| It
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. 1Cor.1:21 It was the will of the Father to
bring salvation to the world by the
foolishness of preaching. It was the will of God that the
church exalt
the Son and bring glory to God.
Now preaching is that form of communication which turns the will of the hearer away from the attractions of the world to the bosom of God. It has the effect on the hearer of renouncing the world and all its allurements for the sake of God's kingdom. Preaching is not teaching. Preaching acts on the will, teaching on the intellect. Through preaching a person comes to make a decision and make a commitment to some form of action. Teaching, on the other hand, has the effect of bringing knowledge to the hearer and does not primarily affect the will. We may teach in order to prepare the person to make an assent to truth, but preaching is not teaching and demands a choice. And what do we preach? "We preach Christ crucified." 1Cor.1:23 At the heart of the will of the Father is the exaltation of the life, death, and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ. We do not preach the wisdom of the world, but the death of Jesus Christ. "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect." 1Cor.1:17 So in preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, Jesus is the focal point of our preaching. Jesus is the heart of the message. It is through lifting up Jesus that conviction of sin occurs, and a person enters into the kingdom. And how does that happen? It happens by the working of the Holy Spirit. For if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and righteousness and of judgment. John16:7-8 It is the role of the Holy Spirit to convict of sin and bring mercy and faith and comfort to a repentant sinner. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to make Jesus present and real to the hearer so that the word might penetrate the heart, and the person experience regeneration, and the will of God be fulfilled. It is the work of the Holy Spirit in preaching which brings new members into the church. How, then, do we become effective preachers of God’s word? To answer that question, we must first look to Jesus and see what made him effective as a minister of God. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him. Acts10:38 And Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Matt16:16 What made Jesus an effective minister of God was the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Christ means "the anointed one" and it was the anointing that broke the yoke. And it shall come to pass in that day that his burden shall be taken away from off his shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. Isaiah10:27 To be effective as a minister of the gospel, one must receive an anointing from God. It is the anointed that has the power to convict, to deliver, and to heal. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 1Cor.2:4-5 Jesus had the anointing. St. Paul had the anointing. It is through the anointing, "the Christ", that preaching becomes effective. To be sure, we need to know scripture, we need to know sound doctrine, and we need to be pure in heart, but without the anointing, we will be ineffective as preachers of the gospel. Pray for God to pour out a fresh anointing of His Spirit so that you, too, may become a "Christ", an anointed one of God. Amen |