preaching | SermonIndex

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luckyd Jul 15, 2005

I feel that god wants me to preach and maybe not at church but i feel more to friends and family, but i have several problems. first, i dont know how to use what i know and make it long. My pastor was able to talk about the 10 comandments for an hour. I know i dont have to talk that long all the time, but I just dont know how to use what i know. I cant conversate with someone on a topic. For example, if I were to try to conversate with someone on the 10 commandments it would probably take me 1 minute when conversating about them for 5 minutes might of really touched that person. 2nd, i have so many questions about the bible. When i read the bible theres too much i dont understand. I have got some of them answered but it feels as though ill never get all of them answered and i dont how to go about that. because of that, i dont know how i would be succesful at preaching to friends the gospel and other things they are concerned about when i might not be able to answer because i didnt understand something in the bible or i wont be able to get the point across from lack of conversation.

J

JaySaved Jul 15, 2005

Wow!That post was so real to me that I could have written it word for word. I too am feeling a calling to the ministry. I don't know where or how but I am sure that God is calling me as well.I can share with you what someone shared with me, "If you feel that God is calling you to do something and you feel that you do not have the ability or it would be too much for you to handle, then you are the perfect person for the job. Because you can't accomplish this on your own, you will completely trust God to carry through."Hope this helps and may God bless.

sermonindex Jul 15, 2005

i have so many questions about the bible. When i read the bible theres too much i dont understand. I have got some of them answered but it feels as though ill never get all of them answered and i dont how to go about that.JaySaved has a vital part of your answer. Also, always ask the Lord to come and help you. If you read carefully with a heart to understand more, the Lord will speak to you. Sometimes you can read quite a few verses with nothing standing out, then WHAM! You can't read any more because you've been stopped by a new piece of understanding. The Bible has an enormous ability to surprise the reader. On days which nothing seems to leap out at you, it is good to get into the habit of thanking the Lord for His word and asking Him to make it real in your life. Maybe, He will give you an answer which enables you to pray for someone else. And it is good to sing His praises every day. Songs which are made up of words from the Bible, are always good for the soul.

sermonindex Jul 15, 2005

I heard from a preacher 'If God has called you to do something, HE WILL PREPARE YOU FOR IT'.I didn't really have that as a testimony in my life till a few months after i heard that. And it like re-surfaced in my mind.I felt at Moses 'i cant speak ...' but look at what God did to Moses.Just focus on Him, and He will give you w/e you need.

E

Eli_Barnabas Jul 15, 2005

Luckyd,God may indeed want you to preach, but His timing doesn't necessarily have to be right now. This is what you should do, and this comes from all my own experiences:Consume the Word and it will consume you. This takes time, but it then becomes a part of you, and a Sword you are able to wield in and out of season. Jesus said to let His Words abide in you.. Do this, and you'll never be lacking anywhere.Seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The best way to be filled is to become an obedient child of God, to not be conformed to the pattern of this world, and most importantly: to ask. With the Spirit controlling you you'll never have to worry about what to say or when... as long as you are obedient to it's control.Another great thing to do is learn about preachers of the past. This isn't mandatory, but is extremely helpful to see how they lived and how they preached. The greatest preachers were full of seriousness and love.Well, this is simply advice from my own cache... just listen to what God wants you to do and you're on the right track. I hope this will prove helpful to you.In Christ,-Eli

K

KingJimmy Jul 15, 2005

The idea behind teaching is that you teach based upon what you know. You don't have to be encylopedic in knowledge. Just teach what you know for sure the Scriptures teach, and do so prayerfully.It's not about the length of the sermon. For that matter, there aren't really that many "sermons" we see in Scriptures. If you read the Sermon on the Mount aloud at even just a casual pace, you can easily be done with it in 15 minutes. Most of Jesus's ministry took place over the dinner table, and did not include long, drawn out, verse by verse expositions of the Scriptures. It was usually His quick one or two sentence answers, or short parables, that touched people the most. Also, never be afraid to say "I don't know" in response to questions friends may ask you. Your ability to answer, and the ability to preach/teach longer will come to you more and more over time, as you increase in the knowledge of the things of God. Be careful of telling people things you've read somewhere in a book or commentary, or heard some other preacher say. Look into matters yourself, and study diligently. And just because you may end up one day knowing everything there is in the world about a certain topic, doesn't mean you have to tell everything you know when the chance comes. Be careful unless pride causes you to try and speak on things you have little knowledge of, or to speak in a highly speculative manner. The key to being a good teacher is being first and foremost a good student. Never stop learning, and always be teachable.

