By Greg W. Heisler
I
have become convinced that preachers can rightly anticipate the Holy Spirit’s
power only when they are resolutely wedded to the Holy Spirit’s purpose. What
is His purpose? To glorify Jesus Christ through the instrumentality of the
Old and New Testament scriptures, both of which point to Him. (Azurdia, 1998,
61).
In
Luke 24, Jesus himself proved that he was at the heart of the Old Testament
and the fulfillment of the promise and God’s redemptive plan. Furthermore,
Jesus says in John 5: 39-40, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you
think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that
testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have
life.” The combination of biblical testimony (“Sciptures that testify about
me”) with the Spirit’s witness (“He will testify about me” (John 15:26) through
the preacher’s proclamation results in powerful preaching that lifts up Christ
and changes lives. Whatever the biblical text may be, the preacher following
the Spirit-driven method of expository preaching is obligated to present the
Spirit-inspired Christological witness of the text.
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God
doesn’t need a Superman to deliver super sermons! God needs Spirit-called,
Spirit-filled, and Spirit-dependent “Clark Kents” to open the Spirit- inspired
Word of God and preach! In order for our preaching to be a demonstration of
the Spirit’s power, we need to seek the Spirit’s empowerment along with the
Scripture’s authorial intent! We need to seek the Spirit’s illumination and
the commentator’s information! We need to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit
in our hearts as well as in our texts! We must surrender to the Spirit’s power
as well as surrender to the authorial intent. We must yield to the living Spirit
as we preach the living Word! May God’s preachers everywhere bring Him more
glory than ever by preaching Spirit-empowered, Christ-exalting messages!
_______________
Greg
W. Heisler is Assistant
Professor of Preaching, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest,
NC.
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References
Akin, Daniel.
The Ministry Of Proclamation. 2 volumes. The Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary. Course 3000: Ministry of Proclamation Reader, 1999.
Azurdia, Arturo G. Spirit Empowered Preaching: Involving the Spirit in Your
Ministry. Ross-shire, Great Britain: Mentor, 1998.
Boice, James Montgomery, “The Preacher and Scholarship,” in The Preacher
and Preaching (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1986).
Calvin, John. Institutes for the Christian Religion. 2 vols. Philadelphia:
Westminister, 1960.
Gordon, A. J. The Ministry of the Spirit. Minneapolis: Bethany House,
1984.
Miller, Don. The Way to Biblical Preaching. New York: Abingdon, 1957.
Olford, Stephen and David Olford. Anointed Expository Preaching. Nashville:
Broadman and Holman, 1998.
Richard, Ramesh. Preparing Expository Messages. Grand Rapids: Baker,
2001.
Robinson, Haddon. Biblical Preaching. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980.
Wells, David. God the Evangelist: How the Holy Spirit Works to Bring Men
and Women to Faith. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987).
Woodhouse, John. “The Preacher and the Living Word.” In When God’s Voice
Is Heard: Essays in Honor of Dick Lucas. Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
1992.