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Page 4A - Pike County Journal Reporter - Wednesday, August 4, 2021
Opinions
Ruffin’s Renderings: Sermons
BY MIKE RUFFIN
ruffinml@gmail.com
Do you ever wonder
where preachers get their
sermons?
Your first thought might
be “from God.” We prob
ably hope that’s the case.
Preachers probably hope
so too. 1 remember hearing
a story about two church
members discussing their
pastor’s sermon. One said,
“It sounded as if he had
been talking about it with
God all week.” The other
responded, “Maybe he had
been.” It’s a good thing if a
preacher’s sermons come
out of her or his walk
with God. People expect a
sermon to be a word from
God. Preachers want it to
be.
You may also have
thought “from the Bible.”
Different Christians have
different ways of describ
ing the way in which the
Bible reveals what God
wants us to know, but
almost all Christians take
the Bible seriously. Most
church folks probably
expect their preachers to
take it even more seriously
than they do.
But we expect our
preachers’ sermons to do
more than repeat what the
Bible says. We expect them
to offer some interpreta
tion of the Bible that will
help us understand how
God expects us to live here
and now. We expect to
hear what the Bible means
as well as what it meant.
Where do our preachers
learn what they need to
learn about the Bible in or
der to share with us what
we need to know?
Well, we might expect
them to learn it from the
Spirit of God. I suppose
there may still be some
preachers who get in the
pulpit not knowing what
they are going to say and
expecting the Spirit to
inform them on the spot.
1 never forgot what my
mentor, the late great Dr.
Howard Giddens, taught
me: “The Spirit leads you
in the study too.” 1 believe
that we preachers owe it
to God and to our listen
ers to prepare
as fully as we
can to share the
Gospel truth as
accurately as
we can. That
requires careful
and prayerful
study.
But before
preachers study,
they have to
decide what
they’re going to
preach on.
Let’s pause here for a
joke. Someone asked the
preacher what he was
going to preach on. “On
the pulpit,” the preacher
answered.
Now back to our regu
larly scheduled column.
What 1 mean is that a
preacher has to choose
which Bible passage he or
she is going to base their
sermon on. There are sev
eral ways preachers might
decide, including preach
ing on a particular subject,
preaching through a book
of the Bible, or (and 1 don’t
recommend this) deciding
what they want to say and
then hunting
for a Scripture
passage to fit
their pre-deter-
mined position.
Other preachers
(including me)
find guidance in
something called
a lectionary.
Back when 1
was serving as
a Baptist pastor,
the church’s
newsletter, which mem
bers would receive during
the week, included the
title and Scripture passage
for the coming Sunday’s
sermon. Every once in a
while, one of our members
would tell me, “We visited
our daughter’s family’s
church in Atlanta last Sun
day” - at that point they’d
lower their voice and
confide in a conspiratorial
tone, “They’re Methodist,
you know” - “and their pas
tor preached on the same
Scripture passage you
preached on!”
1 would smile and say,
“Well, the Lord works in
mysterious ways!” And the
Lord certainly does.
In this case, the Lord
was working through a
lectionary, which is a col
lection of recommended
Scripture readings. Many
pastors who minister in
mainline and liturgical
traditions follow one called
the Revised Common
Lectionary. 1 started fol
lowing it back when I was
a Baptist pastor because
its readings follow the
Christian calendar, which
1 had come to believe
(and still believe) is a
very important aspect of
Christian worship and
practice. Another thing 1
like about following the
lectionary is that it forces
me to deal with Scripture
passages that, left to my
own devices, I’d probably
choose to ignore. 1 also
like that the lectionary
readings cycle through all
four Gospels (each year of
a three-year cycle focuses
on Matthew, Mark or Luke,
with readings from John
included at times during
each year).
Anyway, more often
than not, the lectionary
helps me select the Scrip
ture passage or passages
that will provide the basis
for my sermon on a given
Sunday. But once the selec
tion is made, 1 am still
responsible to study, pray,
and write in the quest to
present best approxima
tion I possibly can of
the word God wants the
people to hear.
