Preach it

DEVOTION

1 CORINTHIANS

PREACH IT

1 Cor 2:1-5

2:1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.   2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

NIV

If this does not fly in the fact of all the denominational institutions of higher learning what does? How intellectually can we approve the Word of God before we lose sight of the Spirit’s power? If all we do is learn the knowledge of other men’s insight into what they believe the Word of God is saying then what does that make us? It would seem we already have too many great orators with eloquent words, proclaiming a superior wisdom regarding the Word of God then those they gather around them to applaud their skills in preaching and support their lust for fame and fortune. No it would seem we do not need all of those institutions of higher learning regarding the Word of God, for we do in fact have the Spirit’s power. Jesus said that He must go so that He could send the comforter, the”parakletos”, the counselor,  the Holy Spirit of God to be our guide, to lead us into all truth. What more do we need in order to share Jesus Christ crucified? Even if we tremble in our weakness and fear of speaking to others, we have the power of God at our disposal, ready to be unleashed if we but open our mouth’s in faith. If we who have no special training, no special education from the those scholars who impart their human wisdom, express  the message of Jesus Christ crucified with power and authority from God on High, then He and only He will be lifted up for it will surely be a demonstration of His power at work in us. What fancy vocabulary filled with all the right Christian terms demonstrates the power of God? What great speech in “Christianese” lifts up God rather than the speaker? In all fairness there may some of intellectual prowess with degrees from schools of higher learning who still rely on the power of the Spirit to preach Jesus Christ crucified, but as of yet it would appear we have not witnessed that yet. But truly we have heard men of revelation knowledge preach powerful messages about Jesus Christ crucified. In fact we may well have heard each other, us with no training, no degrees, no accolades of honor from men, tell the story with power from on high.

We must always rely on the power of God in all we do, and all we say, so that God will be glorified, not men.  Preach it!