Stephen Olford shared a story with me one
time, which has always stuck with me.
He said he was at a conference for
Campus Crusade, where its founder Bill Bright was
addressing a young audience of Christian workers, and
Dr. Bright rallied his troops with the following
statement.
He said, okay, now let's get out there
and canvas the streets with the gospel.
And later that night, Dr. Olford knocked on
the hotel door of Bill Bright, and he
asked if he could have a word with
him.
And Stephen Olford said, my dear brother, I
feel you erred greatly this evening.
You told those young men to go out
there and canvas the streets with the gospel,
but you failed to instruct them to tarry
until they were endued with power from on
high.
And I believe that's a valid point, friends,
because what gave Stephen Olford his power was
an anointing of the Holy Spirit, and what
gives the gospel its power is the attendance
of the Holy Spirit.
In Luke's gospel in chapter 24, Jesus instructs
his men on how to prepare to preach
the gospel and what message to preach.
In verse 49 he states, And behold, I
send the promise of my Father upon you,
but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem
until ye be endued with power from on
high.
I believe the missing ingredient in modern preachers
is a lack of an anointing of the
Holy Spirit, for if we preach without power
from on high, we will rely on our
personalities and intellects and schemes to hold our
congregation's attention, and our preaching won't be transformational.
What gives the gospel life and power is
the attendance of the Holy Spirit.
He is the one who brings conviction of
sin.
If we preachers fail to wait until we
are endued with power from on high, our
sermons will fail to bring conviction of sin.
But if a man preaches the great doctrines
of grace under the anointing of the Holy
Ghost, all hell will break loose as men
and women and boys and girls come under
conviction and feel their need of a savior
from sin.
I believe the preparation of the preacher is
far more important than the preparation of his
sermon.
If we fail to have a consistent walk
with God under the discipline of the Holy
Ghost, then we are mere lecturers.
Secondly, the message of the gospel is laid
out here plainly in Luke chapter 24.
The risen Christ informs his disciples what doctrine
they should preach as seen in verse 47,
and that repentance and remission of sins should
be preached in his name among all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem.
If Christ said to preach repentance at the
heart of the gospel, then why do so
many preachers omit repentance from their preaching?
The message of the gospel is seen clearly
in Acts 17.30 as the apostle Paul
states.
And the times of this ignorance God winked
at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to
repent.
I don't believe you can preach the true
gospel without preaching man's duty of repentance, and
that's why the gospel's not preached much in
this country anymore and few are being saved.
Instead, we hear a lengthy discourse to consider.
The man and his message go hand in
hand like biscuits and gravy.
We must preach the right message that drives
men out of themselves to Christ, and we
must preach it under the anointing of the
Holy Spirit.
If we do that, we can always count
on a combustion to occur, and maybe somebody
who hears us will crowd in agony of
soul saying, what must that do to be
saved?