The Man Who Preaches

Introduction: Presuppositions for Effective Preaching

0:02 Now, let me give you, first of all, an idea of the overall structure of our studies together, and then we shall address ourselves to the issues in hand for this evening. First of all, I want to set out three basic presuppositions which stand as the backdrop of everything that we shall be considering.

0:22 Each of these presuppositions warrants a study of its own, but in the interest of time, we cannot settle down and consider them in any detail, but because they are so vital to everything that flows out of them, I feel it's necessary to take a few minutes at the outset to spell out these three basic presuppositions. And then, in the second place, I shall define the meaning of my title, The Essential Ingredients of Effective Popular Preaching, and then I hope we shall get through the first of three divisions of that subject. The Essential Ingredients of Effective Popular Preaching, the Man Who Preaches. There are certain ingredients which must be present in him as a man and as a Christian. And then, in tomorrow night's session, God willing, we will address ourselves to the subject, The Essential Ingredients of Effective Popular Preaching, in the content and form of the message. And then, the third study will focus upon The Essential Ingredients of Effective Popular Preaching, in the manner in which the message is preached. proclaimed. And so those of you who have a penchant for alliteration will see that this

Presupposition 1: A Settled Conviction of Divine Call

1:37 neatly breaks down into essential ingredients, the man, the message, and the method, if that's easier for you to remember why you may work within that framework. Now, first of all, three basic presuppositions which undergird all that follows in this series of studies. First of all, there will be no effective preaching of any kind unless the preacher has, one, a settled conviction of his own call to a preaching ministry. Though a man's call to the ministry will not be as spectacular as that of the Apostle Paul, he must be able to say with some degree of qualitative conviction, perhaps not quantitatively the same, but qualitatively that which the Apostle could say as recorded in first Timothy chapter 1 and verse 12. And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me, for that he hath counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Notice that personal element. He hath enabled me. He hath counted me faithful. He hath put me into the ministry. Or, as the Apostle says

2:56 in Galatians 1, 15, and 16, when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the heathen. Notice again that personal element of a settled conviction of his own individual call to the office of a preacher. This is so essential for a man unsure of his appointment as an envoy or an ambassador cannot speak with confidence on behalf of his king. The Apostle could say as he did in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God himself did beseech you by us. We beseech you in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God. And there cannot be that note of certainty of proclamation if there is any doubt as to one's call to that ministry from which the message is proclaimed. Also, a man unsure of his appointment will not labor at overcoming the ministry of God. And so, as the Apostle says in Galatians 1, 15, and 16,

4:01 he barriers to true success. Every time he faces a barrier, he begins to wonder, well, am I in this business by divine appointment anyway? And the man who is unsettled as to his call will be continually looking back over his shoulder at the path behind him whenever he faces roadblocks in the path before him. And also, a man unsure of his call will find it difficult to trust God for the necessary equipage.

4:31 The Apostle says in 1 Corinthians 9, 7, what soldier serveth at his own charges? A man who knows that he's been duly inducted by his country and duly sworn in as a soldier finds no problem in looking to his superiors to make full equipment possible for all that he needs in the course of his duty as a soldier. But if he has some question as to how he ended up in that particular barracks or in that particular battalion, and there's not this settled conviction, I'm here to tell you, that he's been duly inducted by his country and duly sworn in as a soldier, and hereby the appointment of my country, and my country is committed to the underwriting of all the supply of all of my needs, he's crippled as a soldier. And so the preacher, who finds himself confronted with tremendous tasks and opposition, cries out with Paul, who is sufficient for these things? He's in a bad way if he can't say with the Apostle, with equal conviction, but God hath made us able ministers of the nation. And so the first presupposition that undergirds all that we consider on this subject of the essential ingredients of effective preaching is this settled conviction of one's call to a preaching ministry. What constitutes that call is a subject of its own, but if I'm addressing myself to any men who are in the

