Where is Your Pulpit?

Welcome back, everyone! Join me in looking at Mark 1:38, which says this: “… Let’s head in the other direction, to the nearby villages, so that I can preach there too. That’s why I’ve come.” To shed some light on what’s going on here, Jesus had been healing people and casting out evil spirits all night long. Early that following morning, he snuck off to get some alone time and to pray, but Simon had found him and said that everyone had been looking for him. Jesus told him that they should go the other way to other villages to preach because that’s what he came to do. I want to stick to that point today.

“What’s a pulpit, you ask? A pulpit is a raised platform where the preacher gives their sermon. Let’s tweak this a little bit. A pulpit, for this lesson, is a specific location where anyone can share the Word of God. There are three pulpits that each of us sees in our daily lives: a chair, a kickball, and our actual pulpit. 

Let’s start by talking about the pulpit. When do we see the pulpit? (Pause) That’s right. We typically see it at church on Sunday mornings, Wednesday evenings, or Saturday evenings. Pretty much whenever mom or dad say: “Let’s go to church!” We go to church, hear the pastor preach, hear the scripture read, hear the congregation singing hymns, and hear the prayers offered by different people. We get fed God’s word on Sundays and go home, but did you know there are pulpits almost anywhere. We can hear/talk about God’s word anywhere. Let me explain more at the next pulpit.

Some of you may recognize this chair. This chair comes from our Sunday School classroom, and it’s what you’d sit in for a class or at CORE or Wednesday Night Live. That’s when you get to hang out with your friends AND hear your teacher talk about the word of God! That’s so much fun, I know, but you can find these chairs somewhere else. They can be at your school. That’s right; we have the same pulpit here that you do at your school. You can have a conversation with your friends at your school, maybe about the excellent Sunday School lesson and what you learned, or maybe talk about how you would teach the lesson. You are then using your pulpit at school to talk about God’s word, which is super cool! Also, you can take what you learned and act on it.

Back to the story, however. So, say you threw a curveball and turned someone’s day around by sitting next to someone at lunch, which was by themselves, or you saw someone was upset and you went to talk to them. That’s what those curveball pitches can do. You’ve taken what you learned from the pulpit on Sunday and applied it to your next pulpit, which you see Monday – Friday. At least some There’s one more pulpit I want to talk about, however.

A kickball? How is this a pulpit? It’s not a location where you can talk. I can’t sit ON the ball.” Stay with me here. This kickball represents the time you spend outside of school and church. Maybe you decide to gather on the ballfield and have some fellowship or hang out with your friends to play some kickball. At the end of the game, you can use your Sunday School lesson and talk about it to your friends. Now, you just used this kickball as a pulpit to share God’s word. Saying you’re playing a challenging kickball game and your team just won. I mean, you had the walk-off kickball homerun, and you ran around all the bases and celebrated with your team at home. As you celebrate, though, you see the pitcher for the other team distraught that they lost. You run over to comfort them is also using your pulpit. You’re using Jesus’ favorite commandment on your pulpit. It’s crazy to think about how the Bible can be applied to different parts of our lives, right?

So, what does any of this mean? What’s the bottom line here? I’m glad you asked. My point is that you can share God’s word or act how Jesus would act anytime and anywhere. You don’t only have to hear about the Bible during the Worship Service. You don’t only have to talk about the lesson in Sunday School. You don’t only have to do kind things for a church mission project. You can reach from your “pulpit” anytime and anywhere! I challenge you to think about the pulpits in your life and pray about how God can use you to preach from your pulpit. We’ll see you next week!