What We Preach
(S) Scripture
We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
1 John 1:3 (NIV)
(O) Observation
John gives authenticity to his message by saying it comes from firsthand experience. It comes from what he saw and heard. The result is fellowship with each other and with God.
(A) Application
John gives some great insight in this little statement. The authenticity of my messages comes from my personal experience with the Lord. When I preach from my own life experience with the Lord and His Word the authenticity of the Gospel comes through. Preaching from life experience is not enough. My life experience can also be sinful and apart from God. It is what I have seen and heard from the Lord that produces the fruit of fellowship within the church and with the Lord. I cannot preach from others experience, I must do so from my own. This means that I must continually walk by faith, spend time with the Lord in prayer and in His Word. That is the source of my preaching content, the power in the preaching must come from the Holy Spirit as He takes the Word and applies it to lives through the preaching. I cannot remember who said it but it was in a seminar sometime, "We are to preach from the overflow of our relationship with the Lord." Today I recommit myself to preaching from the overflow in my life.
(P) Prayer
Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit so that my life will overflow with your love and grace. Let me preach from that overflow. Amen
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