Hope for a Biblical message does not lie in rhetorical
power, or vocabulary, or theological insight, or dramatic delivery, or
brilliant illustration, or effective timing, or clear organization, or pastoral
experience, or even empathy and discernment in connecting to the listeners, or
in the ethos of internalization and the integrity of personal application. The only hope for the success of a
message is the Spirit of God.
Without the Spirit’s work, even the diamonds of preaching will easily be
swept off the porch of our listeners’ minds as accumulating verbal dust or
bothersome ideological cobwebs.
Worse, the listeners may be impressed only with the preaching. But when the Spirit moves, our words of
dust convey the light of eternal glory, shining undimmed into darkened
souls. The Spirit alone can
reveal the diamond treasure of the glory of Christ.
So, let us denounce false hope or false despair in looking
at our words, and cry out with desperate confidence in the Spirit of God.
Spirit of God, speak
the glory of the Word of Christ to us.
