A female podcast listener who asks to remain anonymous right to end Pastor John, I go to

a pretty small church with limited resources and over the past two years of notice or

pastor using more and more pre-packaged sermon series.

So much so that I can actually search online and find the outline or another church that

has done the series and listen to almost the exact same sermon beforehand.

What are your thoughts on this?

Is it biblical or permissible?

It just doesn't sit right with me, but I'm not sure why.

Well, I'm glad she asked that question instead of asking me what she should do about it.

I have very strong feelings about the questions she asked and find it easy to answer.

And I wouldn't have such strong convictions or clear ideas about what strategy she should

take.

I have tried over the years to imagine a situation in which I might feel peace or authentic in

using another person's outline or sermon as my own.

And I have never been able to imagine such a situation.

It seems, frankly, utterly unthinkable to me that authentic preaching would be the echo

of another person's encounter with God's Word rather than a trumpet blast of my own

encounter with God's Word.

Now to be sure, my sermon should be an echo.

It should be an echo of the voice of God, but not an echo of an echo of the voice of

God.

So that's my conviction.

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