Preaching is hard, chal
lenging, and important
work. All of us preachers
are imperfect recipients
and deliverers of God’s
word. At our best, we will
prayerfully prepare with all
our might in the hope that
the good news of Jesus
Christ will be proclaimed.
To return to where 1
started, hopefully our ser
mons will come out of our
own ever-growing relation
ship with God.
And never from the
internet.
Mike Ruffin is a Barnesville native
who lives in Macon. His new book,
Praying with Matthew, is available at
helwys.com and at Amazon.
Ruffin’s
Renderings
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Pike County Farm Bureau Office Manager Rebecca Rolling
(left) recently presented a copy of the children’s book
Tales of the Dairy Godmother: Chuck’s Ice Cream Wish to
Rosemary Dunn for the J. Joel Edwards Pike County Public
Library. The donation was made on behalf of the Georgia
Foundation for Agriculture and Georgia EMC.
Tales of the Dairy Godmother
donated to local library
NAVIGATING LIFE’S CURVES
Would you follow Jesus on social media?
BY BARBARA LATTA
kbkj@bellsouth.net
For the sixth year in
a row, the Georgia Foun
dation for Agriculture
and the Georgia Electric
Membership Corpo
ration (EMC) jointly
promoted agricultural
literacy by donating
copies of the children’s
book “Tales of the Dairy
Godmother: Chuck’s Ice
Cream Wish” to more
than 400 libraries in the
Georgia Public Library
Service (GPLS).
The Georgia Foun
dation for Agriculture
(GFA) and Georgia EMC
have given each county
Farm Bureau in Georgia
enough books for every
public library. The Pike
County Farm Bureau
recently delivered a
copy of the book to the
J. Joel Edwards Public
Library.
“Tales of the Dairy
Godmother: Chuck’s
Ice Cream Wish” was
written by Viola Butler
and illustrated by Ward
Jenkins. With the help
of his Dairy Godmother,
Chuck is taken - poof!
- on a memorable and
delicious adventure to
a dairy farm. He finds
out exactly where ice
cream comes from and
gains an even deeper
love and appreciation
for his favorite food.
The American Farm
Bureau Foundation for
Agriculture selected
the book as its 2021
Book of the Year for its
accurate and positive
portrayal of agriculture.
Social
media as
we know
it today,
obviously,
was not
available
in bibli
cal days. Even without
technology, word spread
quickly about the Mes
siah, and He amassed
thousands of followers.
No one traveled by car,
train or plane; their two
legs were the modes of
travel.
In today’s terms, we
could say his profile gen
erated a lot of likes.
After he fed over five
thousand people with
five loaves of bread and
two fish, he went to the
other side of the Sea of
Galilee. The community
flocked to find Him.
They followed Jesus
because they got some
thing they wanted. And
he did want to give them
healing and food as he
still does today.
He did these miracles
because he had compas
sion on them all.
But the reason he
gave was because he
wanted the world to see
the heart of God. He ful
filled their natural needs
because he loved them.
But satisfaction of bodily
wants would not last.
Tomorrow they would be
hungry again.
“Do not labor for the
food which perishes, but
for the food which en
dures to everlasting life,
which the Son of Man
will give you, because
God the Father has set
His seal on Him.” (John
6:27 NKJV)
He showed them he
was the bread that came
down from heaven so
they could have everlast
ing life. Their reply indi
cated they still thought
this was a literal loaf of
bread when they said,
“Lord, give us this bread
always.” (John 6:34)
Jesus continued his
explanation by telling
them they had to eat of
his flesh and drink his
blood to have eternal
life. They still didn’t get
it and thought he was
speaking of cannibalism.
Their hearts needed
to change and when he
showed them how to do
that, many left him.
“From that time many
of His disciples went
back and walked with
Him no more.” (John
6:66)
In the social media
world, they would have
unfriended him, deleted
his posts, and probably
would have shared some
of their own sprinkled
with some hate speech.
Members of his own
family deserted him.
“For even His brothers
did not believe in Him.”