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PreachParsly Jul 15, 2005

I'm a young preacher and I'd like to share with you how I got started. First off I knew I was called. You need to know for sure that God is calling you. You will know. I knew I was called but didn't really tell anyone. I was very young when I was called (about 3 months in the Lord, possibly 2). It was one day I was talking to a director at a college ministry. He asked me what I felt I was to do for the Lord and I told him without hesitation I was called to preach. I told him that I didn't feel I was ready but knew I was called. He told me that I might be more ready than I think. He was an interm pastor at a church and told me when I felt like I was ready to tell him and he would give me the opportunity. Within a couple weeks God gave me a word to preach and I went to the director. I preached at that church and it got around to other churches back home (I was away at college at the time.) A few churches were asking me when I could come back and preach for them. I've been saved for 2 years now and its been about a year and a half since my first sermon! I give all the glory to God! I have not asked one church if I could come and preach all I did was answer the call to preach by making it known God has called me. Now that I have moved back home I preach atleast every other week. Primarily in my home church but I look forward to God opening back up doors that I can go to other churches and preach. I feel the next step in my journey is street preaching. I am the leader of the street ministry at our church and I feel that eventually I will be preaching open-air!

sermonindex Jul 16, 2005

Preaching what you know is probly a gold nugget of advice on this topic.Jason Upton and PreachParsly have kinda been my motivation, when i heard within a week from both of them (thru audio on Jason, and reading something of PreachParsly) saying 'I never asked one church to preach/sing at' Jason ended up saying 'i warn you guys we dont sing normally'.I talked wednesday to a lady, about speaking at her church. She is my college counsler, i just told her about my life. And she replied with Joy 'would you come to our church?'. It's a 40 min drive. But, i never thought God would open the door. (Unbelief, yes, but i still stand on my calling, to preach both to the Body and to the ones to be called out *non-believers*).I'm 18 now, i guess i have alot of 'knowledge' but so much of it is broad and thin. Resently ive been 'deepening' my walk with Him, asking Him to expand on things. Dwelling on them. And He opens this door. *im crying..* God knows the desires in your heart, just as mine, cause HE PUT THEM THERE. He will answer you, don't think He will ever be 'too late'. He is God, all knowing, He knows when the end is going to happen, He won't have you 'waiting' till the end, because He has called you to such things.I love ya brother.

sermonindex Jul 17, 2005

When I read your original post yesterday morning, Oh how the Spirit of God moved upon me to write to you. But I did not have the time needed to let God say what He would have you to know. With a groaning I put it off until today, praying and hoping that what was on my heart yesterday would still be here for you today. When I signed in this morning, instead of coming directly here as I intended, I got drawn to another thread by yet another youngster who has fallen in love with the Master. Praise God. So, much of what I spoke to him, as I wrote it I knew it was for you too. So I will cut and paste most of it as follows:Growth is such a slow process. It takes years...for all of us. But that does not mean that truth and light is not spoken out of the mouths of babes. See, it's not "where you are" but "Whose you are" that makes the difference. If you have a deep and abiding love and fellowship with God, ministry opportunity will come to you just as natural as air does when you inhale. You won't have to "measure up" to anyone, because you have the greatest of all on board.{{I'm not sure if it was you or not, but yesterday on another thread here, someone was speaking about being called to preach, yet was very young and immature in their walk and knowlege of the word.}} ---->I was refering to this thread. Is education and knowlege of the bible important to success? Of course it is, as much as med school is to some kid that feels he wants to be a doctor. You don't give him a presciption pad and a stethescompe. He must be trained. But that does not mean that he is not functional during the training. He does all kinds of medical activites as his knowlege and experience grows. Even as a new doctor he/she will have to be interned under the watchful eye of an older doctor.It is no different in the spiritual ministry of God's presence in you. It is the anointing that breaks the yoke. You either have it, or you don't. Those who do not have a living and abiding relationship with God but are very "churchy" will seek only what you know. But those who know God and walk with Him day by day will only be stirred when He moves through you.Charles Finney, I am told, would often walk into a meeting and just take a few moments looking at the people when called to preach. Then he would speak a three word message. Three words! He is this famous preacher that everyone has been waiting for, and when he arrives....THREE WORDS? He said, "Repent..........or perish". Then he would wait on the Holy Ghost in silence, some times 30 mins to an hour. But little by little, the Holy Spirit would break a heart, and someone would just stand up and begin to confess. Others would fall to the floor weeping in repentance. The whole place would just be alive with God. ALIVE with God. See the difference? It's not about who you are or what you know. It's all about Whose you are and following Him.As others have already spoken here, it always blesses me as well when I see or hear of young people called by God. Oh the sorrow and grief I bear within my heart, that I had known Christ at an early age and given my heart to Him then.I knew a pastor like that a few years back. He testified of being saved as a young boy. He was called by God at 12 to preach the Gospel and began doing so right away. He said he had never had a rebellious time in his life. All he could remember was loving and serving God. His whole life was consumed with it and you could tell. He married his high school sweetheart. Both testified that their spouse was the only person of the opposite sex that they had kissed outside of family and that their relationship was pure as can be from holding hands to the present. You know what? You could tell just being in their presence. Your spirit was edified just being with them. The ironic thing is that he never had a large church. Holiness and purity is not popular in this hour. But this meant nothing to this man and woman of God. The difference? They were God's and only God's.I've got so much junk in me because it took God so long to get through to me. But He is longsuffering for those He places His hand upon. Oh how I will forever praise Him for His patience and long suffering. You won't have that problem if you keep your vessel clean. The blood of Christ washes away the stain, but it is up to us to keep our cup clean. Nobody wants to drink living water from a dirty cup. Keep your vessel clean and pure and God will abound through you.Young brother, it's so normal to be impatient at 19. Dont' miss the wonder of being 19 in Christ by looking for 40. I assure you, when you get to be 40, you will look at 19 with wonder and awe. When you are almost 62 like me, 19 is absolutely amazing, especially when I see someone like you, who is called and set apart of God to be His. If you are His, let Him consume your life. Don't you be all you can be in Him. Let Him be all He can be in you. Enjoy the ride. He will carry you the entire way home.Rejoicing in your love for Him,Lahry

