Sabbath Preaching

Steve spent 12 hours of preparation for this morning's 15 minute sermon. He did a fantastic job preaching on the authority of scripture in 2 Peter 1:12-21. He also referenced chapters 3, 5, 1st Peter, & Romans. He even spoke loudly enough that all the near deaf people could hear him.

We had some family members balk at the fact that he'd been couped up in the guest house spending so much time in preparation. Apparently most of the teachers at the church here don't spend even close to that amount of time. Pastor Larry Kirk of Christ Community Church in Daytona Beach, who also teaches Communication/Preaching at RTS, spends 20 hours per week in preparation for each sermon. Of course, his sermons are slightly longer than the 15 minutes Steve was alloted today. However, it's just a comparison for the preparation and teaching that we're used to, compared to the milk for babes that's often presented at many American churches today. Anyway, I think Steve is a great teacher. I've always thought so, but I don't often get to hear him teach anymore. I hope that the word of the Lord was able to pierce the hearts of His people. Instead of dramatic speech and flashy lingo in "Christianese", they were able to hear the Truth from the Word this morning.

Today for lunch, we're having haystacks. That's what they call taco salads in this part of the country. Steve & I are bringing our own salsa and spinach leaves (I'm not a huge fan of fritos or any other type of chips, for that matter). We'll probably break out the playing cards, if not tonight, then definitely tomorrow night--a new year's eve tradition in the family.