The Assignment

For Preachers: IMAGINE - Its 9/10/01 - and you are are given an amazing assignment - the privilege of preaching to all on the 11th floor of one of the Twin Towers... and somehow, God lets you know that EVERYONE you will talk to that day will be dead within 24 hours... (ohhh - and you are absolutely forbidden to tell them that)..

Some Questions: WHAT would you preach? HOW would you preach it? Would you have to adjust your sermon from the regular feel good "five steps to a happy life" or "try Jesus" or "try Christianity, you will really like it" idea? If you have to adjust your sermon from your normal one - what does that tell you about what you normally preach? Does your normal sermon seem just trivial now? Or does what you normally preach carry with it the weight and urgency and power of the Gospel? Quite a thought, isn't it?

Preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ (that based on Scripture alone, the most wretched sinner is justified - declared right before God - by God's grace alone, received through faith in Christ alone, all to the glory of God alone) with GREAT boldness, with SINCERE love, with REAL urgency, and with AUTHORITY as A HERALD OF THE KING, as if HEAVEN AND HELL were real places that people go to for eternity - and that hell is a certainty for all who ignore or reject this Gospel you are preaching that day - but that God's love for the world is seen by the giving of His one and only Son so that everyone who places their faith and trust in Christ would in no way perish, but have everlasting life for certain!

And.. one final question:

As you would consider what and how you would preach that day and find your answers in God's word, should it not be that you preach the exact same way every time you preach, for is it not true that there is no guarantee than anyone hearing you will live another 24 hours?

Selah!