Being a Preacher

I have known what I was going to preach this upcoming Sunday for the past 9 days - Until today that is. I was going to take a break from the sermon series that I am in in Luke. I had this great creative message about perseverance all planned out. It is a great sermon and one I will probably preach someday, but as I was studying and praying in my office today, I just could not get a peace about which direction to go. So I spent the afternoon preparing a sermon on perseverance and one on the next section in Luke. Then I had to leave to go to a meeting and I was very frustrated because I didn't know what to do. It was later in the evening that God spoke and gave me a peace about which direction to go and I am so relieved.

It is hard to describe the seriousness that I approach being a mouthpiece of God. I never want to say anything that God has not put in my heart and mouth. I never want to say anything from my own opinions. I know that I fail and probably speak sometimes things that I shouldn't, but I don't want to. Preaching is VERY serious business to me. With all the half-truths and lies about God and the Bible out there, along with a major lackadaisical attitude about God, I so desire for every word that comes out of my mouth to be God's words.

"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'" Romans 10:14-15

"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power." 1 Corinthians 2:4-5

Some days are better than others, but I praise and thank God for the calling that He has placed on my life and it is my goal in this life to preach with a demonstration of the Spirit's power and not with mere words thought up by me! God use me and the gift of preaching to grow and expand your great Kingdom!