It was said of Charles Spurgeon that he was more concerned with preparing himself than his sermon before he preached. Today I want to address the issue of preparing yourself and your congregation so that the Lord can use you to maximum effect. What should you do by way of preparation?
1. Be studied up. Paul wrote to Timothy,"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed accurately handling the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). When you stand to speak, are you confident that you have adequately prepared? That is a spiritual matter!
2. Be prayed up. James 5:16b declares, "The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." Have you prayed over your message, your people, your prospects, against the devil's work, pleading with God to move in the hearts of the people? We even prayed for decent weather. If something is big enough to worry about, it's big enough to pray about!
3. Be confessed up. No preacher in their right mind expects God to use a dirty vessel. We get cleaned up as we confess up! John wrote,"If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness"(1John 1:9). Let's do what God said and trust Him to do what He said! We cannot preach with power if we are holding on to unconfessed sin.
4. Be filled up. Concerning the early Church, on the heels of persecution and prayer, Scripture records, "And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word with boldness." Paul instructed the Ephesians to, "be filled with the Spirit." To be filled in both of these contexts means to be controlled by the Spirit. This requires intentional surrender and submission. "Lord, I surrender myself afresh to you today" is our hear's cry!
5. Speak up. Again in the early Church, the Disciples proclaimed, "for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20). And earlier, we read of Peter asserting,"let this be known to you and give heed to my words" (2:14b). When you stand to preach, act like you own the place. You represent the One who does!
6. Look up. Hebrews 12:2 instructs us to "fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." I remind you that Jesus Himself promised, "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive" (Matthew 21:22). And again from Hebrews, "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him" (11:6). When we preach, it is absolutely necessary that we hold to a confident expectation that God will move. He will do what He said! "Lord, I thank you and praise you in advance for the people who will be saved and the lives that will be impacted today" is our constant cry of faith!
7. Gear up. When Jesus fed the multitudes, he had the Disciples prepare for the distribution as well as the collection of leftovers "so that nothing will be lost" (John 6:12b). Jesus demonstrated a confident expectation of the increase and conservation of the Father's answered prayer. If you had 5,10, or 50 responses to your message the next time your folks gather to worship, would you be prepared to conserve what the Lord gave you? Perhaps He would give us more fruit if we were geared up and prepared for His harvest.
Let's be spiritually and organizationally prepared for God to use us! A holy and prepared man is an awesome instrument in the hand of God!
Dr. Sutton is the author of A Primer on Biblical Preaching. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
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