“For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
1 CORINTHIANS 2:2-5
Christians were never intended to fight the world, the flesh and the devil with only their natural resources or intellect–whether they lived in the first or the 21st century. The Gospel is the “power of God” (Romans 1:16). The Holy Spirit gives us the power we need, but not when we ignore Him.
HOW MUCH PREACHING TODAY SOUNDS AS IF THE PREACHER just returned from the Upper Room with the apostles? How much sounds as if the Gospel is actually the power of God? Preachers often talk to their congregations like doctors—passionless, giving the Holy Spirit no chance to move. The Christian mandate cannot be accomplished without the Spirit’s anointing. “Be filled with the Spirit!” is our instruction (Ephesians 5:18). Being purpose-driven is part of it, but being Spirit-driven is the New Testament pattern. He is the motivator and the motivating power.
If we want New Testament conditions, we need to study the New Testament pattern so we know what to expect. If we do what the apostles did, we get what the apostles got. If we preach the original Gospel, we will get the original results.
“AND THEY CONTINUED STEADFASTLY IN THE APOSTLES’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles . . . And the Lord added to the Church daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:42, 43, 47). People pray, “Do it again, Lord.” But we should do again what the Early Church Christians did; they were unceasing in their witness (Acts 5:42). They preached, witnessed and worked as if it all depended on them, but then they prayed as if it all depended on God. They depended on God, and God depended on them. Oh, that God can depend on you and me to continue—to be faithful in preaching, in teaching and in witnessing.
Proclamation comes before confirmation. Preach a limited Jesus, and He cannot be Himself. He does not save unless you preach a Savior. He does not heal unless you preach the Healer. He will bless if you preach the One Who blesses. The Holy Spirit confirms the Word of God (Mark 16:20). He does not confirm our personality, or ego.
THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN ONLY BLESS WHAT YOU SAY ABOUT Jesus. The Spirit cannot bless what you do not say about Him. If “this same Jesus,” the very “Jesus whom Paul preaches,” is preached now, the Spirit of God will confirm it (Acts 1:11; 19:13). How many are guilty of stripping our precious Lord? Men stripped Him once for His crucifixion; unbelief strips Him again of His power. He is no longer mighty to save and heal in many churches. To use Paul’s expression, He is “restricted” in our lives, which means “hemmed in with no room to work” (2 Corinthians 6:12), caught in cold, crusted unbelief. Again we read in Mark 16:20, “And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the Word through the accompanying signs.” They preached, and the Lord confirmed. Proclamation comes before confirmation.