I am preaching through the book of Ephesians. This past week, however, I chose to pause my study until the new year and preach something that directly pointed to Christmas.
Seeing it was the staff’s last week in the office before the holidays, I decided to pull of file and preach an old sermon.
I landed on a Christmas message that I preached five years ago. It was a seven-page manuscript. At this point, I labor to keep my manuscripts between five to six full pages. So all I had to edit the sermon down one page, set it to memory, and pray myself hot for preaching.
Or so I thought.
The more I read the manuscript during the week, the more uncomfortable I was with it. I reread several commentaries. I thought through new insights. I sought clearer ways to make my points. With Sunday fast approaching, I had spent as much time with this sermon as one I produce from scratch.
I tried to ditch the sermon altogether but could not. So I wrestled with a manuscript I preached five years ago. The exegesis did not change. I used the same outline. My theology was the same. But something was different.
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H.B. CHARLES, JR. is the Pastor-Teacher at the Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Florida, where he has served since the fall of 2008. He is primarily responsible for preaching-teaching, vision casting, and leadership development. Prior to coming to Shiloh, he led the Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church of Los Angeles for almost eighteen years. Succeeding his late father, he began his pastorate at Mt. Sinai at the age of seventeen. H.B. Charles regularly speaks at churches, conferences, and conventions around the country. He has contributed to several books and journals, and is the author of It Happens After Prayer. H.B. and his wife Crystal have three children: H.B. III, Natalie, and Hailey. Keep in touch with HB Charles at HBCharlesJr.com.
