A Prayer of George Whitefield:

““Yea…that we shall see the great Head of the Church once more . . . raise up unto Himself certain young men whom He may use in this glorious employ. And what manner of men will they be? Men mighty in the Scriptures, their lives dominated by a sense of the greatness, the majesty and holiness of God, and their minds and hearts aglow with the great truths of the doctrines of grace. They will be men who have learned what it is to die to self, to human aims and personal ambitions; men who are willing to be ‘fools for Christ’s sake’, who will bear reproach and falsehood, who will labor and suffer, and whose supreme desire will be, not to gain earth’s accolades, but to win the Master’s approbation when they appear before His awesome judgment seat. They will be men who will preach with broken hearts and tear-filled eyes, and upon whose ministries God will grant an extraordinary effusion of the Holy Spirit, and who will witness ‘signs and wonders following’ in the transformation of multitudes of human lives.”

Thanks to http://preachers.wordpress.com/for the quote!

I must!

God the Father has called me to preach. It is undeniable. I may not be the best preacher of all time. There are certainly others more equipped than me...more creative than me...more intelligent than me. But I can not deny the fact that God, through His Son Jesus Christ and by the anointing of His Great Spirit, has called me to preach. I must preach the Crucified Christ!

I think of Jesus, my obvious preaching Mentor. We don't think about it a lot, but He CAME to earth TO PREACH (Mark 1:38-39)! In Luke's gospel, chapter 1:43, the incredible lips of Jesus said, "I MUST PREACH the GOOD NEWS of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." Whewwww!

I love that because that is how I feel about preaching the Gospel of Jesus! I "MUST" do it! God the Father called me to preach the Gospel through Jeremiah chapter 1. Look at what God says to Jeremiah in verse7 and compare it to what our Preaching Brother said in Luke's gospel: "YOU MUST go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you."

Now, compare that with what Master Orator says in John 12:49-50: "For I did not speak of My own accord, but the Father who sent Me commanded Me what to say and how to say it. I know that His command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told Me to say."

The Father has told me...commanded me to preach Jesus Christ and Him Crucified
(1 Cor. 2:2! I MUST! Woe to me if I don't (1 Cor. 9:16) FOR CHRIST AND HIS GOSPEL (MARK 8:35)!