Four Imperatives for 2025

““Oh, for a new man to arise in me, that the man I am may cease to be.”

―Alfred Lord Tennyson

“I have but a few words to add upon the spirit in which the preacher does his best work. After what I have been saying, my points will need no elaboration. Forgive me if I venture to put them in the simplest and strongest imperatives I can command.

First, count and rejoice to count yourself the servant of the people to whom you minister. Not in any worn-out figure but in very truth, call yourself and be their servant.

• Jesus said, I came to serve, not be served. We work for the people.
• What is your plan this year for your people’s lives to get better?

Second, never allow yourself to feel equal to your work. If you ever find that spirit growing on you, be afraid, and instantly attack your hardest piece of work, try to convert your toughest infidel, try to preach on your most exacting theme, to show yourself how unequal to it all you are.

• The danger of being Comfortable – at ease in Zion.
• There is nothing more addictive than: Heroin, carbohydrates, and a steady pay check.

Third, be profoundly honest. Never dare to say in the pulpit or in private, through ardent excitement or conformity to what you know you are expected to say, one word which at the moment when you say it, you do not believe. It would cut down the range of what you say, perhaps, but it would endow every word that was left with the force of ten.

• The legacy news is trusted less today than at any other time. They are trusted less than politicians!
• Why don’t they change? They are cater to their largest subscribers and advertisers and not the truth.
• Ministers must not be for sale!

And last of all, be vital, be alive, not dead. Do everything that can keep your vitality at its fullest. Even the physical vitality do not dare to disregard. One of the most striking preachers of our country seems to me to have a large part of his power simply in his physique, in the impression of vitality, in the magnetism almost like a material thing, that passes between him and the people who sit before him.

• Ultimately you are the message.
• Be the best you you can be. Be inspiring by how you conduct your life.

Pray for and work for fullness of life above everything; full red blood in the body; full honesty and truth in the mind; and the fullness of a grateful love for the Savior in your heart. Then, however men set their mark of failure or success upon your ministry, you cannot fail, you must succeed.”

— The Joy of Preaching by Phillips Brooks

The ONE THING for today: Being alive is a privilege. Let us commit to give our best to this time that God has given us by…

Serving others by doing what is in their best interest

Resisting stagnation by striving to grow and excel

Speaking the truth consistently in love

Modeling true success by how we live

Photo by Carson Arias on Unsplash