Jeremiah had the edge. The Word of God was like fire in his bones. He couldn't keep his mouth shut. He just had to tell people about God!
When you have the edge you have fire. You have a word that's burning in your heart and you say, "I can't keep this to myself. It's like a fire raging inside of me."
Paul's attitude was, I've got to preach this thing! If I don't, I won't be able to live with myself. It's real! It's alive! Paul had a fire that burned in his bones. It was a deep, overwhelming conviction. To not minister the Gospel was agony to Paul. When you have the edge, you have a tremendous conviction in your heart and your mind that you must do all you can do to see people saved.
A lot of people have good teaching but no real fire - and that disturbs me. One of the worst insults is when someone comes up to me after a service and says, "That was a real neat sermon." I don't want anyone telling me I had a neat sermon. I want my sermons to be full of fire.
I want to see people's lives transformed by the power of Almighty God. I want them so stunned that they forgot that they were on earth. I want them transported to where they're not even able to speak, because they just had an encounter with God. If they're coherent enough to know that it was a neat teaching, then I must not have had the edge.
Do you have that kind of conviction every time you share the Gospel?
Does fire burn in your bones to share Jesus with your friends?
If you can't say yes to those questions, my challenge to you is to purpose in your heart to have this kind of conviction. "IF I DON'T SPEAK THIS, I'LL DIE! I'VE GOT TO. IT'S SO REAL. IT'S SO RIGHT! Woe to me, if I don't."
If you don't have this kind of conviction, cry out to God. Go after the edge! Approach your day with the same zeal Paul had everyday: "If I don't stand up for Jesus today, if I don't live what I believe, it will eat me alive on the inside! I have go to share the truth!"
Preaching does not necessarily mean getting in front of a bunch a people and telling them about Jesus. "Preaching" could be talking to someone near your locker about how God loves them. You can preach with your life, your actions, and your words. Everything that you do should be a reflection of your heart toward God.
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