Thoughts on Prepared Sermons by Elder Brian Moore "..and I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. " I Corinthians 2:1. In the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians we read the before mentioned verse. What does this piece of scripture tell us about Paul? It indicates that Paul, when he appeared before the Corinthians came not with eloquent speech nor of any wisdom but that he simply came and declared before them the testimony of God. The testimony that he had of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Paul was not a trained man, at least not in the way of public speaking, he had not prepared a script, a pamphlet nor a sermon for the Corinthians. He simply preached to them that which he knew, Jesus Christ and him crucified! How did Paul appear before the Corinthians? In the second chapter and the third verse he says, "and I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling." There are those today who would have you believe that Paul most surely would have been more comfortable had he prepared his sermon and had labored over the wording of the text. That by doing so he would have made better use of the time, that he could have used more enticing words to illicit a more dramatic response among the Corinthians. Yet, what does Paul say? ".and my speech and my preaching was NOT with enticing words of mans wisdom, BUT IN DEMONSTRATION OF THE SPIRIT AND OF POWER: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." Paul clearly gives a detailed description of the method, which he preached to the Corinthians, he spoke from experience, he told them that which he knew, not that which he carefully scripted. Paul stood before the Corinthians and spoke the wisdom of God not the wisdom of man. Today, the true old line Primitive Baptist use this same method of preaching, extemporaneous preaching, or as Paul said preaching in the demonstration of the spirit and of power. Preaching that which is given unto them from the holiest of script writers himself, God! Having the spirit of God within them they are able to discern the spiritual things, which God has given them, the Holy Ghost being the teacher and the vessel being the pupil. To prepare a text or sermon would be an attempt to undermine the power and authority of God and place the success of the preaching into the hands of man. Knowing that man is capable of failure and still believing that his feeble efforts are more sure than that of God is nothing more than a demonstration of a lack of faith. "for who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him?" There is nothing quite more stirring than to see an Elder who has studied and searched the scriptures preach the divine word of grace to the partaking congregation. When a man becomes moved by the holy spirit and is blessed to declare salvation is in none other than the Lord he needs not to impress upon the listeners with eloquent words or diction. But, rather feed them with the heavenly manna which he has been delivered. To suggest, that prepared sermons, are of more benefit to the congregation is a direct contradiction to the effectual working of the holy spirit. Many called men of God have been unlearned and deprived of formal education. Yet through the instruction of the holy spirit they have been made to preach the Gospel, therefore to say that expository preaching is a better instrument of preaching is to say that without formal education, a man made institute, the preaching of the Gospel is not as effective. I pray that our faith continues to stand in the wisdom of God and not in that of man. |
