I am not a preacher. Why and what does God want me to preach about?
2 Corinthians 3:2 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: (KJV)
2 Corinthians 3:2 You are our letter, written in our hearts and known and read by everyone. (ISV)
The Apostle Paul began the third chapter of his letter to the Corinthians church by stating that they(the Corinthian church) were His letter, written for all to see.
2 Corinthians 3:3 You are demonstrating that you are the Messiah’s letter, produced by our service, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. (KJV)
He continued in verse 3 that this letter, although a product of His (and his co-labourer’s) service, belongs to The Messiah (Jesus Christ), who is ultimately the wise master builder (1Corinthians 3:9-10). We thus reckon that we, being dealt with by God as His workmanship, are being raised as letters, authored by God, written by the hands of those He so wishes, and are used to pass a message across unto other men. Pay attention to that sequence!
The scriptures say that we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto every good work… (Ephesians 2:10). We are being made in Christ Jesus for the purpose that we show forth good works.
You would then ask, what is the content of this letter, that is, what message does this letter convey to people? Let us unravel this question by taking a look at the following scriptures:
Colossians 1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. (KJV)
1 Timothy 2:3-4 ‘This [kind of praying] is good and acceptable and pleasing in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge and recognition of the [divine] truth. ‘ (AMP)
We can see first of all from Colossians that the author, who is God, has a burden in his heart even before writing the letter of passing the message through us and this burden, as stated, is that all men will be reconciled to Him. It was put in 1 Timothy that He desires all men to be saved.
Before the advent of the Messiah, long before Israel became an independent nation, God would have them saved from the bondage of the Egyptians only for one purpose, which was to worship Him (have them worship him in the wilderness). In Exodus 19:6 He said they shall be unto Him a people. What is paramount in the heart of God the Father, which He constantly seeks to communicate to men is that all men be saved, reconciled back to Him. This then is the content of His message which He is passing through us.
This is further established in the following scriptures;
2 Corinthians 5:18-20
‘But all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ [making us acceptable to Him] and gave us the ministry of reconciliation [so that by our example we might bring others to Him],
that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting people’s sins against them [but cancelling them]. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation [that is, restoration to favour with God]. So we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us; we [as Christ’s representatives] plead with you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. ‘ (AMP)
Matthew 5:13-16 (KJV)
13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
We can see clearly that he has committed this ministry of reconciliation into our hands, and this is the content of our message. It is nothing but Christ and HIM crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:2).
We do not only speak it, we do not only write it, we live it! This is what Mathew admonishes us to do; that our light so shine before men that they are convinced that God loves them and would have them come to Him in repentance. Nothing glorifies God than men reconciled back to HIM!
For us to effectively deliver this message, we must come to understand the intent and purpose of the heart of God and align ourselves with it.
A scripture comes to mind,
Ephesians 1:17-18 ‘[I always pray] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may grant you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation [that gives you a deep and personal and intimate insight] into the true knowledge of Him [for we know the Father through the Son].
And [I pray] that the eyes of your heart [the very center and core of your being] may be enlightened [flooded with light by the Holy Spirit], so that you will know and cherish the hope [the divine guarantee, the confident expectation] to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints (God’s people), ‘ (AMP)
It truly takes an illumination from the Holy Spirit to understand what the desires of God are and to be at the centre of it. This is more than a mere knowledge or a mental assent of just accepting that we have come to know what that desire is, but to have a revelation of it, a vision given to you by God himself, which then translates to a burning passion and zeal to see this desire come to pass. Then would Habakkuk 2:2 come to pass in our life, having an effective run with the vision, and we can say with the Apostle, “…I am not disobedient to the Heavenly vision…” (Acts 26:19).
Let your life preach this message!
MARANATHA!