BY DR. JOHN SULLIVAN
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR-TREASURER
FLORIDA BAPTIST CONVENTION

The Jeremiah Factor: The Call to Preach
This is the first of a three-part series on “The Call to Preach”

Most people are searching for significance. They have a desire to make a difference and feel the need to leave a legacy.

Those who proclaim the Gospel, however, do not enter the ministry using their own significance as a criterion because preaching has a purpose and proposition bigger than legacy. To preach without a divine purpose and the unction of the Holy Spirit is, at best, giving a speech.

Consider Jeremiah’s prophetic call found in Jeremiah 1:4-9. The prophet is assured that his call came directly from God. Those of us who are proclaimers of the gospel, too, must be sure of a divine call.

The call to preach establishes a difference between the preacher and the pew. While Christian believers are alike—morally, in salvation and through the exercise of gifts—there is a radical dimension to the call of preaching. Erasing the line between pulpit and pew will result in fewer people asking you to pray for them.

In his classic book, The Christian Ministry, Charles Bridges said, “The want of a divine call is a main cause of failure in the Christian ministry.”

The call of ministry must be certain and consuming. Without a strong sense of calling, life will be unsure and unsettled. Burning bushes, Potter’s house and singing at midnight are vital to longevity.

Again it is Bridges who relates, “The internal call is the voice and power of the Holy Spirit directing our will and judgment.”

At times a preacher should go back to the “burning bush” of their own experience and realize the mystery and mastery of the call rises above all difficulties. Perhaps in Moses’ own burning bush experience, God was saying “I will set your life on fire—the flame will not go out.”

A visit to the bush will reaffirm our obedience, instill new confidence and fortify nerves in the midst of conflict or an overwhelming sense of “Goliath” obligations.

There will never be a return to dynamic faith in the church without the “fire” of the call blazing within us as gospel preachers. I have never wondered about consequences of preaching the gospel. But I have often wondered what God would do to me if I did not preach the gospel!

A sense of need or knowing needs to be met cannot be a justification for the gospel ministry. Preaching must be done out of a calling that is the most comprehensive and profound motivation in human experience. In this call God singles us out. He then sends us out and constantly helps us out.

Someone once said: “Teaching is pouring it on and preaching is rubbing it in.”

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You may contact Dr. John Sullivan at
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