5:53 ministry and who have found that these three things are true of you, uncertainty when you speak in God's name because you have a question of the validity of your call. Always looking back over your shoulder when you face difficulties because of an uncertainty of your call. Inability to plead with some measure of confidence and boldness the promises of God for sufficiency of grace because there's a question mark over the call. May I encourage you to prayerfully read Spurgeon's chapter in his lectures to his students on this subject of the call to the ministry. Prayerfully read the chapter in Bridges, Christian ministry dealing with the same subject. Get hold of Dr. Edmund Clowney's book, Call to the Ministry, and then read and reread and apply to your own circumstances Newton's perceptive letter on this very subject. Then the second presupposition is that there must be a settled conviction as to the primacy of preaching among the many public duties of the ministry.

Presupposition 2: The Primacy of Preaching

7:00 There must be a settled conviction. Now the duties of the minister as I'm sure you are aware are divided into those private and public categories. The private duties, prayer, study II inclination to

7:13 the ministry, to the minister. of the online doors leads love and God dwells in that public and private community where we manifest 600 behavioral abilities and cultivated links to the public. community of prayer and aberration asヘ c a vn the public duties of meditation, meditation and the most essential daily rituals of spiritual interúaarti and the most essential daily rituals for ourARKy of manifestation. visitation, calling on the sick, counseling the distressed, general oversight of the church shared with other elected officers.

7:41 But there must be the conviction in the heart of the man who would cultivate the art of preaching that standing head and shoulders among all of these other legitimate public duties is the duty and privilege of the public preaching of the word of God. Until we are convinced that God has constituted preaching the main conduit of the conveyance of grace, both in the conversion of sinners and in the upbuilding of his people, it is doubtful that we shall become effective, popular preachers.

8:21 Are you convinced of the primacy of preaching? Are you convinced of the simple truth set forth in 1 Corinthians 1.18, that God has chosen by the Lord to preach the word of God? Are you convinced of the foolishness of preaching, or the thing preached?

8:34 In either case, you can't bleed the word of the concept of authoritative declaration. He hath ordained by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And then in the building up of his church, Ephesians 4.15 says, but speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things.

8:58 And when we read earlier in the fourth chapter of Ephesians, the list of gifts which Christ has given to his church, the dominant common denominator of those gifts, all the way from apostle to teacher, is that they traffic in divine words.

9:15 That's the substance of the discharge of that office.

9:20 Are you convinced of the primacy of preaching among your many public duties? This is not only the clear teaching of scripture, but it is the agreed testimony of church history. That the pulpit is, in the words of Spurgeon, the thermopoly of Christendom. There the fight will be lost or won.

9:44 To us ministers, the maintenance of our power in the pulpit should be our greatest concern. End of quote. And I am personally convinced that the relinquishing of this biblical perspective has, in great measure, led to the shoddiness of preaching. It has led to the paralyzing of those nerves of godly ambition to excel in pulpit exercises.

10:12 It has led to the erosion of the combined influences of the home, of the church, and of the theological institution in producing powerful and effective preachers. There's a sense in which you get what you want. And until we're convinced of the primacy of preaching as a means of grace, so convinced that we'll be satisfied with nothing. Nothing less in us and in the church fellowship in which we move, then we'll begin to see God honoring that holy desire with an emergence of the gift of effective preaching.

10:51 Because of the weight problem flying over, I couldn't bring Broadus' book on the preparation and delivery of sermons, and I couldn't scratch up a Broadus since arriving here. And so this is only a paraphrase, but Broadus, in introducing the whole subject of preaching, makes the assertion, which I believe historically...

Presupposition 3: A Life of Unfeigned Godliness

11:07 I believe historically will confirm that there has been no true revival of religion, restoration to true biblical godliness, without preaching either preceding and giving birth to that revival, emerging out of it and following, but dominant in every true movement of the spirit of God, has been the centrality of preaching. Then the third presupposition is that the man who would aspire to true pulpit, excellence, must have a settled conviction that a life of unfeigned, balanced godliness is the constant prerequisite of pulpit power. A settled conviction that a life of unfeigned and balanced godliness is the constant prerequisite of pulpit power. He who labors to preach with effectiveness, truths which he does not aspire to experience in reality, as reason to question not only his call to the ministry, but his effectual call into a state of grace. This is why the first requirement for all who would aspire to the office of a teaching elder is, the bishop must be blameless.

