1054. A Unique Preaching Service

A Unique Preaching Service

"And again He entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that He was in the house.

"And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and He preached the Word unto them" (Mar_2:1-2).

There are three things necessary to make any preaching service of real value. There must be hearers, there must be a Spirit-filled preacher and there must be a Scriptural message. This is just what there was at Capernaum.

1. There were hearers. "Many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door."

Large numbers always attended upon the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is necessary to have hearers and the more they number the better.

We would not despise the day of small things, for Christ was willing to preach unto the one as well as unto the many. Big crowds mean only an opportunity to reach more with the immediate message. People cannot believe in Him of Whom they have not heard. We should strive to preach as often as we can and to as many as we can. We should, however, never stoop to worldly advertising schemes and worldly methods to get the people out to hear the Gospel.

2. There was a Spirit-filled preacher. "He preached * * unto them." Christ was a mighty preacher from every viewpoint, but particularly He was a preacher filled with the Spirit. He Himself quoted that passage from Isaiah which spoke of this very fact: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach."

How such statements as the following should stir our souls:

"Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me" (Act_1:8).

"They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak" (Act_2:4).

"Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said" (Act_4:8).

"They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spake the Word of God with boldness" (Act_4:31).

Paul said of his preaching: "Our Gospel came not upon you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit" (1Th_1:5).

3. There was but one message–the Word. "He preached the Word unto them." No one need doubt that Christ was able to do this very thing. He knew the Word. At His twelfth year He astonished the scribes with His answers and questions. He knew the Word, yea, He was "the Word made flesh."

Christ not only knew the Word, but He preached the Word. The very messages He gave were spirit and they were life.

We may not know the Word as He knew it, but we can study to show ourselves workmen approved of God.

We cannot speak the Word as He spoke it, but we can speak the Word He spoke and speak it faithfully.

How many need to hide their faces in shame as they stand in the presence of this matchless Preacher of the Word. Many things preached to-day from pulpits dedicated unto the Gospel of God, have no suggestion of that Gospel. Week after week the people go to church to hear no more than political harangues, moral dissertations, ethical illuminations, intellectual orations or literary declamations.

God help us to get back to the old Book. It, and it alone, can meet the need of the sinful heart; it alone can strengthen the saint, it alone can tell us the things to come.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR