OSAGE BEACH – Sometimes before you can talk to God and others, you need to talk to yourself. That was the gist behind the Convention Sermon at the 2014 Missouri Baptist Convention Annual Meeting, preached by Richie Rhea.
Rhea, pastor of First Baptist Church, Troy, preached the sermon based on Psalm 103, which begins, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!”
“The Lord created us for conversation,” Rhea said. “He wants us to have conversations as we share the gospel, He wants us to have conversations with Him in prayer and this is a conversation of genuine worship the Lord wants us to have with ourselves.”
With Psalm 103, David is singing to “my soul” – or to himself, Rhea said. In singing each step of the Psalm to oneself, he said you will begin to fight personal hypocrisy, remember the good news God has offered, squash guilt and shame, experience the love of Jesus, become energized and gain a humble perspective.
“The pastor who preaches only to others and fails to sing this message to himself is in danger,” Rhea said. “He’s in danger of becoming misguided or perhaps depressed, ashamed in his guilt or discontented. Are you preaching this gospel to yourself?
“Don’t just think it,” he said. “I don’t know about you, but my thoughts tend to be slimy and undisciplined. David wrote this song, sung it to himself then taught others to sing it too.”