Being Full, Preaching Full

As a gift that God gives to the Church, the evangelist has a specific assignment to preach the gospel with the demonstration of the Spirit. In other words an evangelist has to bring something to the table.

In Acts 20:7-12, it says Paul preached from day until midnight, raised a dead-man, and continued his sermon until morning. There is no question that in order to have such a dynamic ministry Paul had to have been FULL of something other than himself. This of course, was the Indwelling Holy Spirit that Paul continually yielded himself to (Col. 1:27) and was standard for those serving in the church (Acts 6:3).

No doubt Paul could have continued his sermon, however, he had to move forward with his assignment. In other words, he didn't run out of sermon notes. Paul was speaking from the abundance of his heart and when he had a release in the Spirit he simply "unplugged" from the source. Paul tells us in Gal. 1:12,15-16,18 that he wasn't operating by head knowledge acquired through the senses but rather a Holy Ghost knowledge imparted to the spirit. When an evangelist (or any other ministry gift) endeavors to get into the flow, preaching will come EASY because he can preach off the overflow thats in his heart. Ideas, illustrations, applications will come to him as he ministers to people.

The Lord spoke to my heart one time and said "Son, the biggest difficulty with modern preachers is their mouths are too big and their ears are too small."

We should give the Word first place as evangelists for the very reason that is laid out in Heb. 4:12...it cuts right to the spirit of man. The one commonality that every human has is the fact we are spirit beings. This spirit we have recognizes the Word of God. The Word of God cuts past language, culture, and generational barriers because it is designed for the heart not the mind!!

Let us evangelists be diligent to heed Paul's first commission to us...Preach (be full of) the Word!! (2 Tim. 4:2,5)