Make Me a Preacher

From boyhood there were only three professions I truly desired to pursue. Each of these, I think, described a particular longing of my heart, in such a way, that revealed what I wanted most out of my life. Namely, to teach and work with others, to enjoy the beauties of creation, and to make Christ known wherever I might go. The three professions I dreamed to fulfill were football coach, a professional hunter of sorts, and a preacher. These three dominated my daydreams and nothing gave my mind more excitement than the prospects of building a wildly creative offensive playbook, spending my days in the woods on the hunt for various game, and handling the word of God in boldness while proclaiming its truth to hungry souls.

My desire for these three pathways didn’t change much through highschool or college. While others were acquiring a taste for corporate ascent, I was still on the sideline, in the woods, or occupying some pulpit. It is a pleasure to say that I meandered into at least one of the professions to this point. It is a rich blessing from the Lord to be able to work in the space I do. He has provided me with the opportunity to teach, to enjoy creation regularly, and make Christ known in it all. As a Christian, the great thing about my relationship with the Father is that this can be true of any profession. Currently this is true as I continue in the work of creating new outdoorsmen and women who are active, knowledgeable, and skilled in hunting and fishing. What a great career path this has been and I hope continues to be!

While I love my current calling and plan to walk in it for an extended time, I can’t help but daydream about the prospects of preaching. From youth it has been on my heart and through the years the flame of desire towards preaching has ebbed and flowed within me. Certain seasons have been filled with sweat wrought nights and distracted days as I wrestled with the draw towards full time ministry work. Even now that flame returns from time to time, seemingly as a reminder that while now might not be the time, there will come a day when it is time to walk through that door. I am not the sovereign Lord and I am prone to misunderstandings, but after years of prayer, steady walking with the Lord, and intense effort to put out that flame I still hear that voice within saying, “Not yet, but soon.”

As I stated above, I have tried to quench the flame of desire towards preaching in many ways. I have tried to deny that it was even a desire, but I found myself again thinking of how I would preach some verse or another, while getting increasingly excited as sermon notes took form in my imagination. I have made logistic excuses, claiming it is too late to walk the path towards the pastorate, as if the God of all the universe cannot change the course of an “established” young man in his twenties. Lord, forgive me for trying to dampen the desires you have placed on my heart.

The weight and magnitude of the office is one that is not lost on my trembling soul. James reminds me often that, “Not many of you should become teachers… for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” A sobering thought to anyone desiring to handle the word of God. I desire to rightly handle the word and I often recognize my lack of knowledge regarding scripture, but those gaps have only created a hunger to seek more, read more, and love more.

Romans 10:13-15 fans the flame towards preaching in my heart.

“For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

I am so thankful for the men around me who have been sent to preach the good news. They have all opened depths of Gospel truth in my life and revealed its power at work in the world. It is because of their preaching that I have heard good news, believed, and called on the Lord. This whole process, a generous gift from the Father, has been used to draw me out of darkness and into the light. Blessed be those men who have preached to my soul. It was never about them or their preaching, only the truth in what they proclaimed, namely Christ Jesus.

I desire not to be seen, only to be filled with Gospel truth and distribute it with as much grace and accuracy as those who have helped me in my walk, so that those positioned within my reach might hear the good news of Jesus. If you are like me though, you might tend to doubt your ability to do this effectively. While my flesh is prone to doubt my ability to speak or write Gospel truths I know that it really isn't about my ability. My confidence does not lean on my ability to captivate or articulate. My confidence is in the power of the Holy Spirit to bring dead hearts to life.

That same Spirit thunders truth within me like a roaring lion. I hope my writing echoes that roar, but at times all I hear is a growling dog. Fierce and bold, but a dog nonetheless. Not much more could be said of my confidence towards my spoken words. They break like the bleat of an unsure billy goat. In summation, I recognize the reality of my unimpressive state. However, I believe that a morsel of truth, ordained and blessed by God, uttered from a growling dog or agitated billy can win more battles in the heart than the roaring of lions apart from the Father.

I believe the Gospel still brings holy hunger to the hearts of those unrepentant and joyful satisfaction to those already adopted into the holy family of God. My confidence is in the power of the Gospel, not in my ability to proclaim it. The Gospel changes hearts, I do not. If I give a word of truth it is only because I have received truth as a gift. If I preach the Gospel, it roars, despite any unimpressive persuasion of the tongue or crafting of words on the page. The reason, again, is that the Spirit roars within me. The receptive heart hears the lion, not the goat.

So, go and preach the Gospel! It speaks for itself.

And what is the Gospel, except for Christ and him crucified? So, what must we say or write to those hungry souls around us?

Apart from Christ I was dead in my sins, an enemy of God. I knew nothing but darkness and in me there was no light. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. For by grace I have been saved through faith. And this was not my own doing; it was the gift of God, not a result of my works, so that I could have boasted (Ephesians 2:4-5 & 8-9). Christ has justified me before the Father by taking my sin and bearing my punishment. The wrath of God was removed from me by the washing of Christ’s blood, leaving me righteous and holy before him through faith in his name.

I was saved from God’s wrath, by God’s grace, for God’s glory.

Saved from God, by God, for God.

That is the Gospel.

Do you believe this?

God, make me a preacher, unashamed and demonstrative in my proclamations of Christ. Make me a preacher, not just in occupation, but in natural bend. Whether I ever preach from a pulpit or not, make my daily preaching full of the Gospel and earnest pleas for more to believe. Keep me content in steady walking, but prepare me for what comes next. Will that next step be work within your church? If not, help me walk as if it were. You are the potter, I am the clay. Make me moldable and fit for ministry work, in whatever capacity gives you most glory.

Keep the flame of desire for Gospel preaching alive in my heart. Help me devote myself to truth, to love it, live by it, and share it. I believe in the power of the Gospel. I believe you are still changing hearts, despite what our cultural moment implies.

Father, make me a preacher, one that brings good news to the ears of those ready to believe.

For your glory, in Christ name,

Amen