Ask Pastor Mike Live

Pastor Mike: Estelle asks the question. If you want to talk to me, we have some time left: 877-913-5357. Estella, you say, "Is there a point when a pastor can be talking about the world too much in his sermons?" That is a great question. I wish you were on the phone because I would want to know some examples of what you are talking about.

Yes, there are churches just down the road from us that are having pastors dress up as characters in animated films. I think it is easy to go way too far in trying to appeal to the world or talk about the world. But then again, if you are going to say, "Here is a pastor in the pulpit talking about business ethics as it relates to fleshing out a principle of Scripture," then I am all for it. Estella, I want people to not block out the world's thoughts when they go to church.

Everything that is taught from the pulpit should transform your priorities, your thinking, your habits, and your values. You should be leaving church trying to live the Christian life and be more conformed to the image of God in your life. That is why I do not like that prayer that someone from the platform sometimes prays in the church service, asking God to please block out everything that has happened in the week and let us just think about Him. Of course, I want to think about God. I would like to worship Christ. I would like the Spirit of God to bring me to a place of communion with the Lord in a special way in the congregation of the redeemed.

But when I am hearing the Word taught—think about Jesus and the longest recorded sermon in the Bible by Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5 through 7—how often is He talking about people walking down the street and lusting after a woman, or whether or not they are going to be swearing because they cannot be trusted in their conversations in the marketplace? You have to think about your everyday life when you are at church.

I do not think that is what you mean, which is why I wish you were on the phone, Estella, because I would love to talk to you about what your pastor is saying about the world. But the kind of appealing to people with all this worldly connection when they are trying to exegete Disney films? I think that is a waste of time. There are 168 hours in a week. For a lot of the people in our church, I get them for one or two hours, and that is all I get. When I preach the Word to them in that hour, I do not want to spend time talking about Toy Story. I would like to talk about the Bible and its principles, and then I would like to talk about how to flesh that out in our sanctification. Estella, maybe another time we could dig a little deeper into that. Give me a call.