I spent some time on this slow Tuesday afternoon looking through some of my old sermons. I have a file box with my paper copies from 2008-2013. I've been driving around with them in my car for awhile thinking someday I might have a chance to sift through them. I would like to have a few on hand just in case I might need one on short notice. I've honestly had plenty of chances to look through them. It ended up being worse than I thought.
I noticed three things about this period of sermons:
1. It was pretty easy to tell what books I was reading at the time they were written. Lots of quotes and sometimes I just flat out said this is what I'm reading right now. The books were heavily reflected.
2. Rick Warrens influence over my preaching ran deep. The Purpose Driven Church came out when I was in seminary. I also took an online preaching class of his. I have a lot of "How To" sermon titles. He was big on preaching toward what people should do. I wish I'd had better influences. Or different.
3. The biggest thing I came away with this afternoon though is simply how terrible a lot of my sermons were. Ugh. They were especially bad that last year. It's obvious I'd lost my sense of creativity. The further back I went they were a little better, but I'd say I thought I was a way better preacher than I really was.
Anyway, I did find a few that I may rework and keep on hand. I also want to go through the sermons from 1999-2007. For some reason I think the ones from 2003-2007 might be some of my better ones, but who knows.
