In the Summer of 2005 I preached the sermon, ‘A Lot Like Jephthah’.  My goal was to help men and women identify themselves with the Bible and see themselves in it.

What did I cringe at: I referenced things in the Bible vaguely.  In and of itself that isn’t a big deal at all.  But, I kept saying what I was doing as I did it.  Silly, if you’re going to reference something reference it.

What I loved about this one: It was big.  I preached about 5 minutes on Ehud (seen above, stabbing fat king Eglon), Deborah, Gideon, Samson, and Jephthah.  It was a fun sermon, I brought my sword, and I think I reminded people of the Grace of Jesus.

This is an interesting example for me because I was doing a lot of thing implicitly that I still do (I had 5 recurring bridge-type statements about how the culture is different, but the need for the Gospel is the same).  Everyone had a ‘strike’, that is different now but still exists: Ehud was left handed (I interpreted this simply as ‘different in appearance’), Deborah was a woman in leadership 4000 years ago, Gideon struggled with anxiety, Samson had the idol of romantic love, and everyone knew Jephthah had a dysfunctional family.  The lord pursued through and used anyway.

So, I am thankful – to the LORD for helping me be clear, to Scott Sauls for letting me preach, and to my wife for not cringing too much while I preached.