Ernest Lee has been interacting recently with some young preachers. One of them asked him to critique his sermons. Well, those that know me know I don’t pull punches. I told him it took too long for him to get to the ‘meat of the message.’ He thanked me and said his wife had told him the same thing- that his introductions were too long. He should probably listen more to his wife. The young parson thanked Ernest Lee, said he would work on shortening his messages and getting to the main points quicker. Ernest Lee listened to his next sermon and he didn’t change a thing- rambled on and on for 15 minutes about nothing.
You can’t really blame a person for not being aware of a ‘blind spot,’ because that’s why they are called a ‘BLIND’ spot, but when they are aware of it and don’t deal with it, there are two primary reasons:
First, they believe the person who pointed out their BLIND spot is wrong. That could be- Maybe Ernest Lee is one of the few people who don’t want to know some trivia about a subject other than the Bible. Perhaps people do come to church to be entertained and motivated by an engaging speaker. This young pastor must believe scripture is so boring to the average person in the pew that it has to be sandwiched between clever stories, apologues, and modern day fables. But the WORD OF GOD is what God blesses- not some clever anecdote.
Second, they are intellectually lazy. Getting on-line and printing off a Paul Harvey Rest of the Story script is easier than actually getting into the Word. Rightly dividing the Word takes time and requires a strong work ethic. Biblical hermeneutics is the study of the principles and methods of interpreting the Bible, aiming to understand its meaning and application. Ernest Lee’s seminary professor- back in the 19th century- said: “If we believe God wrote the Bible and that he spoke through it and that he speaks through it, then the importance of having a right hermeneutic is so that we hear the voice of God. The danger of having a poor hermeneutic is that we miss the voice of God.” No matter how polished, smooth, and eloquent the presentation, if the interpretation and the exposition is off, God will likely not bless it.
Ernest Lee isn’t offended the young man choose to not heed his counsel. Ernest Lee was wrong one time before. He prays the youngster is used of God in spite of his flaws- we all are.
Ernest Lee was sad to hear that his running buddy John MacArthur is having health issues. He addressed his annual Shepard’s Conference by video saying he was on his last lap. Mac is 85 and has had some health struggles the past year. Hate to hear that but we are all going down that same road- one by one. God bless you Mac- you have made an impact in this world and influenced a lot of folk. You can watch the video by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar1N6kd5omg
Ernest Lee Contendin 