I feel very grateful to preach God’s Word. For more than fifteen years of Sundays at Clear Creek Community Church, I have said a prayer of thanksgiving to God as I drive the eight-minute trip it takes me to get to the campus each Sunday morning. It’s not lost on me that the Lord could have placed me somewhere else doing something else. If he did, it would be a grace in itself and not “lower” than being a pastor. But with that said, he has given me the blessing of taking the pulpit with great regularity as a pastor. And even though I am continually mindful of the grace I’ve been given in the role as a preacher of God’s Word, there are times where I’m simply overwhelmed with it.
Today was one of those days.
I can’t tell you exactly why that was the case this morning but I can tell you that after each message today (I preach three Sunday morning services) I would leave the pulpit shaking my head thinking, “Yancey, you get the opportunity to tell literally thousands each Sunday about the good news of Jesus!” I know there are those sitting in the pews who are discouraged, depressed, and defeated for various and sundry reasons, the root of which is that many have either lost sight of the grace of the gospel or never embraced it in the first place. And to think I get the opportunity to spend around 35 minutes telling them how great and good and glorious Jesus is…simply overwhelms me!
So, thank you Jesus. Thank you for having a senior leader and a group of elders at a local church in Houston take a flyer on a twenty-something kid in 1998 and charge him to preach the gospel for a fledgling church plant. Thank you for letting me develop and grow in the grace of preaching. Thank you for being better than the sermons I preach…even the ones I personally think are good…and especially the ones I think are bad. Thank you, thank you, thank you for letting me do what I do. I’m overwhelmed by your goodness to me in it.
If I only had one more sermon to preach before I died,
it would be about my Lord Jesus Christ.
And I think that when we get to the end of our ministry,
one of our regrets will be that we did not preach more of Him.
I am sure no minister will ever repent of having preached Him too much.
– Charles Haddon Spurgeon
4 thoughts on “Overwhelmed…”
And thank you for allowing God to work thru you. Your passion for advancing the gospel is evident, shaping our community and culture. 1000’s have heard and responded. Thank you and we thank God for you.
Thank you Yancy for your passion. I have been truly blessed by your sharing of the Gospel. May God continue to use you to share his good news.
As a visitor many times to the church, I have always come away from knowing the Lord is in the house. Thank you for sharing our Lord’s good news as often as you are afforded. I live and go to a small church about 3 hours from Houston and know that your teaching is so similar to what my pastor teaches….the love and mercy He has for us. It’s always good to know that our Lord’s words are being taught to as many as possible. May you always be blessed with His word.
The Lord has given you such a wonderful gift. Not everyone can do what you do in the way that you do it. How you deliver the Lord’s word with such passion and hope is truly amazing to see and experience. Thank you.