Preach Until You Are Free

Candidly, over the last couple of weeks I've had some thoughts about whether we're in the right church. But whenever I hear the preaching, from a man who describes himself as a capital C coward, I can't leave. I've never before seen an older reformed pastor like him that is able to communicate a sermon with such verve, lashing out in fierce anger while preaching on the judgment seat of Christ, and then breaking down in tears over sin.

His delivery style must also be his own creation. He opens the sermon reading from a page of prepared notes, until it seems that something he said takes him captive. His glasses are slowly removed and laid aside, and then he preaches until he is free. That is to say, he must preach it in order to express what is on his mind and heart and until he does, he will not feel free. After a rollercoaster ride, in which the glasses go on and off as he returns to the calm propositions of an intellectual until the next unexpected wave of emotion hits, he closes the sermon by reading his conclusion and, sometimes, apologizing for going over the time he expected to take.

This pastor is more prophet than professional. And yet he calls himself a coward. But in the pulpit he is a lion.

His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed I cannot. Jer 20:9