12:30 I dealt last year with Paul's directive to Timothy, and to Titus, in Titus 2, in verse 7, after giving to Titus directives concerning church order, and many of the facets of church law. In his life, he says to Titus, in all things showing thyself a pattern of good works. We shall consider regarding the ingredients of effective preaching, everything that is said about content, manner of delivery, and form, and style, and all of this, presupposes in my mind, and I trust in yours, that this is couched in the context of a life of unfeigned and balanced godliness. Stalker, in his excellent book, and I'm so delighted it's been reprinted, The Preacher and His Models, says concerning this very principle, and I now quote him, we are so constituted that what we hear depends very much for its effect on how we are disposed to him who speaks. The regular hearers of a minister, and you see the exception to this is the evangelist who can be a pretty efficient talking machine, and can live a very shoddy life, and this principle doesn't apply so much to him, but we're talking about the regular hearers of the resident pastor gradually form in their minds, almost unawares, an image of what the

13:55 pastor is, into which they put everything which they themselves remember about him, and everything they've heard of his record. And when he arises on Sunday in the pulpit, it is not the man visible there at the moment that they listen to. But this image, which stands behind him, and determines the precise weight and effect of every sentence which he utters. It's a profound statement.

14:27 The regular hearers of your ministry are constructing an image of you, made up of the stuff of what they know you to be. And whatever that stuff constructs, either negates or augments the weight. It's a profound statement of the words that you speak. And so I would lay before you these three basic presuppositions that act as a foundation, a backdrop, as the very atmosphere within which we proceed to the consideration of these other matters.

15:06 What are they? Let me give them to you again just briefly. All effective preaching is couched in this climate of a man who has settled convictions about his call to a preaching ministry. Settled convictions about his call to a preaching ministry.

15:21 Settled convictions about his call to a preaching ministry. Settled convictions as to the primacy of preaching among his public duties and a settled conviction of and pursuit after a life of unfeigned and balanced godliness. Now we move to a brief exegesis of my title. What do I mean by the words, the essential ingredients of effective popular preaching?

Defining 'Effective Popular Preaching'

15:51 No doubt there are many other ingredients other than the ones that we shall touch on in these studies, found to a greater or lesser degree in certain men, but I've tried to reduce these things to the irreducible elements. And so I have called them the essential ingredients of effective preaching. There may be other ingredients in one man here and another man there and in many men in general, but those ingredients may not be essential. For instance, a voice with a lot of timber and a natural ability to articulate clearly. I've heard some very effective preachers whose voice was not the most pleasing to listen to, but who were so caught up in the truth that it conveyed and were so liberated from any sense of the timidity with the equipment God gave them that they were very effective preachers. So we can't put into this list such things as the quality of one's voice. And I only use that by way of illustration. And so I have tried to reduce these things to the essential ingredients of effective popular preaching. Now, why do I use the word effective? I've deliberately passed by such words as forceful,

17:09 impressive, or eloquent. And I use the word effective in its highest religious sense, preaching that affects the very goal of preaching. And if I were to try to reduce the goal of preaching to its most basic, most important, most important, most important, most important, most important, basic element, I think I would do this. I may think differently five years from now, but according to my own present light, I would say this. That preaching is ordained of God to affect that unique thing by which God himself comes to men in the context of the preached word. And therefore, men are brought to God by means of that word preached. God comes to men in preaching in a way of illumination. God comes to men in a way of preaching in a way of illumination. God comes to

17:57 men in a way of preaching in a way of conviction, in a way of comfort, in a way of such a display of his glory that they in turn come to God. If it's the sinner, in a way of penitence, in a way of faith, the saint, in a way of adoration, in a way of contrition, in a way of exaltation. But there is this biblical perspective in preaching that is not the mere lodging of ideas in the minds of men as an end in itself, but that by means of preaching, God in grace, might come to his creatures both in blessing and in condemnation as well. For we are the saver of life unto life, the apostle says, and of death unto death. Mere eloquent or forceful preaching may bring the man to you in the display of his gifts, and it may bring you to the man with your admiration and praise. But effective, scripturally powerful preaching, though it may be eloquent, though it may be forceful, though it may be impressive, has this unique quality, it brings God to men, and men as a result of it are brought to God.

