As a preacher, I am exposed to hundreds of sermons, and now, with social media, to thousands of video clips from them. All my feeds feature both famous and obscure preachers sharing their challenges, illustrations, or shocking statements to draw more views and likes.

The problem is that all words have context. Those sermons were delivered by a pastor with a unique personality. He spoke to a congregation that he leads or was invited to a conference with a specific theme. His sermon was based on a particular Bible passage, viewed through the lens of his personality, and presented with a central point. When we pull out a little chunk of material, we always risk misunderstanding.

I once had two high school boys who recorded my sermons onto audio tapes each week as a service to the Church. I preached through a series called “Hot Topics,” and they pulled out comments and stories from my original five sermons to create a new sermon. It was both hilarious and shocking as phrases were pulled out of their original context and reused. I had a line in a sermon on the sanctity of life that they pulled out and inserted randomly, and it was terrifying to hear it that way.

Sermon clips can be helpful, but know that, like the scripture they are based on, context is king.