Dear Elim Grace,

Preachers often judge their sermons’ “success” by how people feel or what they remember. In both cases, it’s likely very little!

My personal and pastoral conviction, though, is that we’re changed not by what we feel or remember, but by what we’re sealed with. This is Christ-exalting, God-led, Spirit-empowered preaching.

At some point in a sermon and in the course of preaching God’s Word, the Holy Spirit takes something said and impresses it upon our hearts like a seal. It’s this seal or impression made upon our hearts by God’s Word that stays with us forever. We may not recall the exact words spoken or the feelings felt in that moment. But the Spirit’s seal stays with us, and it’s this seal that transforms us.

Anyone moved by a sermon can be motivated; anyone sealed by God’s Word will be changed. Yes, I preach to motivate, to stir, to move, to call to act. Yes, I write sermons and pray for clarity of thought, simplicity of speech, purity of heart, and humility of spirit. But even if all this is somehow achieved, it’s still the seal of the Spirit alone that changes us.

When we preach and listen to God’s Word, let’s ask and pray. First, we want our hearts to be warmed and softened like wax. Second, may the Spirit take a word, phrase, picture, illustration, verse, or paragraph and impress it on our hearts.

But what, actually, is being impressed upon us? The image of Christ. The character of Christ in a growing knowledge of God, love for God, delight in God, obedience to God, and worship of God.

Pastor Jonathan