Sometimes preaching a passage in first person is the best and most effective way of communicating it.  Preaching in character allows you to engage the story in a more vivid and engaging manner.  Yet preaching first person sermons well is by no means easy.  You have to do all the work of Bible study and designing the message as for a normal sermon, but you also have to do more . . . more research, more planning, more details.  Two brief thoughts to add in to the planning process:

1. Remember that you are presenting the history, but need to preach the theology of the text.  For example, if you are preaching a narrative from the Gospels, you should preach the narrative in light of one of the written records.  I say this as opposed to preaching a composite blend of multiple accounts, to preach the event itself.  So if your narrative is found in all three synoptic Gospels, then be aware of all three (so as not to present a historical error in your story-telling), but make sure your idea, purpose and emphasis come from one of them.  The historical event was revelation, but the written account is inspired.

2. Remember to find ways to provide the evidence to support the idea of your sermon, and your interpretation of the text.  In normal preaching this is more simple, you merely decide how much of your textual study should be demonstrated and in what way.  If your understanding of the passage is influenced by the term the writer chose to use, then you can demonstrate that.  But when preaching first person, you usually can’t refer to the text in this way.  Do not therefore simply tell the story without letting your study show.  Show it in other ways.  For example, in Mark 4:35-41 you discover that the term “rebuked” is significant in understanding the story as Mark presents it, as is the use of “be still” in Mark’s gospel.  When preaching in character you cannot simply explain how these terms point to Mark’s intent in his presentation of the story.  But they can still show.  For example, speaking as a disciple, “You should have seen Him!  It wasn’t just that He spoke to the storm, it was also the way He did it.  As I thought back on it after, playing that moment over and over in my mind, I realized where I’d seen Him speak like that before.  It was when . . .” (then describe briefly the earlier incidents in Mark 1 and 3).  You can’t refer to chapter and verse, but you can refer to the stories in such a way as to highlight the significance.  And again, “The words He used, ‘be still!’ – He’d said that before . . .”  In first person it takes creativity to support your interpretation of the text, and it will be an indirect approach.  But you must do it, otherwise you run the risk of telling a story, but not preaching a text.