Cultivating Passion to Preach!

"What fuels passion in the heart of a preacher? Is passion simply an expression of a person's native personality... natural disposition? What is it that fuels passion in the heart of a preacher? I'm not saying volume necessarily. I'm saying passion. Something that is evident and obvious and clear for people to see. What is it that arouses enthusiasm within the man of God so that his preaching is more than just a cold recitation of facts but a vigorous expression of a kind of internal combustion? What is it that stimulates a sense of urgency within the heart of a man that stands behind the sacred desk? For me, dear friends, it comes from asking myself a question. Once all the bible study is through, and all the verbs parced, and all the diagrams drawn, and all the reading done, and I've finally arrived at some conclusions about the meaning of the text at hand, I then ask myself a question: What is the price of ignoring this truth? What is the price of ignoring this truth? What would be the price paid in the lives of people were they never to know this truth? Or suddenly this particular portion of the scriptures to be extricated from the Sacred text? Or God never to reveal this truth to us? What would be the cost? What would be the debilitation to us? Even more personally, dear friends, to what extent would the sanctification of the people of Christ Community Church be impaired were they kept from this truth? I typically begin asking myself this every Monday morning. And as the week draws to an end, I begin to ask it with greater intensity. And there are times on Saturday night, I go to bed asking myself this question over, and over, and over again... how will the people of Christ Community Church be debilitated, be compromised were this particular truth kept from them? I begin to ask myself that question and others like them and before long I come to believe that the message at hand is the most important thing I've ever preached. Now of course I understand that every week can't be the single most important thing I've ever preached. I know that logically. But that fact is, when I consider the truth of the word of God, its value for our lives, and the implications for us, were that truth ignored, passion comes very easily!" - Arturo G. Azurdia