K

KingJimmy Jul 17, 2005

A further thought came to me after the fact, one the Lord has been dealing with me personally over the years on, that I think you would do well to learn now, and save yourself years of heartache and pain.Romans 15:20 And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named... (NASB)Now, the way the Lord has dealt with me on this passage is as follows... make it your chief desire, and only desire, to see Christ established in everything you do, especially in all your preaching. This was the driving force behind Paul, and why he took to the gospel all over the known world in a short time, because his chief aim was to see Christ established as Lord in the hearts of men and women everywhere.Do this, and avoid the deadly trap Satan will attempt to snare your soul with, by attempting to establish yourself. Don't seek to establish yourself, and your own ministry. Avoid Church politics like the plague. Rather, only seek to establish Christ. Don't do like they did at the tower of Babel, and seek to make a name for yourself and "your" ministry. Rather, only seek to make a name for Christ. In establishing Christ, your ministry will be established truly. Many ministers have sadly damned their own souls in attempts to establish their own ministries. But, if you only make it your desire to establish Christ, you will do well. If you only seek to establish Christ, you will not care about the size of your congregation or audience, you will not care about if you are being invited to preach at other churches, you will not care if you are given prominent positions within the church, and you will not care if you have to go out and stand on a street corner in order to do such. For the only fame and glory you will be after is that of Christ's. Men might ignore you, cast you down, step on you, and forsake you, but ultimately, they will not sway you from preaching Christ if it is your chief desire to do such.

sermonindex Jul 17, 2005

Where on earth did you ever get a screen name like that? lol. You are so correct. Why? Because Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit comes, He would speak of Jesus. Jesus would be the center of all when the latter rain falls. Jesus will be the center of all when the tribulation ends. Jesus will be the center of all through most of the millenium. Jesus will be the center of all for all eternity. If your ministry is of God, that is by the power of the Holy Spirit, you will testify of Jesus and His love for all man. Accept no substitutes.

F

free Jul 17, 2005

Lucky, We are all so blessed to have Lahry in our midst to not only to point us to Scriptures at the appropriate places but to teach wisdom. I am like him in that I got to know Christ late in life (47) so that even though I have spent the last 10 years studying the Bible, it is too late for me to learn it chapter and verse -- something you can do -- and oh what edification for yourself and others. I hope there will be readers as young as you are who are reading this and come to understand the privilege of starting this journey young. As Lahry suggested, starting early means you wont be picking up so much "junk" along the way. Bad habits is baggage you dont want to have to carry. Lahry is also right that it takes time to study the Bible. We cant be mothers and fathers of Isreal in a year. Also,When you know how to read the Bible correctly, you not only get it right about the most important question/s in life but you understand all literature. You see, everything is about Him. I envy the time you have infront of you to do all that.