19:13 And then the word popular, what do I mean by popular preaching? And again, I use it in its highest sense to reflect what is said of our Lord, the common people heard him gladly. Now it doesn't say they all understood, but that the guy may be eloquent. Though it may be forceful, though it may be impressive, has this stood him clearly. But it does say they heard him gladly. It doesn't say they followed him implicitly. It does say they heard him gladly. The common people heard him gladly. It was a popular ministry, a ministry that captured the ears of the populace. And since Scripture

20:00 sets before us the perspective that God has ordained to call his people primarily out of the ranks, other than the mighty and the noble, for you remember Paul's words in Corinthians, not many, not any, but not many, mighty, not many noble, not many wise. James says, God hath chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith. And our Lord captured the ears of the people. And our Lord captured the ears of the people. And our Lord captured the ears of the people.

20:31 That segment of his own day. I'm speaking of the kind of preaching that grips Mr. and Mrs. Average Man and Mistress Average Girl and Master Average Boy. Some men preach effectively to a very select, esoteric group of people. And this is not to despise those who have peculiar gifts and whom God has peculiarly equipped to minister to some unique, isolated segment of society. This is not to despise that. But since this is a gathering primarily of preachers who minister to the common people, it is my concern to zero in upon the principles of effective preaching as they relate to the kinds of people to whom you minister from week to week. Now we know, and I trust are assured of the fact that only God can open

21:26 the ears of the heart. But may I say it reverently? He is God. He is God. He is God. He is God.

21:30 He is God. He is God. He is God. He is God. He is God. He is God.

21:33 He is God. He is God. We have no reason to believe that God is going to open the ears

21:46 of the heart. And so I want to address myself to those ingredients of the kind of preaching that captures the ears that are stuck to people's heads, trusting that God will then open those ears that are found within the heart. Alright, so much for a brief exegesis of my title, what I mean by it, and now we will seek to strike out and cover the first of these three basic areas of consideration. What are these essential ingredients of effective popular preaching? First of all, in the heart and mind of the preacher himself. I want to trace out five lines of thought in the remaining time tonight. First of all, in the heart and mind of the preacher himself, the first and essential ingredient of effective preaching is an expanding, varied, and original life with God. An expanding, varied, and original life with God. The scriptures tell us, Matthew chapter 12, that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.

Ingredient 1: An Expanding, Varied, and Original Life with God

23:07 Now, we know that that's not an ironclad principle, for the scripture also speaks of famed words. A man may play the actor in any area, and in the pulpit as well, but as a general principle, a man's mouth is but the echo of the state of his heart. Or to change the figure, a man's mouth is the overflow of the well of his heart. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.

23:38 And our Lord goes on to say, a good man, out of the good treasure of the heart, bringeth forth good things. So if a man would have good things upon his lips, he must seek to have a good treasure in his heart. And I would like to describe that treasure as an expanding, varied, and original life with God. For that principle, that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh, is not negated simply because a man stands behind a desk, called the pulpit. Now, he must have an expanding life with God. That is a relationship to God, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which takes on new dimensions, thus giving to the preacher new hues to his ministry, new subtle nuances to his sermons, so that what is happening to him in his experience, 2 Corinthians 3.18, but we all with open face beholding, is in the mirror of the glory of the Lord, are transformed into that same image from one stage of glory to another. What he is experiencing inwardly cannot help but be reflected in the whole tone of his ministry. Let me illustrate it this way. Suppose there stood amongst us,

