What the Holy Spirit does during preaching

-
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.


Related articles

Popular posts from this blog

Speaking in tongues for today - Charles Stanley

-
Image
There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. … But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. … And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. … Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way - 1 Corinthians 12:4, 7, 28, 30—31 The Lord Jesus Christ had come and gone. The church—newly birthed—was in a transition time. The new covenant was seen as a threat to the Jewish leaders; therefore, there was persecution for those who had chosen to follow Christ. The new religion, in its infant stages, had no Bible, few leaders, and absolutely no support from the government. Astounding that it survived, isn’t it?  How in the world did it survive with so little going for it? Power. Not just a force, but mighty, visible power. Th...
Read more

What is the glory (kabod) of God?

-
Image
2 CORINTHIANS 4:17 "This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." Scripture places a high value on God 's glory, and it is not hard to figure out why. Since the inherent glory of the Lord is something that He will not share with others (Isa. 42:8), we know that His glory is something that He prizes highly; indeed, He prizes it more highly than anything else. We should, therefore, set the glory of God as the goal and overarching emphasis of our lives. Whatever we lose for the sake of making the Lord's glory known will be worth it when we see the dazzling light and beauty of; the divine glory (28:5; Rev. 21:23). Glory has to do with light and beauty, but those aspects do not sum up what the Bible means when it speaks of the glory of God. Interestingly, the Hebrew word kabod , which is translated into English as "glory," has the root meaning of "weight" or "heaviness....
Read more

The Holy Spirit causes us to cry out: Abba, Father

-
Image
Pentecostés. Óleo sobre lienzo, 275 × 127 cm. Madrid, Museo del Prado. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) To bring out the same truth in another way, Paul says God sent Jesus (as a Man) to live under the Law in order “to redeem those under law, that we [Jews and Gentiles ] might receive the full rights [adoption] of sons” ( Galatians 4:5).  By “full rights” or “adoption” he means entering into the privileges and responsibilities of sonship. He uses it also of the sonship of Israel (Romans 9:4). Galatians 4:1, 2 indicate that the son and heir of a wealthy family in Paul’s day would be treated as a slave until he became of age.  Then he would receive the adoption, that is, all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities that belonged to an adult member of that family. Adoption was also used in the modern sense, so that Gentiles who were not sons of Abraham became true heirs, true sons of God , by faith.  Jesus died, not just to save us from the fires of hell, bu...
Read more