Illustration;In a seminary missions class, Herbert Jackson told how, as a new missionary, he was assigned a car that would not start without a push.
After pondering his problem, he devised a plan. He went to the school near his home, got permission to take some children out of class, and had them push his car off. As he made his rounds, he would either park on a hill or leave the engine running. He used this ingenious procedure for two years. Ill health forced the Jackson family to leave, and a new missionary came to that station. When Jackson proudly began to explain his arrangement for getting the car started, the new man began looking under the hood. Before the explanation was complete, the new missionary interrupted, "Why, Dr. Jackson, I believe the only trouble is this loose cable." He gave the cable a twist, stepped into the car, pushed the switch, and to Jackson’s astonishment, the engine roared to life.
For two years needless trouble had become routine. The power was there all the time. Only a loose connection kept Jackson from putting that power to work.
Unknown.
Many Christians are unconsciously trying to live out the Christian life without the power of the Holy Spirit. This is a recipe for failure.
Sometime back the Associated Press carried this dispatch: "Glasgow, Ky.--Leslie Puckett, after struggling to start his car, lifted the hood and discovered that someone had stolen the motor." Without the Holy Spirit’s power we are like that car without its engine. Associated Press.
Illustration:
1. The Holy Spirit helps us improve our preaching by making it more relevant, appropriate and contextually suitable for every person’s needs. Paul wrote, "Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the weak I became weak to win the weak, I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some." (I Cor. 9:19)
Ask the Lord to help you continually make your preaching more relevant, appropriate and contextually suitable for the needs of every person in all situations.
2. The Holy Spirit shows us how to make our preaching more holistic. Paul wrote, "Preach the Word: be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and careful instruction." (2 Tim. 4:2)
Ask the Lord to help you inspire, inform, instruct, edify, evangelize, persuade, encourage, love, lift, enable, and proclaim the whole counsel of God.
3. The Holy Spirit takes the word of God and uses it to accomplish God’s will in the hearts of each audience. Paul wrote, "Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." (I Cor. 1:23,24)
Ask the Lord to use the power of the word of God to communicate power to some and wisdom to others in a balanced fashion.
4. The Holy Spirit uses preaching to show everyone their utter dependence on the Lord. Paul wrote, "For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake." (2 Cor. 4:5)
Ask the Lord to allow you to model your complete dependence on the Lord. Let your preaching reflect your willingness to admit your inability to succeed without the power of the Spirit for all things.
5. The Holy Spirit enables preachers to help people solve some of their most perplexing problems. Paul wrote, "We proclaim Him, admonishing and teaching every man with all wisdom so that we may present everyone complete in Christ." (Col. 1:27,28) Ask the Lord to enable you to have the wisdom necessary to provide answers to all the perplexing problems represented in your organization.
6. The Holy Spirit helps your preaching be more focus, productive and effective. Jesus said, "Some seed fell on the good soil. When people heard it they accepted the word with joy and produced a crop - thirty, sixty and even a hundred times what was sown." (Mark 4:19,20)
Ask the Lord to help you sow your seed in the minds of people who are ripe for harvesting lots of qualitative and quantitative fruit.
7. The Holy Spirit uses the word of God to meet the essential needs of every person. Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be satisfied." (Matt. 5:6) Ask the Lord for an ability to preach to the felt, real, perceived and real needs of everyone in your audience.
Trust the Lord to allow you to preach in a way that touches the emotional, mental, physical, social, financial, cultural, educational, relational, and spiritual needs of every individual in your audience.
8.The Holy Spirit allows you to provide comfort, healing and restoration through your preaching. Jesus said, "Let not your hearts be troubled, believe in God, believe also in Me." (John 14:1)
Ask the Lord to give you the content, delivery and organization that will provide comfort, healing and restoration to all.
9. The Holy Spirit uses your preaching to lead people to higher levels of maturity and productivity. Paul wrote, "Speaking the truth in love, let us grow up in all aspects into Him who is the Head, even Christ." (Eph. 4:15)
Ask the Lord to help you preach in a way that catalyzes the spiritual, emotional, mental, and behavioral maturity in all of your members. Trust the Lord for ways to improve your church’s worship!
10. The Holy Spirit guides you to preach in a way that people are able to find greater purpose, fulfilment and the will of God for their personal lifestyles and ministries. John wrote, "The one who says he abides in Him ought to walk in a manner in which He Himself once walked." (I John 2:6)
Ask the Lord to guide you to preach in a way that every listener can find greater purpose, fulfillment and guidelines to discover the will of God for all of their relationships and ministries.
11. The Holy Spirit uses your preaching to evangelize and disciple many people in many ways. Jesus said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel. Make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you." (Matt. 28:18-20)
Ask the Lord to use you to bring many people to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. Trust the Lord to use your preaching to disciple people in a way that they can teach others in their own families and communities everything that Christ taught about relationships and ministry.
12. The Holy Spirit will use your preaching to free people from all that limits them from doing God’s will. Jesus said, "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31)
Ask the Lord to use your preaching to free people from their fears, anger, and sinful desires that hinder them from obeying God.
Conclusion:Any of us more than twenty-five years old can probably remember where we were when we first heard of President Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.
British novelist David Lodge, in the introduction to one of his books, tells where he was--in a theater watching the performance of a satirical revue he had helped write. In one sketch, a character demonstrated his nonchalance in an interview by holding a transistor radio to his ear. The actor playing the part always tuned in to a real broadcast. Suddenly came the announcement that President Kennedy had been shot. The actor quickly switched it off, but it was too late. Reality had interrupted stage comedy. For many believers, worship, prayer, and Scripture are a nonchalant charade. They don’t expect anything significant to happen, but suddenly God’s reality breaks through, and they’re shocked.
Brian Powley.
