03 September 2009 Devotion for Today "Sermon Fail" Philippians 1:12-14

03 September 2009 Devotion for Today "Sermon Fail" Philippians 1:12-14

"12 But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, 13 so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; 14 and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear." (Philippians 1:12-14)

Murphy (whoever he was) once said: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong at the worst possible moment." There are some who would say that Murphy was an optimist. Even us preachers experience the worst possible things at the most inopportune moment. Last Sunday was such an example. Fraught with a few jitters about the upcoming annual business conference, I thought I had taken every precaution so that everything would go well. I even prepared myself with extended sessions of prayer. Before the weekend, I sent my bulletin notes off to our church secretary including the sermon title and the Scripture. She sent it back to me for approval, which I also included the information for the weekly powerpoint display at church. Everything looked fine, or so I thought, and didn't think about it again until Sunday morning. We have a lay person each week who reads the Scripture aloud during the morning service. I was very busy that day and did not have the opportunity ahead of time to make sure that he knew what to do, but he read the bulletin and marked his place in the Scripture as he prepared to read. So far in the worship service, everything was going well. The Scripture reader got up to read from Jeremiah 7:7-8. But when I listened to him read about "lying words which cannot benefit, etc." I thought to myself, "What?- that's not the Scripture I meant to be read!" Yet I looked and sure enough, it was printed correctly in the bulletin.

I noticed the congregation shuffle and make faces, wondering what kind of blistering sermon they were about to expect as I stumbled through the prayer before the beginning of my message. Then it occurred to me what had happened. There was a typographical error. I should have typed Jeremiah 17:7-8, but I left out the 1. (I'm having another problem in that I lost my glasses last week and cannot see well to read or type). This caused me to nearly loose my composure, but I stumbled through the message as best I could. I felt flushed with embarrassment- wishing I could just melt through the stage and go off somewhere. I thoroughly expected someone to put a big sign over me that reads "Sermon Fail!"

Following the delivery of what I thought was the worst, botched up message I had ever preached, there were several who came up to me and told me what a wonderful message they had heard. One said, "What a blessing that was to my life today, Pastor!" I got a couple of emails later in the week saying the same thing. And I'm thinking- "this has got to be some kind of a joke!" Yet, there have been times when I delivered what I thought had been the perfectly crafted sermon, and got no comments, or perhaps received criticism for it.

This is certainly proof in what the Apostle Paul says in our text today. "The things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel." The Apostle was not preaching a sermon, but he had something happen to him that was beyond his control. He had been thrown into prison in Rome for preaching the Gospel. This was not something he had planned to happen, yet God used it as an opportunity to spread the Gospel message and to allow the leaders in the churches that Paul addressed to take responsibility for their growth and continue on preaching the message.

Satan may orchestrate the calamity that is facing you today, or you may be suffering from an unfortunate incident that did not go as well as you had planned. Still, God can use this incident to glorify Him. Its always best to prepare and do the best that you can, but when the unavoidable happens beyond our control, God can and often uses it to accomplish His will. Things that happen actually turn out well- as in Paul's case, for the furtherance of the Gospel.

Don't be distressed if things do not go well today. Give it your best effort, but remember, God is in control of your life and your plans. Trust Him to alter them in a way that He would be glorified.

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, things did not go as well as I had planned. In fact I thought they were complete failures. Yet Lord I thank you that you can take my failures and redeem them to fit the plans that You have made. Help me not to beat myself up about them, but to see myself as Your child who is under Your control to bring about glory to Yourself. In Jesus Name, Amen.