How to Preach
How to Preach with Conviction
- The best way to preach, is by conviction, from the heart, in your own words, just testifying to what you actually believe, whenever somebody asks you. That is how to preach with conviction
- Testimony is vital and believable – Why? – because it is what we have seen and believe, and therefore the conviction of truth can be heard in our voice. When we relate what happened to us, people can believe that as fact. When you share some truth of which the Holy Spirit has convicted you, you will be believed because the conviction will ring in your voice! This is the evidence of the holy Spirit. That is How to Preach with Conviction.
So, How Do I Do That?
- If you have no set requirement for the theme of the day, then grab your Bible, and head for your quiet place and just ‘wait on Him’ until you are told [how to pray] what to do.
- If you are working to a set theme, like lectionary readings, just go into your quiet place with your Bible and start ‘meditating’ those readings. As you read a verse or a phrase, close your eyes and let the Holy Spirit of God illuminate it to your understanding.
- Follow each ‘train of thought’ thru to its end and the subject matter will be filled out and explained.
- Just keep doing this until you feel there is no more to be understood. It may take several sessions of quiet to get the whole message. Strive for Spiritual Excellence!
- Stop thinking about it and go on with your usual weeks activities until you feel to do it again.
There it is - you just learned How to Preach!
Tags: conviction, God, Holy Spirit, lectionary, testimony
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What to Preach
Seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit - You will either already have a conviction, like,
Pray........
- You were just meditating, and some light suddenly fell on some scripture or some moral question………..
- Or maybe you were talking to someone about some thing and suddenly it all came clear to you…………. And you felt that you just HAD to tell about it.
Or, You will need to seek for conviction
- God treats us all as individuals, and He might talk to you in a dream, or words in your head, or in visions and pictures or when you are looking on His handiwork, e.g., a sunset, or when you are browsing thru His Word. It is the ‘still small voice’ that we really need to be very quiet and still to hear.
- If prayer can be defined as communing with God, then the conviction you seek will be found in one of the above types of ‘prayer’.
What NOT to DO
- Don’t start ‘writing it down and constructing a sermon’ – if God wants you to preach He will give you the conviction to share and the words to express it!
- Don’t go looking up information, or reading ‘suitable’ books for inspiration. What happened to other people or in other places is irrelevant to your testimony and can only be second-hand when you tell it!
- Our God is creative, He is never stale or boring – He always has a fresh message if we are prepared to look for it.
- Do believe, that when He promised to ‘supply all our needs’, that He actually meant just that. Our need of something to share when we preach is no different from our need of food and clothing, and it is easy to trust Him for our ‘daily bread’ – Right?
The Structure of the Message
- The order you make your points is the same order that they are given to you – often it is simply following the relevant reading(s) verse by verse.
The Whole Service
- If you apply the same contemplative method to the whole service, you will easily find the appropriate songs/hymns to sing and the prayer subjects to use. If others choose the songs – you can rely on His Holy Spirit to guide them to select appropriate praise and worship themes.
- There you have it - the way to learn what to preach as you learn how to preach
Tags: conviction, Guidance, prayer, supply our needs
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My Testimony
Not Sermons!
- I have stepped out in faith and put this to the test. My testimony is that whenever I have done this, I have been given the words to say, and the truth to share. It is significant, I think, that I always run out of words at the same time as the service is supposed to end.
- It is always a step in faith, because every time I have that fear that I will not have anything to say, and that I will ‘dry up’, but God is faithful and He always gives me enough. Hallelujah!
Think about it - Andrew the “Fisherman”, and Peter the “Deny-er” didn’t go to theological college, or attend lay preacher classes for diplomas to learn how to preach, they just stood up and testified to what they knew about Jesus…….
Tags: Faith, Sermons, share, testimony
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When and Where to Preach
When you are asked to preach, is when.
- ‘Go Ye into all the world…….’ Is usually interpreted as, “head for the ‘Deep Dark Jungles’ of central Africa, or the wilds of the New Guinea highlands”.
- The plain truth is, ‘all the world’ starts outside YOUR front door!
- So be happy to preach wherever you may be, and whenever an opportunity offers.
So answering the question, “When and Where to Preach“, was really simple…………..
Tags: all the world, Go Ye, preach
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How to find Spiritual Excellence
Knowing how to define spiritual excellence is a great comfort, because there is a reassurance therin that gives us the confidence to keep on. We need some form of reassurance to bolster our faith, else we feel we are just whistling in the dark, and sometimes lack the courage to go on along our chosen path.
- How to Define a Job Well Done
I had considerable dialog with a friend about what constitutes spiritual excellence, starting from the point that we well knew what constituted excellence in our daily round of work. The ‘Job Well Done’; the ’satisfied client’; the feeling of accomplishment at the end of each task. The challenge was to transfer those criteria across to the spiritual realm and come up with a blue-print for ’spiritual excellence’.
