PREACH "THAT"!

[prophetess m. brignac]

One of a man/woman of God's, potentially, greatest dilemmas, especially in the early days, is that of " God, what am I going to preach?" I'm sure there are many who believe that the preacher just slides behind the sacred desk,and great manna from on high,immediately is channeled through those anointed "lips of clay" but not hardly, and not usually! After some years of experience, sensitivity, discipline, and studying to show one's self approved, and acknowledging a Holy Spirit dependency in all things, this kind of manifestation is possible, but it's not the "norm"! Great preparation, and a consecrated life goes into becoming a messenger,or preacher of any substance, power, or effectiveness, and there are no short cuts. We are talking about handling the Logos Word of God, the Sword of life, and the manna from heaven. When we discipline ourselves in the Word, study to show ourselves approved, and prove ourselves to be good stewards over the mysteries of the Gospel, the Logos will become Rhema, and it won't return void, the people shall be blessed, convicted,repentant, compelled to salvation, the captives shall be loosed,and the blind shall see, and demons shall be cast out and sent to the dry places. There was also a time, when the preached Word compelled sinners to run to the altar, and the backslidden couldn't remain in their seats, not because of the Pentecostal riffs of the organ,but because the Word lit a flame and a burning in their very souls. These are the things that the preached Word should be doing, without all the hysterics,drama, theatrical displays,and academy award winning performances! There was a time when the "foolishness of preaching" caused demons to tremble and vacate the premises, and sin found no comfortability in it's presence. There was a time when the simplicity of preaching jump started spontaneous revival, and marriages were healed,minds restored,and miracles manifest,just from the preached Word. Now, we have so many contemporary messages, that are so irrelevant, desperately void of substance, carnal ,and unreflective that even the younger children find them amusing,and no more than clever entertainment. I've yet to uncover what "preaching" "Mighty Mouse and Fearless Fly" have to do with snatching a soul from hell, but I've heard it presented as the "message " for the day , and all it did was provide a little "comic relief", mixed with confusion, and a circus for the demons. Creativity has it's place in the presentation of what one ministers, your personal "flavor" will be detected in whatever you do, but it should never be to the point, where people have to wonder,guess,or place bets" on whether or not you're preaching the Bible.With such a great influx of T-V broadcasts which brought to the international forefront, every genre and type of preacher/ preaching one can imagine, a great wave of direct plagerism, emulation,imitation, idolatry, and mimicry hit the Body of Christ. We've heard that "imitation is the greatest form of flattery", but when it comes to the things of God, its simply not true. We see those who covet their "idol's" anointing, applause,adulation, or responses, by the multitudes, and so they begin to copy their clothing, hairstyles, jewelry, mannerisms, inflections,gestures,and actual messages, not recognizing they've embraced the spirit of emulation and idolatry, which are offensive to the Lord.

The most profoundly effective preaching, is always that in which the messenger makes themselves naked, vulnerable and transparent,as they preach about the absolute goodness and faithfuness of God, experentially. Preaching Samson's testimony, Job's tribulation, David's misery, Jeremiah's lamentation, Jonah's disgust, Hosea's humiliation, Paul' sufferings, Hadassah's boldness, Gideons fleece, Joshua's Jericho, etc. are wonderful and true,but people respond to something nearer to their existence and tangibility, and to "right now" truth and testimony. I believe the Bible still declares that " WE OVERCOME HIM,BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB, AND BY THE WORD OF OUR TESTIMONY!" You really want to cut a path into the kingdom, be prepared to share your greatest testimony, and "Preach THAT", because THAT will "preach"! If you were a scandalous wretch, with no moral boundaries to speak of, PREACH THAT! If you were a notorous drug dealer, holding your "hood" down,and "dropping bodies' like trash, and God, yet, extended His hand of grace and mercy to you, PREACH THAT! If you were that chick who respected nobody's marriage, and single handedly increased the divorce rates in your county, and God saw fit to take away your reproach, and set your feet upon a high place, "preach THAT", because "THAT" always "preaches"! Perhaps yours were "white collar" crimes, but you handled your wife like she was another man, and kept her with a fresh black eye or two, and you were blessed to have a "Damascus road" visitation, where the Lord restored your soul, "Preach THAT, because THAT will "Preach!" Maybe you were a ranking "wiccan" , or voooo priest/priestess, and the Lord rescued you from the bowels of hell, and now you serve Him with gladness, "Preach THAT"! If you were bound by homosexuality, afflictd with HIV, and just when they were writing out your funeral services, the Lord granted you a reprieve, and now you use your body with who and how God intended while you serve Him, in rightousness, "Preach" THAT"! You may have been a faithful member of the "grand order" of th KKK, and the Lord visited you, and caused you to repent for all the evil you committed against innocent people whom you didn't even know, "Preach" THAT! You may have been a former "whoring Pastor", with an affinity for tender young flesh, and the Lord caused the scales to fall from your eyes, and forced you to see the abomination you were becoming, and granted you his mercies which are "new" every morning, then,man of God, square yor shoulders and Preach THAT! You may have embezzled funds from the church finances,or caused many Church splits, becoming the sower of discord, and a Judas to people who trusted you,and one Sunday morning, while receiving Holy communion, the "blood" purged you, and so now you owe it to God to "Preach THAT", because "THAT" will preach! We will never be at a real shortage of preaching material , until we begin to take ourselves too seriously, and allow the strong-holds of pride,shame, and fear regarding " the opinions of people to prevent us from the perfect liberty of "preaching "THAT". Whatever caused you the greatest chagrin, embarassment, shame, humiliation, anguish, and despair; whatever the enemy tried to keep you bound and shackled about; whatever he convinced you was too "personal" ,or pathetic to share, because people would jugde, no longer respect and reject you for, "Preach THAT, because THAT will always "Preach", and somebody's soul will always be loosed from the yoke of bondage, if you set your self free, first, obey God, and just "Preach THAT"!