Motivation for today…

here’s a pretty interesting quote i just read,  by mark batterson, a pastor in washington d.c. :

If you say what God wants you to say, then all the criticism in the world doesn’t matter. If you don’t say what God wants you to say, then all the compliments in the world don’t matter. In fact, those compliments can become your downfall. Criticism is dangerous. It can harden your heart and poison your spirit if you don’t handle it the right way. But I wonder if compliments are even more dangerous? If you preach for compliments you’ll avoid tough topics because you won’t want to step on toes. I hope you get compliments as a preacher. But I also hope you get some criticisms mixed in. If you aren’t offending pharisees now and then, you might be preaching a man-pleasing message instead of a God-pleasing message.

back to my sermon prep…