(John 7:5)
It was popular to
follow Jesus when he
walked the earth if it
didn’t cost the popula
tion anything. But once
he asked for a commit
ment, not so much.
“If anyone desires to
come after me, let him
deny himself, and take
up his cross and follow
me.” (Matthew 16:24)
When he experienced
the worst struggle of
his life, and asked his
friends to pray for him,
they unfriended him too.
“Then they all forsook
Him and fled.” (Mark
14:50)
If Jesus were physi
cally on the earth today,
he could use social
media and technology to
get his message across
the globe. He could hold
meetings, gather sup
porters, and broadcast
sermons across the
airwaves. His profile
page would be filled with
hundreds of thousands
of followers, likes, and
shares. If invitations to
banquets were provided,
the subscription would
grow.
But when it came to
turning to him and away
from the world, sud
denly it would become
unpopular to be his
friend. After slander
attacked his motives,
Facebook shut down his
page and Twitter banned
him from their platform
because his words were
offensive, the crowds
would dwindle.
And his words are
offensive to the con
science of those who
know they are doing
wrong but don’t want
to turn from it. That’s
why the former devo
tees would want to shut
him down and get any
association with the Son
of God away from their
name. They wouldn’t
want the stigma of the
cross attached to them
either.
“But the natural man
does not receive the
things of the Spirit of
God, for they are fool
ishness to him; nor can
he know them, because
they are spiritually dis
cerned.” (1 Corinthians
2:14)
What about now?
The words he spoke will
always be relevant.
Christianity is under
attack all over the world
like never before. It
costs something to fol
low Christ. But anything
that carries a high price
reflects an immense
value.
“So we’re not giving
up. How could we! Even
though on the outside
it often looks like things
are falling apart on us,
on the inside, where God
is making new life, not a
day goes by without his
unfolding grace. These
hard times are small po
tatoes compared to the
coming good times, the
lavish celebration pre
pared for us. There’s far
more here than meets
the eye. The things we
see now are here today,
gone tomorrow. But the
things we can’t see now
will last forever. (2 Corin
thians 4:16-18 MSG)
The reward of follow
ing the Son of God out
weighs the momentary
sacrifice. The decision
for us is which button
to click, thumbs up or
unfollow.
Barbara Latta is a freelance writer
who posts online articles at barbara-
latta.blogspot.com and contributes
to the devotion website Christian
Devotions.
Pike County
Journal
Reporter
www.pikecountygeorgia.com
P.0. Box 789
16026 Barnesville St.
Zebulon, Ga. 30295
770.567.3446
The Pike County Journal
Reporter is the official
organ of Pike County, the
cities of Zebulon, Molena,
Meansville, Williamson
and Concord. It is
published weekly by
Hometown Newspapers
Inc. Second class
postage is paid at the
Zebulon, Ga Post Office.
Publishers: Walter and
Laura Geiger; staff:
Jennifer Taylor,
Brenda Sanchez and
Rachel McDaniel.
AT PIKE
BY DWAIN W. PENN
100 YEARS AGO
August 5, 1921: A pall of sadness settled over
a niche of Pike County residents in particular
members of the Zebulon Music Study Club. It
was featured on the front page that tenor Enrico
Caruso died August 2 in Naples, Italy.
75 YEARS AGO
August 8,1946: After years of austere supplies
due to global food emergencies, Pike lunchrooms
started the school term with three surplus items.
They were seven cases of tomato flakes, four cases
of crushed pineapple and 10 cases of canned beans.
50 YEARS AGO
August 5, 1971: Southern Bell asked the Geor
gia Public Service Commission for an additional
$24.4 million in annual revenue. In five years the
per capita income in Georgia rose 48%, but the
cost of phone service only about 13%.
25 YEARS AGO
August 7, 1996: Lt. James Westbrook of Means
ville was one of 30,000 security personnel working
the Olympic Games in Atlanta. Only four blocks
away, Westbrook arrived quickly at the Centennial
Park bomb scene early Saturday morning, July 27.