Preaching and Preachers
“Ultimately, preaching accomplishes its spiritual purposes not because of the skills or the wisdom of a preacher but because of the power of the Scripture proclaimed”
-Bryan Chapell
I’ve been reading and studying a lot from a book called “Christ-Centered Preaching” by Bryan Chapell. I just finished the 3rd chapter. Actually, for the first 2 weeks I had the book, I read the first chapter over and over.
“God is not relying on the sufficiency of our craft or character to accomplish his purposes (2 Cor. 3:5). God certainly can use eloquence and desires lives befitting the sanctity of our subject matter, but his Spirit uses the Word itself to fulfill his saving and sanctifying purposes. The human efforts of the greatest preachers are still too weak and sin-tainted to be responsible for others’ eternal destinies. For this reason God infuses his Word with his own spiritual power. The efficacy of the truth is God’s message rather than any virtue in the messenger transforms hearts”. Page 27
“…but we must sense the dynamics that give us hope [the Holy Spirit] when we preach God’s Word. The Bible makes it clear that the Word is not merely powerful; it is without peer or dependence. The Word of God creates (Ps. 33:9), controls (Ps. 147:15-18), convicts (Jer. 23:28-29), performs his purposes (Isa. 55:10-11), and overrides human weakness (Phil. 1:18).”
You should buy the book…
Hi Jimmy, I happened upon your blog thru flickr, and I love it!
Anyhow what you said in this post reminds me of something I heard recently. David Robinson (the basketball player) was telling about how years back he wanted to start a men’s Bible study and was praying about what he should preach. He felt God lead him to simply read His Word to the men. At first he thought it wasn’t enough, but that’s what he did for a year…and he just stood in awe of how many men were sharing testimonies of how their study was changing their lives.
So not that there’s anything wrong with preaching/commentary – but what this book says is true: Scripture speaks for itself, thru the Holy Spirit – it’s not dependent on the speaker.
Great thoughts, brother.