What do you do when the bread you are preparing to break on Sunday tastes stale on Monday?

Approaching this year's Christmas sermon season I had "one of those Mondays." Three weeks earlier I had experienced a lightning bolt idea for an outline. It was so hot (at the moment it struck) that I just knew it would be one of those electrified, memorable messages that would zap the congregation in the middle of their felt needs, illuminating light bulbs above heads all over the auditorium. It was clever, tasteful, easy to remember, could be seasoned with contemporary applications …

… and now it was souring in my stomach.

I thought, If this message isn't doing anything for me, I know it's not going to do anything for the congregation. This may be informational, but it's far from transformational.

I had recalled reading some wise insights from fellow Proclamation Experts about times like these. Guys like Gordon McDonald, Bill Hybels, Chuck Swindoll, had each ...