SERMON PREPARATION

Before a Pastor or Minister prepares a sermon, he or she should go to a quiet, private place where no one will be able to disturb him or her. Ask God, what would you have me say through the “Golden Message” of the day? Give a sermon of what God wants to say, not what you want to say.
Let’s say around 100 people attend a church and the Pastor or Minister preaches what the people want to hear. I believe that church will increase its members. If the Pastor or Minister gives a sermon of what God wants to say, I truly believe approx. 2/3 of the people may not attend the next church service. Why? When God speaks, it may be too harsh for the people, like a child gets a scolding from the parents. For me, that is all right because we all need guidance and correction from God so he can lead us into a right, godly direction.
Every Pastor or Minister will be accountable for his or her members. We cannot say to God, I don’t know. For example, let’s say a shepherd works for someone and watches 100 sheep and something happens to them. Let’s say that 2/3 of the flock are gone or got hurt. How can that shepherd explain this to the owner of the sheep? Don’t you think it would be pretty difficult for the shepherd to explain about the 2/3 of the flock to the owner? It is the same as God asking the Pastor or Minister what happened to your flock? Well Lord, I, I, I don’t know. As you can see, it is very difficult to explain to God. I would rather be accountable for the 1/3 of the members. It is less to explain and much better to teach the word of God to the group. Amen!!! Don’t you all agree with me?
As a Pastor or Minister, we can say we have elders, deacons and so on, but at the end; we still will be responsible in the eyes of God. We are not running for any popularity contest. Our responsibility to the members is to feed them the word of God. Anyone who gives the sermon will be accountable to God. Rev. 22:18-19(NKJV) "18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." God tells us in the Bible, we cannot add or delete anything written in the Bible. If we do, I don’t want to know what is going to happen to that person. For me, it would be most fearful, because I would be judged according to what I have preached to the members.
I am very careful about what I say to the church members about God. I know I will be accountable for what I said. Mark 4:22(NLT) "22 For everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open, and every secret will be brought to light." Always remember, none of us are perfect in this world, except our Lord Jesus Christ. We must always ask God for forgiveness. Forgiveness is the answer to most of our problems. Amen!!!

I pray that these messages are very informative to you.
 
Form Rev. Jimmy Nishimoto and Chris Eliason