Back in June a COG lay preacher was real excited…

Back in June a COG lay preacher was real excited for he had been invited to preach while the pastor was away at G A plus he planned to take a few extra days of vacation. My friend kept telling me about the sermon that he was working on. It was obvious that he was going to work in (3) sermons in one. This is often the mistake that an occasional preacher makes; there is this impulse to give them (3) bales of hay instead of just a normal feeding.
Later I asked him how things went, he was still excited; from his point of view he had succeeded. I listened carefully and probed a little more deeply and learned that he had kept them to twenty minutes after twelve and had got them straightened out on “ the signs of the times “ and two other subjects. The guest preacher often forgets that the congregation also needs a break, a short message and one that does not agitate or complicate the on going messages of the pastor.