- We Need to know BEFORE Judgment Day
Of course, we could just wait till the ‘end of the film’, then read the ‘credits’, but somehow that didn’t satisfy us, we needed to define some standard that we could apply to our everyday spiritual walk. We need to KNOW that we are in His will and that what we are doing is meeting approval within the ‘throne room’.
- OK Lord, I Did It Your Way
So the answer we devised was this: Spiritual Excellence consists in being able to go to bed each night, and at ’sign-off’ time, to be able to say; “OK Lord, today I did everything you asked!“ What more is to say? You can’t do better than that!
Tags: Bolster our faith, Judgement Day, Spiritual Excellence
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How to Know Preaching is from the Spirit
How to Recognize The Spirit. This is How to Know Preaching is from the Spirit - when you hear conviction ringing out from the words of the preacher, and when you are riveted to the edge of your seat by the RELEVANCE and FRESHNESS of what you are hearing you know you are hearing from God.
The eternal, one true God who created the universe and everything in it, is capable of infinite variety. Consider the magnificent sky-scapes, freshly painted minute by minute while you gaze in awe! With every resource of creation at His fingertips, He doesn’t need to repeat himself. So it follows, that if a preacher is led by the Spirit of God he will be given suitably fresh material to use. A spirit led preacher will be talking about things that have happened to him, or are happening in the NOW; not using anecdotes from the life of some other missionary to the middle of darkest Africa last century.
- The Kingdom of Heaven is HERE AND NOW.
When you are ‘born again’ you are birthed as a brand new spiritual being into the the Kingdom of Heaven - therefore you must be living in that place RIGHT NOW. It follows therefore, that a spirit led preacher MUST be preaching from conviction gained from his present and past experience, and must be sharing from that. So, such a preacher has to be basing his testimony on what he believes right now - testimony gained from living the Christian life and interacting with God and his fellows. A rule of thumb - any preacher who starts off like this; “A funny [or interesting, or significant,] thing happened to me this week…….”; is most likely to be led by The Holy Spirit, simply because the Spirit of God will have purposefully put such an experience into that preachers week, just for this purpose; and if he goes on to share a ‘Kingdom’ experience, you may then be quite sure. Any preacher who builds his narrative around someone Else’s experience is selling you second hand goods!
- This is How You Recognize The Spirit
John said, in his [1 John 4:2-3]2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.. first epistle, “Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;” so it follows that a spirit led preacher must be preaching about the ‘crucified’, ‘resurrected’, ‘ascended’ Christ.
- God Knew You Were Going to Go to Church
- and for that reason, some part of the address will speak to you! There will be parts of the message that will minister directly to you. We are each in a different ‘place’ and various words will react differently on each of us, but a spirit led message will contain something especially for you. This is part of the ‘daily bread’ that God provides and it is part of the assurance we have that He loves us and provides for ALL our needs.
- The Compelling Word of God
God is totally consistent, so any Holy Spirit led preaching must accord with what He has already said in His recorded Word - the Bible - Ergo, preaching must be based on and agree with the Bible - so the authority for what a preacher is testifying must rest in God’s Word; and because it is Bible based it is both authoritative and credible - and that is how to know preaching is from the Spirit!
Tags: Bible, Born again, Jesus Christ, Kingdom of Heaven, preach, Spirit led, Spirit of God, The Holy Spirit
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How to Get Christian Unity
The question of how to get Christian** Unity is paradoxically simple - we just need to go obediently about our Kingdom business. If we are led by the Spirit of God, then we certainly cannot be getting into conflict with our brothers.
- Lack of unity is not necessarily divisive
The reason we don’t have Christian unity is that there are as many opinions as there are Christians, and this rich diversity of opinion is exactly what God planned when he gave us individuality and free will. It is pointless to argue objectively about a subjective matter. We each have our own journey with God, and we can feel threatened when someone says, “No, you are wrong; my way is right.” We need to just be obedient, not judgmental. The lack of agreement between the theologians and religious savants does not disprove the Gospel in any way, it merely illustrates the diversity and richness of the whole Christian experience.
- Compare Modern Art to Christianity
Consider a modern painting: The artist ’saw’ something and committed that vision to canvas, but viewers will all have their own interpretation of what is portrayed, and will energetically argue their own interpretation. That is subjective! Considered objectively, the technique, the composition, and the style, can all be defined and all may agree, but the meaning, the message, and the emotions evoked will never be same for everyone. So it is with Christianity, we each perceive God in our own way, according to our unique experience.
