Deadlines!

Deadlines, we all have them, with our job, family or whatever, we all have them. As a pastor of a church I have deadlines every week, and the biggest one is Sunday morning sermons. Some people think that all a preacher has to do is get up in front and start talking and a sermon comes out. But did you know that on the average a 30 minute sermon takes 20 hours of prep? And did you realize that we must seek out the Lord's will about what to preach before all of that prep work can begin. Now I can only speak for myself but I want to make sure that everything I preach lines up with the Word of God, saying it just because it sounds good doesn't work. I had a man tell me that a preacher could preach on whatever he wanted to. I guess that some do, maybe they have an ax to grind and decide that it is OK to do it from the pulpit, But what we must always remember is that God will hold ministers, preacher, pastors accountable for what is preached from their pulpit. That is one reason why I am so picky about who stands behind the one that I am responsible for. I believe that God holds us to a higher standard because we are ministers of the Gospel. Proverbs 30:5-6 says, "Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. 6 Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar." (NKJV)
We must all be very careful of the words we speak, not just in front of the church, but in front of everyone, especially in front of those who don't know Jesus. We must keep control of our tongue. James 1:26 says, "If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless." (NIV)
So remember, no matter how important the deadline, it isn't worth a tongue that doesn't represent God well. Let others see Jesus in you.
We all have deadlines, if we are a student, we have homework that is due or a test that is coming up. If we are parents we sometimes seem to have deadlines every day. In our job we have deadlines, some more important than others, but the fact is that we all have deadlines, it's not the deadlines that tell who we are, but it is how we handle those deadlines. After all what is a deadline? It is a line that is at the end of a given amount of time, it is when the clock stops, it is showtime. So remember when your next deadline comes up it is your time to shine. Shine Bright!