Preachers stealing sermons
 

How would you feel if you heard a minister preach a sermon and then later heard the exact sermon word for word by a well known speaker?

Re: Preachers stealing sermons
 

The Better question would be how do you feel?

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As long as they are not selling them on the black market its ok...LOL

If I heard the same message twice by different ministers, I would feel it could be a clue that it's for me, or has something which I need to hear!

Re: Preachers stealing sermons
 

A sermon reveals a part of a preacher's life experiences, his prayer life, his Christian dedication and some times years of study. To mimic that "exact same sermon word for word" is very telling about the preacher that "stole" the sermon. This is not to say, that a preacher could hear a message, be moved, inspired and prayerfully extract things that touched his heart and then weave those extracted thoughts into a sermon of his own. jmho

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The messenger and the message is gods. God can do with them both as he pleases. IMO the preacher worried about his message being stolen is wrong because it was gods message to begin with. And if it wasnt gods message then something bigger is wrong.

Well, I agree that God can use the message no matter who gives it. But, on another note, I don't know that I can agree with a minister taking a sermon off YouTube word for word and not mentioning anything about the source.

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Like one fella was given to say about "stealing sermons".............. "I've been stealing from Paul and Peter for years".:heeheehee

Re: Preachers stealing sermons
 

If the minister gave credit as to where he obtained it, fine. If he did not, I would have to question his integrity.

This is not about the first minister becoming upset that this happened. Chances are he will never know of it. On the contrary, it is about the honesty and integrity of the one using a sermon someone else spent time praying and studying over and passing it off as if they put it together.

If any minister were to regularly do this, I think I would find another church (even if he gave credit each time). Any pastor who will not spend time in the bible themselves and pull from it the things needed to specifically minister to the needs of the members....well, they aren't worth much as a pastor.

Re: Preachers stealing sermons
 

The reality is no one but the two or more preachers in question really know who was the "first" to preach it. Just because it is the "first" person you hear preach something does not mean they were the "first" to preach it. I have two sons who are in the ministry, and I know for a fact they have preached some of the messages they have heard me preach over the years. (They have told me/even called and asked for details etc.) I have had messages broadcast and heard them repreached.....they are not MY messages, they are God's....they are NOT my intellectual property, they are God's.....if they can help someone.....so be it.

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We call yelling "anointing" when Pentecostals do it but when non-Pentecostals do it suddenly it's not anointing

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Funny. :heeheehee

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Anyone that thinks a sermon he preached ,makes him the only person in the world who preached it is pretty egotistical imo .Sermons are not intellectual property imo ,I have heard some that were preached 20 years ago and are still being preached almost verbatim it seems.

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Actually, we are all "stealing" someone elses material, everyday. Think about it. We learn from others.....and teach their stuff if we agree. They got it from others' and so on...

Re: Preachers stealing sermons
 

:yourock

Re: Preachers stealing sermons
 

Several years ago, a high profile minister in the district visited out church and preached a sermon he called "Four of a Kind Beats a Full House". The text was the four men who brought the paralytic to the packed house, deciding to un-roof the house in order to get to Jesus.

Funny and sad thing was, the pastor of the church at the time, had just a few weeks prior told us how he had heard an awesome sermon called "Four of a Kind Beats a Full House" and told us who the original preacher was.

The dignitary didn't know our church knew about the sermon and title, and so, preached it without giving credit to the source.

I felt embarrassed for the district official and let down at the same time.

I don't mind the borrowing of general ideas and concepts, especially because anything that is true comes from above, but preaching someone else's sermon, even to the point of using the same title, seems improper.

I remember reading Ike Terry's autobiography and in it, he talks about a sermon called "Let the Rose Unfold" and how it became a common sermon for so many others to preach.

While the topic and concept were good, the fact that it was mimicked and copied so many times bothered me.

Re: Preachers stealing sermons
 

I would say that minister is lazy.
Come on I have always written my own sermons from scratch, I never had to preach another's man sermon.

Yes it takes some time to write your own sermons, but at least the message is yours not what some other preacher thought.

if you can not write your own sermons, then why are you even in the ministry? you got not message of your own. you are just a parrot, preaching what others have preached, might as well play a tape recorder and save the trouble of reading it.

