"Speaking God’s Language"
By:Pastor Brian Mann
1 Corinthians 2
1And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with Excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
2For I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
3And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
4And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
5That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
:START:
Look at your neighbor this morning and say to them “It’s not what you know it’s who you know”. Look at you other neighbor and tell them “I’ve got friends in high places” I am very excited about his message today, it’s the kind of message that puts wind in your sails and breaks off the chains of religion. This message today touches on Kingdom Principles and the DNA of God. As Christians we must figure out how to move the way God moves, talk the way God talks and think the way God thinks, in order that we can do what He does. The 16th verse of this chapter puts it this way
“16For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.”
It’s so important in these last days that we put on the mind of Christ, because our own minds our own ways our own thoughts, our own perspectives fall short of the Glory Of God. The Bible puts it this way “His ways are above our ways and His thoughts are above our thoughts.” So in order for us to be Kingdom Minded and tap into God’s DNA we must strive to put on the mind of Christ. In other words think like Christ, act like Christ, speak like Christ.
Paul understood this principle; he was one of the greatest theologians of his day. The greatest teacher in all the land named Gamillel taught him. Paul was a Pharisee’s Pharisee. He studied the law day and night and night and day. He knew the torah; he knew the word inside and out and backwards to front. He was the most studied in all the land. Not only was he studied but he knew how to speak it as well. He was proficient in reading the scriptures and preaching aloud in public and in the synagogue. If Paul were to be alive today you could say that he had his BA in Bible, His Masters in Divinity and His PHD in the Theology. He would make Billy Graham look like a 1st year Bible college student old who just started Sunday school. Paul was the man! Paul, who wrote 2/3rds of the new testament, Paul, who was the first missionary, Paul, who was shipwrecked three times and survived each time, Paul, who saw the first converts come into the Church, Paul, who saw the prison bars fly open when He was singing hymns with Silas in the dungeon cell of a Roman prison. How many people would agree with me that Paul knew what he was talking about.”
Now if you are like me you may be saying to your self, I am no Paul! Peter maybe? But Paul NO WAY! You may be like me and the highest education I got was being a graduate of High school. I don’t have a BA, MBA, PHD, BIG or a MNLOP but I want you to Look at your neighbor right now and tell them “Its not what you know it who you know.”
And when the who you know is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob then you are in business my brothers and sisters, and when you can call the God of the Universe; Abba Father then you got friends in High Places, When you can say you Got a Friend in Jesus that sticks closer than a brother, then you got friends in High Places, When you can testify that you have an advocate pleading the blood of Christ on your Behalf then you got friends in High Places. When you got the great I am saying you are the apple of His eye; that you’re his greatest masterpiece, then bless God you got friends in High Places. Listen you don’t need a degree from the cemetery, I mean seminary, you possess everything you need right now to be the greatest Christian the world has ever seen.
Here’s where this message gets exciting here’s where we begin to see the mind of Christ, Here’s where we tap into the DNA of God. The Bible says that one man sows one-man waters but God gets the increase. Listen you can’t argue somebody into the Kingdom. It’s God that persuades them. Let go and Let God. To experience the Power of God all you have to do is make yourself available to Him and watch how He shows up and shows off.
In our scripture text for this morning we find Paul speaking to the Church at Corinth, the church that he established, the church that he planted years earlier, I want you to listen to His words
1And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with Excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
Here we have Mighty Paul, Apostle Paul, Theologian Paul, Church Planter Paul, Missionary Paul, Author of the New Testament Paul, He understood quite possibly the most profound theological doctrinal statement that you can wrap your minds around and here it is “that its not what you know but who you know.”
He understood that all the knowledge he possessed, all the education he obtained, all the titles he acquired, they were all meaningless when it comes to the Power of God.
Listen my friends you may not be the best public speaker or possess an excellency of speech as Paul put it, but don’t forget that Mosses had a stuttering problem,
or you may not be considered wise in the eyes of men according to the worlds standard, but I am also reminded that God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise
And if he can speak through a Donkey then he can speak through me.
Just do what I do in those situations and remind the devil that you are in this world but not of this world,
You see something happens when you begin to declare the Testimony of God. Something in the atmosphere changes. Because that’s what we are really talking about here today, “The language of God” is it a language filled with pious pontifications of the King James English, reinforced by over thought sermons reaffirming how smart the Pastor can sound or is it a language rooted in Power-Holy Ghost Power. A language filled with excitement, Something happens when you begin to speak the Language of God, something happens when you allow the power to flow through your testimony. The power of God manifests- that’s a fancy way of saying that the power shows up in a tangible way when you begin to speak about what he has done for you and how he changed you, and how he rearranged you, and how he snagged you out of the pits of hell, and how he plucked you off the bar stool, and how he pulled you out the world, and how he set you feet upon a solid rock, and how he gave you new life, and life more abundantly, Something happens when we begin to speak His language, not the language of cemetery, oops I mean seminary, but the language of God ,the language of grace, the language of Love ,the language of redemption, the language of the Cross,
the language as Paul so eloquently put it in the second verse of our scripture text for this morning
2For I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
You may be asking yourself this question How could Paul with the highest level of education, and with his prestigious position within Judaism make such a statement and in essence belittle all the work he had put in and all the time and effort he had invested into studying by saying
1And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with Excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
2For I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
3And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
4And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
5That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
You wont hear many pastors preach that this Sunday!
But can you imagine if we did, what if we just preached Christ and Him crucified what an outpouring we would experience.
How could Paul make such a statement? Because my dear friends just like you and me Paul had a past. Listen to His past here from Acts Chapter 8 & 9
1And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.
3As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.
Chapter 9
1And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
2And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
Paul gave the order to kill Stephen. Paul persecuted the Church, Just like you and me Paul had a past and His past had a name and its name was Saul. And so to answer the question of How could a man of Saul’s reputation make such a statement to the Church at Corinth we don’t have to look any further then a few verses later in Acts Chapter 9 Look at your neighbor and tell them its not what you know but who you know.
3And as Saul journeyed, he came near Damascus: “Some translations say on the road to Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
4And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
5And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
6And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
At that moment all of Saul’s education, all of his speaking ability, all of his wisdom and authority meant nothing because he had encountered Jesus. And my dear friends when you encounter Jesus you understand one thing real quick “its not what you know its who you know.
So the next time you get a chance to witness or get a chance to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Don’t worry about how much education you have had or what Bible college you have graduated from, or how many degrees you may or may not posses,you look em square in the eye and you tell then you graduated from Holy Ghost U and you say I don’t know much but I know one thing “Jesus Christ, and him crucified. I don’t know much but I know that I had a past and one day on the road to Damascus I was surrounded by a marvelous light and I fell to my knees and I had an encounter with Jesus and my life has been forever changed. I don’t know much but I know that I used to e drug addict and now I am a pastor and now I am husband and now I am a father And now I am a child of God and its all because of Jesus and Him crucified.
At the end of the day after its all said and done its all about your faith standing firm and the best way to secure your faith to assure that you have a firm faith a sure foundation you must not rest you faith in the eloquent words of man. but in the power of God.
