The Gift of preaching: The power of the Holy Spirit

The following is adapted from John Piper's

Supremacy of God in Preaching 

It is impossible to suggest that one depraved soul can save another depraved soul from eternal damnation by mere words. Yet it is God's wisdom to choose this very method to show that the power to save cannot come from man himself, it must come entirely from God. 

The gift of preaching then is where God condescends to allow man to be an agent of change through the Holy Spirit's application of God's Word.

The Holy Spirit reveals Christ as He is and not as we wish Him to be. The following quotations run contrary to popular notions about God and His Christ... 

[51] Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to bring strife and division! [52] From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against--or the other way around. [53] There will be a division between father and son, mother and daughter, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law." [54] Then Jesus turned to the crowd and said, "When you see clouds beginning to form in the west, you say, `Here comes a shower.' And you are right. [55] When the south wind blows, you say, `Today will be a scorcher.' And it is. [56] You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but you can't interpret these present times. - Luk 12:51-56 NLT 

[1] About this time Jesus was informed that Pilate had murdered some people from Galilee as they were sacrificing at the Temple in Jerusalem. [2] "Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than other people from Galilee?" he asked. "Is that why they suffered? [3] Not at all! And you will also perish unless you turn from your evil ways and turn to God. [4] And what about the eighteen men who died when the Tower of Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? [5] No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will also perish." - Luk 13:1-5 NLT

 [8] "Yes, I will tell you of things that are entirely new, for I know so well what traitors you are. You have been rebels from your earliest childhood, rotten through and through. [9] Yet for my own sake and for the honor of my name, I will hold back my anger and not wipe you out. [10] I have refined you but not in the way silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering. [11] I will rescue you for my sake--yes, for my own sake! That way, the pagan nations will not be able to claim that their gods have conquered me. I will not let them have my glory! [12] "Listen to me, O family of Jacob, Israel my chosen one! I alone am God, the First and the Last. [13] It was my hand that laid the foundations of the earth. The palm of my right hand spread out the heavens above. I spoke, and they came into being.  Isa 48:8-13 NLT

For all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard.

Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins.

For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God's anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. 

God was being entirely fair and just when he did not punish those who sinned in former times.And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when he declares sinners to be right in his sight because they believe in Jesus.

Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No,because our acquittal is not based on our good deeds. It is based on our faith.

Romans 3:23-26 NLT

Our hypocrisy, self righteousness and pride are all laid low by the Word of the Lord. The choice is clear between faith in God or faith in ourselves. We cannot rightly have confidence in both.

Only the Spirit of God can bring us to submission of this reality.

His power is the gift of faith;  

"not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, 

not of works, lest any should boast

(Ephesians 2:8-10)

Ping your blog