Before you get up to preach...

In an all too common episode of procrastination, I was recently updating my Facebook personal information. Curiously I had in a weak moment of feigned Christian piety listed the book of the Bible, Philippians in my list of "Favourite books". To be perfectly honest with you, at this present time I couldn't with any great deal of ease tell you too much about the letter to the Philippians. So why did I list it in my favourite books? It was not to to appear super godly, it was not a token gesture as "something a follower of Jesus should probably include", nor was it a typographic error while attempting to write the name of the author Philip P. Ians. No it was because I was reading Philippians at the time I created my profile. It seems that no matter what I'm studying in the Bible at the moment, it automatically becomes my "Favourite book".

Tonight at the National Training Event I had the great pleasure of hearing the great truths of 1 and 2 Samuel explained clearly and passionately by Andrew Reid. But as amazing as it is to see the almost incomprehensible gracious love of God which longs to bless his people by keeping his promises to them, the faithfulness of God to his promises that will not be overcome by our frailty; and this is indeed mind-blowing. And yet as great as this is, there was one more unintended lesson which I learned from Andrew. He absolutely loves the books of 1 and 2 Samuel. I could hear it in the way he spoke of how the eternal truth contained within comes to bear on our lives today. Indeed came to bear on his own life. His energy and passion were contagious. Now Andrew has obviously spent a great deal of time studying these books as he's written a commentary on them, and yet this in-depth study has brought forth in him an almost child-like enthusiasm. And man, it really helped bring 1 and 2 Samuel to life.

So my advice to preachers is this; Before you get up to preach, ask yourself is this your favourite book of the Bible? It might not be, but at the very least what is it that excites you about this book or this passage? What speaks to you in your desires and frailties and your life? It's really an extension of applying the word of God first to ourselves as teachers. If the word of God isn't moving deep within you as the preacher, how can you expect to communicate to the hearers that this word of the Lord is to be treasured and desired and read in order to bring forth change in our lives?