Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church
If we are to be gospel-proclaiming men filled with God’s truth and called to preach it in season and out of season, then we desperately need God’s help. We acutely understand the great responsibility that we have to study the Word to show ourselves approved as a workman rightly handling the word of God. Also we know we must preach it powerfully, apply it specifically, and proclaim the gospel of salvation so that God may save the lost and edify the saints.
But how do we preach with great power? What needs to happen to preach with the “unction” of God? How do we get this power? This write-up will bring out five elements needed to preach with great power.
God’s man must be...
1. Faithful to the Text
If we are to be men who preach with great power, we must speak God’s Word faithfully and accurately. God does not bless those who wrongly divide His Truth. He calls all those who minister the gospel to study regularly, diligently and intensely so as to be able to say “thus says the LORD” when he stands in the pulpit to speak the oracles of God. God called the Levites of old to be students of the Word so that they could teach throughout Israel. They were to know the Law and know the commandments of God and they were to be able to instruct the Israelites in the Scriptures. Ezra was a man who gave himself to study the Law of the Lord (and obey it) before he taught it in Israel. So also for us, we must study to show ourselves approved to God. We must understand the authorial meaning of the text. We must regain the precise, accurate interpretation of the words that God has given in the text so that we may preach every word and every line faithfully and compellingly. To have divine power in preaching, we must preach God’s words accurately as He intended them to be understood.
2. Free from hidden sin
The man of God must be holy. The beginning chapters in the Book of Numbers speak repeatedly about how the priests and the Levites were to be cleansed and purified before doing their duties. Similarly, men of God today must be pure and holy as ministers of the gospel. The man of God should be free from wickedness. Ministers of the gospel must repent quickly of all known sin, they must harbor no ongoing sin in their lives, they must wage war violently against sin that pops up its monstrous head, and must fight by God’s grace to walk in holiness for the glory of Christ. To preach in the power of the Holy Spirit demands that the man be holy, consecrated, walking in a manner worthy of the calling. See what happened to Nadab and Abihu when they sought to do God’s work in an unholy or impure way. God’s heralds must be holy servants of the great King.
3. Focusing on God’s Glory
To preach with great power necessitates that the man be utterly consumed with one big purpose and ambition — the glory of God alone. Faithful preaching cannot coexist with endeavors to make a big name for oneself. The fame of God and the fame of self cannot both be desired at the same time. To preach with Holy Spirit power calls men of God to remember that while they stand in the pulpits to preach, they must focus on three objects: God, the soul of his hearers, and his own soul. Or even to simply it further, one must preach for One — God and His glory. This consuming ambition will drive the man to faithful study of the Word, to relentless communication of God’s attributes, to the consistent proclamation of Christ’s person and crosswork and resurrection for the salvation of ruined sinners, and for the need for sinners to repent and turn to Christ for salvation. God’s men have power in so far as they are totally devoted to God’s glory alone!
4. Fearless in Heralding Christ
If we want to preach with great power, then we must preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. No other message could ever come with divine power such as this. Paul said to the Romans that the gospel is the power of God. And it is this gospel that is about the righteousness of God which comes through faith! To preach with divine power calls for the herald to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified in the midst of a Christ-rejecting and God-hating society. Never shall the preacher cater the message to what the non believing world wants to hear. The truth teller of the gospel must receive his marching orders from God — and God alone. And God has summoned him to “preach the Word — and be ready in season and out of season!” So in the fearless heralding of Jesus Christ, regardless of the consequences, the man of God can know he has divine power in the preaching of Jesus Christ who Himself is the almighty power of God!
5. Fervent in earnest prayer
Undoubtedly, spiritual power comes through prayer. O let men of God call upon God earnestly for more power, for spiritual power, for divine ability to articulate divine truths faithfully. A man may have a good commentary as he speaks doctrine in the pulpit but to preach with divine power and thunder the truth like piercing arrows deep into men’s hearts is a work that God must do. Men must be earnest and desperate for this power. Paul, who himself was indwelt by the Spirit of God, begged the believers to pray for him. The author of Hebrews called the congregation to pray for him. O how godly men must be fervent in earnest prayer calling upon God and entreating the flock of God to seek the blessing and favor of God upon the preaching of the eternal truth. To be used of God and for the Word to go forth with unstoppable, irresistible, and God-given power, we must ask God for it. No man who goes into the pulpit full of himself will be filled with Christ and filled with Holy Spirit power. Let God’s men be empty of themselves, void of all reliance upon self and may they come humbled, broken, desperate, and crying out to God for power, for filling, for clarity, for unction, and for boldness in the preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Then, and only then, can the man do the impossible: speak the oracles of God with power and conviction. Let men of God be unashamed in fervently calling upon God for power in earnest prayer!