"You're a waiter, not the Chef." I heard that quote this week from Dr. Steve Lawson at the 2013 E. K. Bailey Expository Preaching Conference. Lawson added, "As a preacher, you better serve the meal fresh and hot and just the way the Head Chef made it." It may not be the perfect image for preaching (you could probably say that as waiters we also help with the meal's presentation), but I like it. We are merely servants of God's Word. Our goal isn't to put our ideas into the text. Our role is to draw out the spiritual food that God has already put into his Word. So this week may the Holy Spirit empower you to serve the Head Chef's tasty meal with joy and humility.

Make sure you check out this week's featured sermon, Finding Joy in Our Differences an exegetically-sound sermon by Tony Evans exploring the sin of racism in the church (part of our "Preaching the Hot Topics" series).

For this week's update we also feature:

• Illustration: The Man behind the Designated Driver Campaign, a powerful "rest of the story" illustration
• Video: Consumerism, a hard-hitting look at the dark side of "The American Dream"

In Christ,

Matt Woodley
Managing Editor, PreachingToday.com
mwoodley@christianitytoday.com

P.S. I also liked this encouraging word for preachers from the wisdom of Dr. Robert Smith: "God buries his workmen, but he never buries his work. It's not about Moses or Joshua or you or me. It's about him and his work."

Matt Woodley is the pastor of compassion ministries at Church of the Resurrection in Wheaton, Illinois.