"And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: 1 Corinthians 2:4
I pray often that what I preach is Gods words and not my own. I have heard preachers who use a very limited amount of scriptures in their sermons and I have never enjoyed one. I love to hear scriptures and not man babbling on to show how smart they are. However when you are not teaching truth I guess adding a lot of scriptures is not essential. Paul said "And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom..." as brilliant (humanly speaking) as Paul was He did not want to entice people with his own words of wisdom, he did not desire to show people how smart and great he was, unlike so many today. The word of God is powerful, it can move a lifeless heart from the dead to living, it can move mountains, and it can save sinners if coupled with the power of the Holy Spirit. "... but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:" A great example of this is the church signs in front of church buildings, look and see how many use scriptures and how many use mans wisdom. What are they saying; man's wisdom is more powerful than the scriptures? People drive by those signs sometimes everyday only to see some very ignorant quote that some unintelligent person thought up (man's wisdom). It is like their thinking is "the scriptures can't explain the thought like I can" Those signs are the only thing some lost person might ever see as far as the church goes, they may never go to church, and all they see is some very ignorant quote that (most of the time) doesn't even make sense. The word of God is powerful because it is what God uses to change people like Saul of Tarsus. Paul also said in 1Corinthians 2:2 "For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." Was this because Paul was ignorant? Maybe he could not think fast enough on his feet. No, it was because Paul had determined that Gods word is more powerful than his intelligence, that it can accomplish salvation, real salvation. This is why God said the wise men must be made ignorant before He teaches them. The wisdom of the world is useless to God and the salvation of souls. Paul told us to preach the gospel instead of our own wisdom. "For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." Galatians 1:10 If man preaches with their own wisdom the only thing they will change is the gospel. God said "Preach the word..." 2 Timothy 4:2 Folks the word of God is more powerful than any wisdom that man may have about them, they need to convince themselves that Gods word is truth and man's words are lies. They have churches full of lost people because they have changed the truth into a lie and changed the gospel from a God saving tool to a decision or choice man makes. They preach that God cannot change man's will when the truth is mankind will never change his own will. Romans 3:11 "There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God." If one preached the word and not their own intelligence the churches may be smaller, the salvations may be less but it will be in truth and not a lie, and God will save sinners rather than people making false commitments. I know what I preach is truth because I know that I preach by the authority of the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 61:1 "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek..."