- Unity Springs From Obedience
God will not work against himself. Ergo, if we are each obedient to His leading we must be in unity. Do you ‘get it’? If I am obedient to the one true God, and if you are too, then we MUST BE in UNITY! We will not be doing the same things, at the same times, because the broad spectrum of humanity requires that we will be ministering to [different] others in our individual way and to their [unique] needs. But unity will be evident in the pattern of the whole cloth.
Christians in Unity
Our mission is really very simple, and is contained in the Commandment - “Love God, love each other, love your neighbour and ‘tell the good news‘.” Implicit in that is the need for obedience, and the desire to do good* - what more needs to be said? That is how to get Christian Unity.
*Derivation of Good: from the old English God;
**Derivation of Christian: one who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus CHRIST;
Tags: Christian Unity, led by the Spirit, Spirit of God, subjectivity
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Evidence of the Holy Spirit
The only reliable evidence of the Holy Spirit in the life of a person is evidence of the ‘Fruit of the Spirit’. The fruit of the Spirit is as described here in [Galations 5:22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…………
- By Their Fruit You Will Recognize Them
Jesus said everything must bear fruit of its own kind [Luke 14:43] 43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”. And in Matthew 7:20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
So to see the evidence of the Holy Spirit in the life of someone, you look for the fruit of their life. If they love their fellows; if they have joy in the Lord; if there is peace in their life; if they are patient, kind, gentle, faithful, and so on, then you can believe that they indeed are led by the Holy Spirit of God.
It doesn’t matter what a person says about themselves, how plausible they may sound, what documents or certificates they might show, or what others may tell you or believe about them, the only real evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit of God is the way they behave!
If you need to discern the evidence of the Holy Spirit in someone, then use the same methods as described in How To Preach, take it to the Lord in prayer!
Tags: evidence of Spirit, Fruit of Spirit, Holy Spirit
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How do I Pray
The answer to, “How do I Pray”, is quite simply this: Prayer is dialog with God [whether Father Son or Holy Spirit]. By definition, dialog is two way, one party talks and the other party listens, then the roles change! It is a conversation.
What is our role? It is easy to answer most questions if we use the analogies given in the Bible. In this context the Bible talks about God as our father, and we can easily relate to that image of a child talking to a loved father. We can share our joys, our worries, and our needs, just as we would with a temporal father.
Our God designed and built us, so He understands what we say, in whatever language or idiom we may use. Using ‘traditional’ thee, thy, and thou type language is silly - God well knows that we love, respect and revere Him - so we need only to talk naturally, using words we are comfortable with and that we understand.
He also knows, to the last molecule, what we need to keep us running on all cylinders, so we don’t need to ask for things for ourselves - He is a loving father and will always provide what is best for us. I have found that He always supplies my needs in a better way than I would have dared to ask for! You wouldn’t ASK for breakfast at home - it is naturally provided - but you should say, “thank you”, afterward!
We can always pray for others, whether it be thanks for them or petitions for them. I try not to ‘tell God what to do’ - like I just ask for blessing for a person in need, but never specify what that blessing would be. Our perception of another persons need must always be from incomplete and partial knowledge. We seek His wisdom, just as in finding out How to Preach.
Remember that prayer is dialog with God and you will have no problem knowing how do I pray!
Tags: Dialog with God, How to Pray, prayer
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The Baptism of the Holy Spirit
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is that baptism that comes after repentance of sin, and acceptance of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. It is part of that baptism [Acts 2: 38.] 38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit . 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off–for all whom the Lord our God will call. and takes place simultaneously. It is being born again.
Speaking in tongues is often confused with the baptism of the Holy Spirit; and frequently quoted as evidence of that baptism. It is not. Speaking in tongues is a GIFT of the Holy Spirit, and like all the spiritual gifts it is given as God wills.[Hebrews 2:4.] 4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. All that only shows that you have [at the present time] been given (or are maybe faking) the gift of tongues.
Being born again is literally what happens during baptism. The descent into water symbolises the death of the old [sinful] you, the washing away of sin, and the emergence from the water symbolises your new birth as a spiritual being. [Colossians 2:12.] 12 ….having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
- Evidence of the Holy Spirit
The only reliable evidence of the Holy Spirit in a persons life is the spiritual fruit [Galatians 5:22] 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. that is visible in that life. As a tree must bear fruit that is its own, so must the visible spiritual fruit belong to that spirit.
Simply by definition the person of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the fruit of the Holy Spirit, are quite different and easily recognized.
This is [one] function of the Holy Spirit: [John 14:] 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit , whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
- The Gifts of the Holy Spirit
The gifts of the Holy Spirit are defined here [1 Corinthians 12:4.] 4 There are different kinds of gifts , but the same Spirit. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
The fruit of the Spirit is as described above in [Galations 5:22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Tags: Baptism of the holy Spirit, baptized with water, Born again, fruit of the Spirit, speaking in tongues
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