24:58 or sat amongst us tonight, a preacher who had the gift of poetic utterance. And while you were courting that woman who is now your wife, you wrote love poems. And someday, you happen to be visiting with me, or I with you, or what have you, and you're going to be in a place where you're going to meet one of the brethren here, and you pulled out some of those old love poems, and she said, well, yeah, you may look at them. Well, we look at some of the poems that you wrote in your courtship days. Then we, after studying them for a few minutes, we compare them with some poems you wrote after five years of marriage, and now you've been married 20 years, and you just happened to write one on your 20th anniversary. Now, if you wrote all of that poetry, anyone who had any eye for literature would be able to discern a basic stylistic characteristic that characterized the pre-marriage poem, the five-year, and the 20-year. It would be obvious that you wrote that poetry. There would be probably a sameness of basic structure, perhaps a sameness even of basic vocabulary. But, and follow closely, if there was no evidence of a deepening and an expanding

26:07 relationship, the poem that you wrote after 20 years of marriage would probably be nothing but the wistful expression of past memories. For any man sitting here tonight who's known something of the blessing of God upon his marriage looks back after 20 years of marriage and says, what in the world was that that hung us together back then? Back then it seemed real and genuine. That poem that you wrote in your courtship days was a genuine expression of your love. But my, what you now know after 20 years, you say, what was that? Now, that was sincere. The one after five years. But what's happened? There has been an expanding relationship of

26:54 intimacy. And if that's true at the level of human love and the exploration of one human being of another, how much more of the infinite God as he's revealed in his dear son, our Lord Jesus Christ. And if there's to be effective preaching, there must be this expanding life with God. Without it, people begin to sense that even though we've been converted and stood before them for 15 years, our preaching, instead of being those breakings forth of aspects of our present relationship to him, is dominated by sentimental flashbacks to better days. And even though they could never articulate it as such, they sense it. And the power has gone from our preaching. So there might be an expanding relationship with God. This is brought out so beautifully in Paul's commission in

28:05 Acts 26 and verse 16. This struck me the other day when reading this passage in another connection. But rise and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen and of those which thou hast seen. I will appear unto thee. This doesn't mean that a man's got to be a Rutherford before he can begin to preach and be a witness of what he has seen, but that's only half of it. Here's a man who had a lot more to talk about than any of us do. He heard the voice of Christ directly from heaven. In the glory of God, been directly commissioned from heaven. And yet even that isn't enough to live on and feed

29:02 the hearts of God's people. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it.

29:04 I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I will get it. I periods of the acute pain of his absence. And the people of God to whom we minister come down those same paths that the psalmist came. And unless we are passing through them, if our relationship has become static and wooden, that variety will not be found in our preaching. And we shall leave whole segments of our congregations unmet and unblessed.

30:02 The stagnancy and the woodenness of our own walk with God is reflected in the stagnancy and the woodenness of our preaching. And then it must not only be an expanding and varied, but an original life with God. And what do I mean by original? Of all the scriptures are permeated with concepts of solidarity and community, they also hold out the purest forms of individualism. It's of the uniqueness of unique facets of scripture how these two seemingly opposites are brought together the same god who speaks of us as being in christ and the body of christ and the whole idea of the solidarity of the human race in adam and the elect in christ comes to us with terminology like this i know my sheep and i call them by name most personal thing you've got that's why we stuck it on here because that's the best way to reflect you as an individual is to put your name here you don't put on there how much money you got in the bank that really isn't too significant about who you are we didn't ask you to put on that little badge there

31:18 where you were born that's the most significant thing about is your name that's why mr murray said please put your name and the lord says i call my sheep by name the beautiful individualism of scripture and in that sense you see every man's walk with god is totally original because god's dealings with him are utterly unique one of a kind now it's relatively easy to become a parrot of the language and concepts of the experimental divines to read fable and sibs and to parrot them but that won't feed your people we must be able to say with john that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you again to say with john we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard and so i would suggest to you my brethren that the first ingredient of effective preaching in the heart and mind of the preacher himself is an expanding varied and original life with god and how is this to be experienced and i can only in the realm of the practical give a few機 tolit and i can only in the realm of the practical give a few statements without enlarging upon them. In answer to that question, how may we have this original life with God? There must be at least these three ingredients. The discipline of consistent

