What the Holy Spirit does during preaching

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Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglica...
Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglican Church http://www.stjohnsashfield.org.au, Ashfield, New South Wales. Illustrates Jesus' description of himself "I am the Good Shepherd" (from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 11). This version of the image shows the detail of his face. The memorial window is also captioned: "To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of William Wright. Died 6th November, 1932. Aged 70 Yrs." (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As the Word is preached, the Spirit of God must be powerfully at work in the life of the preacher. The Holy Spirit must be sharpening the focus of the preacher to more carefully understand the truth that he is preaching. His work of illumination and enlightenment must be accelerated as the preacher stands before an open Bible. In addition, the Holy Spirit must be deepening the convictions of the expositor. He must be persuaded of the veracity of his passage with greater intensity. This, too, is a work of the Spirit. The Spirit must ignite his heart with passion for God and for Christ as he preaches. 

The Spirit must be enlarging his heart for the spiritual good of those to whom he ministers. The Spirit must be bringing to the forefront of his mind truths that he had not yet anticipated saying. The Spirit must draw from his years of study and add to his preparation as he preaches. The Spirit also must restrain the preacher from saying certain things that are not immediately helpful or necessary. The Spirit must be guiding his word choices and enabling him to quote Scripture from memory as he preaches. The Spirit must help him as he makes his word choices, the mood of the verbs with which he speaks, and cause him to speak the truth in love. The Spirit must give the preacher a heightened sense of urgency as he brings the message. The Spirit must cause him to feel the immediacy of the moment as he speaks.

As the listener sits under the preaching of the Word, he, too, is dependent upon the Holy Spirit. The Spirit must give illumination and understanding of the passage of Scripture that is being presented. The Spirit must bring conviction of sin and an increased awareness of one’s need for Christ and His grace. 

The Holy Spirit must make the sermon intensely personal as though this message is intended for ‘you.’ The Spirit must both comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable as the Word is being preached. The Spirit must regenerate unconverted hearts and draw sinners to Christ. The Spirit must be raising the affections for Christ as the Word is preached. And the Spirit must be urging the listener to respond with steps of obedience to the Word that is preached.


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