I have never once preached any other preacher's sermon, because it was not given by God to me, it was given to that preacher. :foottap

Re: Preachers stealing sermons
 

Hey, that guy stole my sermon!!!

LOL

J/K, never preached it but have heard it preached.

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What if god inspired you to preach another preachers sermon?

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That's a good point. :highfive

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Well in many years he hasn't but if he did, I would make sure that people would know it is not my sermon.

Re: Preachers stealing sermons
 

Did you read the first post?

It isn't about preaching on a same subject or a similar sermon. It isn't about the original one who preached it. The Original post didn't say the first guy found out about it and was upset. It is about the one who copies, word for word, another man's sermon and passes it off as their own.

Why are some readers focusing on the original minister who preached? It is NOT about him. Or have you taken another's sermon and passed it off as your own?????

Re: Preachers stealing sermons
 

Then God would also tell you to not try and pass it off as your original sermon. :smack God wants us to be honest.

Re: Preachers stealing sermons
 

Well I think we disagree. It's God's sermon.

I am also not sure how a preacher attempts to pass off God's sermon as his own. What does he do? Not mention the first person he knows of that God inspired to preach that sermon? Please! That's hardly a preacher trying to pass off that he's the first one to have preached that sermon.

This sermon that was preached was copied even down to every " touch your neighbor and say" statement.

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You sure it wasn't sold? I know (non-Apostolic) preachers to package up their sermon series, all the way down to the web page designs and billboards (!) used to promote them, and then sell them to churches in other parts of the country who want to have people flocking to their church to hear the edgy sermons about sex or whatever.

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Heard a tape of Bishop Morris Golder (PAW) preach "The Interval Between" and then later heard a white guy preach the same message, even had the uhs and ahs in the same place. :happydance

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But it wasn't as good.:thumbsup

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Back in the 70s had all those Mark Hanby clones his messages got a lot of mileage.

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No sir, who could even think a white guy could preach as good as the Bishop.

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First of all I don't think God would do that. He might impress on a preacher the same concepts and subject matter but God is not lazy nor does he expect us to be lazy. Just don't see God going that route.

However if he did by some chance I would think the preacher would be very unethical if he did not attribute the sermon to the preacher who originally preached it.

In life usually the most obvious reason / solution is the correct one and I think in the case of a preacher preaching another preachers sermon word for word the reason is laziness.

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Very true but none preached them as good as he did! In the 70's Mark Hanby and Kenneth Phillips were my favorite preachers. MH was more polished than KP but both preached to tremendous response and results.

MH was a wordsmith and KP could bring a person face to face with their position with God better than anybody I ever heard.

Disturbed.

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Back in MH heyday myself and some men from the church went to a meeting a couple hours away I put in a tape I had just got of MH it was awesome. We got to the meeting the preacher got up and preached this message word for word. I was so embarrassed.

Agreed!

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I am interested in the preaching and teaching style of Paul. He was not a so-called pulpit master, nor eloquent, but he had a head full of info that the early church needed. He did not have an opening remark with mood music accompaniment, deliver a message eloquently, then close with a readers digest story to get an altar call. He just explained stuff that was relevant to their walk with God as needed. He was powerful in his simple form of ministry.

Re: Preachers stealing sermons
 

I understand your point and I agree in principle....however, the truth is we don't have a clue as to how the Apostle Paul (or any of the Bible characters for that matter) presented their messages (their homiletic style). We do know that he approached people from where they were and led them to greater revelation. His "eloquence" may have been more than we give him credit for....remember he was an incredibly educated man. Jesus used parables (stories) to deliver principles and impart truth. Far too often (and I am not accusing you of this) people have used the "unlearned" description of the apostles as an excuse for not studying and proper hermeneutics....I believe we should become the best that we can be.

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Aw, give the guy a break, some preachers haven't had an original thought in YEARS, gotta get sermons material to feed those little sheepies from somewhere.

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Wow! I bet on the way home after that service you had some interesting conversation... lol!

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Dear Bishop

You are right, we need to study and get better.
I am ashamed of some of my early sermons, I mean they were horrible. I just keep on studying so that I can get better.