32:46 assimilation of the scriptures. The discipline of the consistent assimilation of the scriptures. Listen to Stalker's perceptive words on this very point. The man who is to be God's messenger must himself draw near to God and abide in his secret as they did, that is men of old. The word must detach itself from the book and become a living element of experience before it can profit even the reader himself. And much more is this the case before it can profit others. Now notice carefully what he says in this next sentence. It is the truth which has become a personal conviction and is burning in a fire.

33:32 Man's heart so that he cannot be silent, which is his message. The number of such truths which a man has appropriated from the Bible and verified in his own experience is the measure of his power. The number of truths that a man has appropriated from the Bible and verified in his own experience is the measure of his power. There must be the discipline of the consistent assimilation of the scriptures at any cost. Secondly, there must be the maintenance of the spirit and the habit of secret prayer. And I am aware of all the excuses that you bring up to your own mind to excuse yourself from the habit of secret prayer which eventually leads to the loss of the spirit of secret prayer. But brethren, the reason why we are not out, most of us, putting in our 40 hours a week put bread on the table is because of the precedence set by the Apostles who said, we shall give ourselves

34:44 to prayer and the ministry of the Word. To the ministry of the Word and to prayer as not enough for us to be diligently preparing for servants if we're not diligently preparing our sermons. If we are not giving ourselves to prayer we would not know that we expand varied and originalized world. With all we possess may God give us with all we possess may God give us many ways better yet and often more simultaneous experiences.

35:06 with God and then thirdly there must be the discipline of general reading the discipline of general reading Alexander not the Alexander of thoughts on religious experience but an American preacher James W Alexander late pastor of the Presbyterian Church New York there's a collection of some of his letters to young men on the subject of preaching he has some most perceptive thoughts on this very matter of the discipline of general reading and in the interest of time I won't read much of it but he says and this is the one of the most vital points should he confine himself entirely to the reading which has direct reference to specific sermon preparation he must become a narrow though perhaps an acute practitioner and then he uses the illustration of a lawyer who only reads with reference to specific cases in hand he said the lawyers who truly advance in their field are those who are constantly doing general reading from the whole field of legal and historical jurisprudence they're constantly reading the history of other cases exposing the mind to a broad spectrum of the thoughts of others in

36:28 that field and this gives a richness and a largeness to the thought and to the mind and he commends this to these young men and I would commend it to you my brethren if there is no discipline of general reading what books have you worked through in the past six months that have no direct reference to sermon preparation what books have you worked through that have stretched your mind and pierced your heart and moved you to think and to pray to think hard and to pray long let me quote from Stalker again speaking on this very point of the necessity of a broad and ever enriching understanding of God's truth by this matter of personal prayer personal study he says perhaps of all causes of ministerial failure failure the commonest lies here and of all ministerial qualifications this the most simplest is the most trying then he goes on to say that either we've never had an experience deep enough to be convincing to our people or it's become stale through lack of this expanding varied and original

37:49 life with God then the second essential ingredient of effective preaching in the heart and mind of the preacher is an increasing liberation from the fear of man all of us are social beings and unless something has snapped in our social agenda the only .. and the only thing we do not do in our mental CIARAN but this youth shard be leaving you it is not possible to protect this魔法 last point of our mental processes we love to be loved we love to be accepted an we love to be praised and esteemed and if you don't see a mentor that it's either because something snap to your porta just nobody that came to this conference for the town of space in a sign around his neck I hope everybody eight sweep at a time the conference is over no but of course not we are so constructed made that we want to be logged we want to be accepted open club we do not care about what people think and we follow is not able to stunned eternal the people haven't也可以sn't allow us to accept anything more or we stealthily ήσed in the life of God to help or and sometimes toเฤe upload to Him only to help us in general We want to be praised and esteemed, but since we are called upon to declare truths which offend the flesh and provoke the hostility of unregenerate nature as well as the remaining corruption in the saints of God, we will never be free to bless men with divine truth unless we're freed from men.

