A pastor in Lincoln, Mo., was sitting on his patio, drinking iced tea with his wife as he worked at the table on his Sunday sermon.

Their 5-year-old son came outside and asked, "Daddy, what are you doing?" The pastor looked up from his Bible, put down his pen and paper, and said, "I’m preparing my Sunday sermon."

Not satisfied, the boy asked, "Daddy, how do you know what to say?" The preacher smiled and answered, "God tells me." Still not satisfied, the boy replied, "Oh ... well how come you keep crossing things out?"

This humorous story should remind us of two truths: 1) God is perfect, and 2) Pastors are not. It’s amazing, really, that God entrusts His perfect gospel message to imperfect people to share it.

The apostles Paul explains why this is, saying, "Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us" (2 Corinthians 4:7, HCSB). In other words, God has allowed the treasure of the gospel to be preached by flawed humans (clay jars), so that when people’s lives are changed by God’s grace, God will get the glory for it, because it will be obvious that it wasn’t because we preachers are so great!

So pray for God to speak His exciting gospel through your preacher, even if your preacher seems less than exciting. Even if the preacher has to cross out notes, God can put the cross in your heart by faith in Jesus.