Payday Someday

By James Apple

To be a good preacher requires skill, knowledge, compassion, humor, and insight. I was not a good preacher until I entered the navy in 1970. Once in the navy, I had the opportunity to listen to a variety of Christian chaplains preach. The best preachers were the Methodists and the Southern Baptists. I asked some of them to explain to me their preaching styles and how they prepared a sermon. When you read my sermons, you will discover the influences that the Southern Baptists and the Methodists had on me. Payday Someday should show you the Southern Baptist influence. Are You a Hero? should show you the Methodist influence. Enjoy and learn!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 16, 2019
• ISBN: 9781796011487

Book preview

Copyright © 2019 by James L. Apple

Library of Congress Control Number:   2019900714

ISBN:                Hardcover              978-1-7960-1150-0

                          Softcover                978-1-7960-1149-4

                          eBook                     978-1-7960-1148-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 02/16/2019

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Preface

In early December of 2018, one of the students in my Introduction to the Old Testament class at Cape Fear Community College approached me with this problem. He told me that he had agreed to preach a sermon at his church while the minister was away in early January. He continued the conversation by asking me to give him several of my sermons. He explained that if he liked one of them, he would preach it from the pulpit.

Normally, what I have done is after I preach a sermon, I just put a printed copy of the sermon in my sermon file. I rarely look at a sermon that I have preached. So… I opened up my sermon file and began to reread my old sermons. I gave my student these three sermons: Payday Someday, The Untold Story, and Earn This.

A week later, my student told me that the sermon that he had selected was Payday Someday. I told him not to preach my exact sermon. I said that he needed to rewrite it and preach it in his own words and thoughts, so that he owned the sermon. The student listened to my suggestion. I agreed to come to his church and listen to him preach Payday Someday.

As he was leaving the classroom, he turned around and said to me, You are a good preacher. What you need to do is to publish some of your sermons. My minister is not a good preacher. He could learn from you by reading some of your sermons. I smiled at his praise and wished him the best of success.

This book is the result of his comments to me. I hope that some of my sermons will make you ponder your current lifestyle and moral compass. Perhaps they will result in positive changes in your daily thoughts and actions….

…Rabbi James L. Apple

LIFE IS WHAT WE MAKE OF IT

                             Life is a jest;

                                    Take the delight of it.

                             Laughter is best;

                                    Sing through the night of it.

                             Swiftly the tear;

                                    And the hurt and the ache of it.

                             Find us down here;

                                    Life must be what we make of it.

                                                            ...Edgar A. Guest

Introduction

In November, 1972, I was preaching a sermon in the Jewish Chapel at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, Illinois. In the middle of my sermon, our 7 year old daughter, Michelle, loudly exclaimed, He is boring. She then proceeded to fall asleep on her mother’s lap. After the Sabbath service was over and we were driving home, I asked my wife, Sandy, this question: Am I a boring preacher? Her response was one that I did not expect. Sandy said that I was often a boring preacher, and needed to learn how to become a better preacher. I explained to her that I was preaching the way I was taught in seminary… Introduction, 3 points, and a conclusion. Sandy smiled at this response and said that probably all of my classmates at the seminary probably are boring preachers.

Based upon our conversation regarding my preaching style, I went to see my senior chaplain. I asked him to tell me who were the best preachers of the 18 chaplains assigned to the Great Lakes Naval Training Center. He told me to see a particular Southern Baptist and a United Methodist chaplain. He considered both of these chaplains excellent preachers. I asked them to teach me how they wrote and preached a sermon. I attended their Sunday worship services to see how they preached what they wrote. It wasn’t long before I realized that Sandy and Michelle were correct. So at that point, I changed my preaching style to reflect the Southern Baptist and United Methodist sermonic style. Payday Someday is a good example of the Southern Baptist influence. The Untold Story is a fine example of the United Methodist influence. However, in 1980 when I was a student in the Advanced Chaplains’ School, the faculty brought in experts to train us to become excellent speakers. Through these professionals, I became an even better preacher. I trust that you will enjoy and learn from these sermons.

…Rabbi James L. Apple

TO

MY WIFE

SANDY

WHO NEVER KNOWS WHEN DAY IS DONE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.     Payday Someday

2.     You Are Stronger Than You