As I come to 2 Timothy 4 this week, I find myself preaching about preaching. And that topic also leads me to a lesson I want to share in this week's installment of Messages About Purpose and Strategy.

The preacher, Jack Hayford, once said, "Every sermon must be a Bethlehem - there the Word was made flesh." He was talking about what has come to be called an incarnational ministry. People want to see God in the flesh. The best preaching makes God available and brings him close to the needy.

This need for incarnational ministry relates not only to those of us serving in a teaching ministry; it is the call to every Christian. Picture Dayspring attenders thinking of themselves as the place where Jesus comes to people. You are a little Bethlehem. You are where others can see Jesus. I envision our whole church like this. Our wills are all that stand in the way of us fulfilling this vision. Let God mightily use you! Invite him to manifest his presence in you. For, after all, 2 Cor 5:20 is addressed to each of us: "God makes his appeal through us." The thought of having God come to the needy in us is both amazing and frightening. Give God praise as you give him your life. Pray: "God, come to people in me. May others see Jesus in my life, and hear your Word from my lips. Have your way with my life!"