Around fifty years ago I heard Jack Green talking about a man named Eutychus. We had no one by that name in our little Farr Creek, so the preacher arrested my attention referring us to Acts 20:9 "And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead."
Dr. Green then told us the meaning of the name saying, "Eutychus means well-fated and can honestly be translated well enough." When folks get to thinking they are good enough all sermons are very long and the alertness begins to sink into a stupor and soon enough there will be a fall.
Over the half century that I have walked with the Lord since May 10, 1962 the duration of sermons has shortened dramatically. Yet the little snooze at church is a popular as ever, though in the last decade many are too worried about everything to get really rested.
It is only fair to point out that Paul is never referred to as a dynamic speaker. Actually he is referred to in Acts 17:18 as a babbler and is 1Cor 10:10 as his speech as being contemptible.
Listeners need to stay alert and preachers can learn from Clement Wood: "Long-windedness is suicidal; it is the lethal curse of most word users."
