Samurai's Dojo

And I, when I came to you, brothers, [1] did not come proclaiming to you the testimony [2] of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5, esv)

Whatever message we have, has to come from God. No matter our audience, our message has to come from God. Wether we are evangalists, preachers, teachers, preschool workers, college professors, professionals, ameatuers, artists, whatever we are... our message must be based on Christ, and Him crucified. If we try and 'soften' that message it gets weakened. If we ignore that message where is the power of the gospel? There have been times when I will be visiting a church and I will see the Pastor preaching, but I am unable to find a Bible, open or otherwise, among the congregation. There may be an outline, and there may even be verses referred to in it, but the words are either skimmed over or not read at all. A sermon, not anchored somewhere in the Word of God is merely a good moral lesson. This is my opinion, and I know it may not be a popular point of view, but I see a church within America that is merely existing. Again, this is a broad, generalization, and does not apply to each and every church within America. Our youth hear the message are are not challanged, in time they grow bored and wander away to see what else there is to see... and not just the youth get this way. Our God is big enough that we could preach something new about Him every day and never grow out of things to teach. When the Holy Spirit is drawing someone they will get it. Their flesh may cringe, but their mind will be engaged. Now, it is probably obvious that I feel very strongly about the gospel, about the message proclaimed from the pulpit. But I also want to say that the most scholarly lesson preached that is not drawn from the Holy Spirit - both content and package - cannot talk to anything more than a person's intellect or emotions. Before any of us can 'preach' the gospel - either to ourselves or to others - we need to seek first the Spirit of God, and ask that He would pour It out upon us - wether we are the teacher, or the audience. Verse for today: 2 Timothy 3:12-17, ESV Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom [1] you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God [2] may be competent, equipped for every good work.