Adrian Rogers summed up his many years of preaching at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, TN. “If you had Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, anybody else out there speak to the same people three times a week for 27 years, the people would be climbing the walls to get out. Why? Because they’re drawing from their own limited wells, no matter how good they are. The reason I preach the Bible is: first, I’m not smart enough to preach anything else. The Bible is a bottomless well. So I’m not smart enough to preach anything else. The other reason is I am smart enough not to preach anything else, because I know that that has the staying power. This place is packed; we have run out of room. It is not a testimony to a man but to the Bible. If I stop preaching the Bible, these folks would leave. They come for the Word of God. They want it to be warm, they want it to be understandable and applicable. But I have learned that there is power in the preaching of the Word of God.”

F. Vs. 1 and Vs. 4- Dwight Moody was a great evangelist. However, his grammar was very poor. Moody had planned to speak at Cambridge University in England. Most in this University were outraged that a backwoods American preacher would dare to appear and speak in the center of the culture of the English world. When Moody got up to speak there, he stepped to the edge of the platform and, looking directly at the students who were gathered there, he said these words, “Young gentlemen, don’t ever think God don’t love you, for he do!” Everyone was astonished. Moody went on and in a few minutes he said, “Don’t ever think God don’t love you, for he do!” Something about the very ungrammatical structure of these words captured them. The earnestness of this man spoke right to their hearts, beyond all the superficial, external things. A great awakening came to Cambridge University at the hands of D. L. Moody even though he “murdered” the King’s English.

G. Effective preaching comes through vs. 2. In Christ alone I place my trust

And find my glory in the power of the cross In every victory, let it be said of me

My source of strength My source of hope Is Christ alone

H. This is where the power comes from. God’s power in vs. 5 comes from vs. 18.

III. The foolishness of the church

A. Vs. 26, 28-29.

B. You are a preacher. What a blessing! You must have been the first in your class! No, I was just average. You were blessed with great talent! No, I was just average! C. When I came to Jesus Christ at the age of 13 I was barely getting by: C and D’s. I was socially inept. I had few friends. But the Lord took someone like me, someone below average and made something out of him.