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Resort to sermons, but to prayers most;
praying is the end of preaching. Oh be dressed; stay not for the other pin.
Why you have lost a joy for it worth worlds! Thus hell does laugh away your
blessings and severely ridicule you. Your clothes being fast, but your soul
loose about you.
Be ready for church. Be inside the church
on time. Don't be fixing yourself up. Don't be still dressing when you should
be in church or fixing yourself in church. Don’t enter church unprepared.
In the time you spend getting ready, you lose the presence of God, that joy
worth worlds. Hell laughs at such people who waste their blessings and applauds
their behavior. While you fasten your clothes tightly, your soul blows away.
When it is time for church, be dressed, outside and in.
Sermons designate areas for personal
improvement. The sermon focuses on one passage of scripture and draws
relationships to other passages, writings and current events. It communicates
God's word for us. The preacher's words explain God's love and mercy and
our sinfulness and promise. Sermons may instruct and exhort. They can improve
our attitude and resolve by reminding us of the scripture, the life of Jesus
and the commandments of God, but unless we take the sermons personally they
are only speeches. The benefit in sermons stays with us when they induce
recognition, repentance, resolution and, most importantly, prayer. That is
their intent. The message truly reaches us when it sends us to pray for
forgiveness and spiritual courage. Sermons lead us to prayer.
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![[Church at Bemerton]](Ghbem_.gif)
George Herbert: "The Church-porch"