As I mentioned in a blog post back in October, in a moment of enthusiasm while addressing I Corinthians 14:19 in a sermon, and in an effort to emphasize the vast superiority of just five intelligible words over ten thousand words spoken in an unknown language, I quite spontaneously promised the congregation that I would prepare and deliver a five-word sermon on an upcoming Sunday.  I really should just stick with my outline!  Winging it is dangerous!

I fulfilled my promise on November 29 and shared a lesson in which I only spoke the words God, Sin, Jesus, Risen, and Come.  The remainder of the message was provided by a PowerPoint presentation that included numerous passages of Scripture and a few songs related to these five words.  I had some apprehension about how effective this approach would be in communicating the message, but I really shouldn’t have been surprised that it proved to be as meaningful and engaging as it was.  After all, the lesson was basically an opportunity to focus our eyes, minds, and hearts on the living, active, and powerful Word of God.  There was a wonderful calm and quietness in the assembly as worshippers read the Scriptures and let them sink into their hearts.   The silence was periodically punctuated with the sounds of praise as songs were sung and as the congregation stood together to read the last two Scriptures aloud before the final song.  People commented afterwards that they not only felt strongly connected to God, but also felt an intense closeness with their brothers and sisters in the assembly.

The whole experience was a humbling reminder to me that the Holy Spirit really doesn’t need my commentary on what He has powerfully revealed in Scripture.  The Spirit of Truth is the One who convicts the heart, not me (John 16:7-11).

I converted the PowerPoint presentation to a video format and replaced the song software slides with just the lyrics of the songs.  Obviously, the songs took longer to sing than the time in which the words appear in the video, but hopefully you will still be able to get the general feel of the experience.  Due to YouTube limits on length, I had to break it up into two parts.  It will take you about 11 minutes to watch both.  Find a few quiet moments and allow your focus to fall on the Word. 

God, Sin, Jesus, Risen, Come!

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us,” (Romans 5:8).