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July 17, 2008
THE MIRACLE OF BELIEF
My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words.
1 Corinthians 2:1-5
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=1co+2:1-5&sr=1
Paul was a scholar and an orator of the first rank; he is not
speaking out of abject humility; but saying that he would veil the
power of God if, when he preached the gospel, he impressed people
with his "excellency of speech." Belief in Jesus is a miracle
produced only by the efficacy of Redemption, not by impressiveness of
speech, not by wooing and winning, but by the sheer unaided power of
God. The creative power of the Redemption comes through the preaching
of the Gospel, but never because of the personality of the preacher.
The real fasting of the preacher is not from food, but rather from
eloquence, from impressiveness and exquisite diction, from everything
that might hinder the gospel of God being presented. The preacher is
there as the representative of God - "as though God did beseech you
by us." He is there to present the Gospel of God. If it is only
because of my preaching that people desire to be better, they will
never get anywhere near Jesus Christ. Anything that flatters me in my
preaching of the Gospel will end in making me a traitor to Jesus; I
prevent the creative power of His Redemption from doing its work.
"I, if I be lifted up . . . , will draw all men unto Me."
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MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST - by Oswald Chambers /\/\
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