Here is Pilgrim Benham on the art of preaching.

[upbeat music] Uh, let's open our Bibles to Ecclesiastes 12.

Uh, now, before we get into Ecclesiastes, I wanna begin with a story.

In 1665, there was a brilliant young English scientist named Christopher Wren, and he traveled to Paris.

Wren wasn't yet an architect, but he was an astronomer, he was a mathematician, and he was a man who looked at the world through measurement and schematics.

And while in Paris, he secured a brief meeting with the most celebrated living artist in Europe at that time, uh, Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

Now, Bernini was a sculptor.

[laughs]

[laughs]

[laughs] So the man here in Jesus's parable, likewise, wasn't out there looking for vast treasure, but he stumbled upon it.

Now, um, it's helpful to know that if you as a worker happened to be this guy, and you didn't own the field, um, then that treasure belonged to the owner.

And so what does, what does he do? He, it says that he covers it back up, and then in joy he sells all that he has and buys the property.

This is wisdom, to sell everything you have and purchase this.

This is a no-brainer.

Why? Because the treasure is worth far more than anything you're willing to give up.

[laughs]

Jesus is King.

Amen? It's easy to sort of amen that in the four corners of church, but if we were to say that outside of this property, it may not get the same amens, the same applause.

The reality is the world has not yet gotten the memo that Jesus is the sovereign over all of creation.

You know, there's a funny story that is told years and years ago, and I'm not sure if it's true or not, but we're going to act as if it is.

And this story is about a man in British Parliament named Neil Martin.

And the way the story goes, Neil was once giving a group of constituents a guided tour through the House of Parliament.

Any th- any opening words that you would like to say to our wonderful audience?

Yeah, it's good to be here.

Uh, I love Cultivate.

I love the, the work that God's doing, and, uh, the importance of, of having that sense that God may be, uh, wanting to do more in our, in our day.

And, uh, church planting is really the, um, the heart of the Book of Acts.

It's making much of Christ.

So, um, yeah, it's an important ministry.

Okay.

I'll preach it.

Right.

I mean, I'm in education now, and we're seeing creative writing is disappearing.

And I can see copyright when I'm on social.

I can see when someone is just pumping out AI stuff.

So there's no creative thought or energy, just I need a social media post.

And so let's not do that.

But as you get older, your time in the preparation might even get a little bit shorter because you've read, you've done the work, you've put in the miles, you've got the reps in, you've read those commentaries, and then you're able to kind of like, it kind of sparks certain things.

And now Pilgrim will come and teach the same passage.

Thanks, Mike.

Well, thankfully you don't have to turn far.

Turn to Luke chapter 15 [laughs].

Out of the over 30 distinct parables that Jesus taught, the parable of the lost or prodigal son is definitely one of the most recognizable, if not most famous.

Everyone from Hank Williams to The Rolling Stones to Iron Maiden have included songs with this parable as their title.

And for you music lovers, that is quite the spread and spectrum.

Yeah