1When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters,a I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan.b 2For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. 3I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. 4And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. 5I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.
And there you have it – last week’s preaching wrapped up succinctly by our Holy Spirit inspired teacher, Paul the Apostle.
Preach
To preach is to proclaim. In church, we open the Bible, read from it, and proclaim (preach) the Truth that it presents. It is not open for debate. We do not apologize for anything that is in the Word, We preach the Truth and that’s that.
So…. What is Truth? The easiest definition is that Truth is that it is the teaching of the Word that comes by the power of God’s Holy Spirit. (read above) We learned last Sunday that God IS Wisdom and that to be indwelled with God’s Holy Spirit is to be indwelled with Wisdom! How do we discern Truth from Lie – GOD (Wisdom!)
Seems simple enough, but there is a catch, and it is also mentioned by Paul in scripture. There is also such a thing as “human wisdom.” Paul speaks of human wisdom, human understanding, human philosophies et. All of these things are designed not only to fulfill our sinful desires but to lead us more completely AWAY from the TRUTH.
There are preachers who preach that we seek God’s indwelling, God’s Wisdom, God’s vision so that we are empowered to fulfill GOD’S WILL on earth.
And then there are false preachers who preach that we seek God’s indwelling, God’s Wisdom, God’s vision so that we are empowered to fulfill OUR WILL on earth.
One word – BIG difference. Literally the difference between heaven and hell.