Ingredient 2: Increasing Liberation from the Fear of Man

39:12 Now let me expand upon that thought. The Apostle Paul says in Galatians 1.10, Do we seek to please men? For if I should yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

39:33 He says that a man-pleasing spirit is a negation of true loving servitude to the one who has called him. Listen to him again in 1 Thessalonians 2.4, But as we were allowed...

39:46 To be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who proveth our hearts. 2 Corinthians 5.9, Wherefore we make it our aim. Here's what we aim at.

40:03 This is the conscious goal of our ministry, Paul says, to be well-pleasing unto him. Now, it's when a man can say those things as recorded in Galatians 1. In 1 Thessalonians, 2, that he can say as he did in Acts 20, I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you. I have declared unto you the whole counsel of God.

40:32 He didn't say I kept back nothing that was unpalatable. He said I kept back nothing that was profitable. He had to come with some very unpalatable truths. He had to come with truths that offended unregenerate pride.

40:49 The smugness and the arrogance native to man's heart. But he said, I kept back nothing. Why? I have a trust from God.

41:01 I'm the servant of Christ. I'm not out to please men because I've been loosed from your smiles and your frowns. I'm God's free man to give you the truth that he knows you need, even if you don't want it. So I would submit to you, my brethren, that if we would know what it is to be effective, in our preaching, there must be this increasing liberation from the fear of man.

41:32 For the scripture says, the fear of man bringeth a snare, and the place where its snaring power is most evident in a preacher who has the fear of man is his tongue. It'll snare his tongue so that it's not loosed to speak the whole counsel of God. What's the best way to be loosed from the fear of man? Well, let me say, it's not to preach to the rafters or to the back wall.

41:57 I've seen some preachers that I was 99 and 44, 100% sure that they thought the way to be loosed from the fear of man was not to look at men when they preached.

42:13 Now, that's not the way to be delivered from the fear of man. It's to be so consciously caught up prior to and in the act of preaching with the thought that he has called me, he has commissioned me, his eye is upon me, he will judge me. I must preach with a view to his frown or to his smile. Let me suggest that that's not just a human deduction.

42:39 It's the precise perspective of the apostle as recorded in a number of passages. I will only mention two. 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 13. 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 13.

43:04 It's 270. For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, transparent in his ministry. But as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ. No wonder he could say not as pleasing men.

43:32 He said, I speak first of all as of God. I know he has called me. He has deposited this body of truth in my hands. Not only that, as I now speak, your eyes may be upon me, you Corinthians, but his eye is upon me.

43:50 I speak as in the sight of God. And then he says, I speak as one conscious of my union with Christ, so that whatever would cause timidity, there is grace stored up in Christ to liberate me from the fear of man, to liberate me from trembling before their frowns and from fawning before their smiles. I speak not only, as of God and in the sight of God, but conscious of my union with Jesus Christ, the one unto whom all power in heaven and earth has been given and in whom I am made complete.

44:26 This is the way to be increasingly liberated from the fear of man, to cultivate that consciousness that we speak as of God, in the sight of God, and in union with Christ. Then the thought that he will judge me should enter into, to the very context of our preaching. Notice Paul's words to Timothy, very familiar words, 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 1. I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus, and of all the activities of that God and Savior he could have mentioned, which one does he focus on?

45:05 Who shall judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom? Preach the word, but Timothy preach it under the consciousness, that the God with whom you have to do is the God before whom you'll stand and give an account of the deeds done in the body. What is man's judgment in the light of his judgment? 2 Corinthians 5, 10 and 11, the same perspective.

45:31 We must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, that we may receive the things done in the body, whether good or bad. Wherefore, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. That persuasion is carried out in a contest, of the shadow of the day of judgment.

45:51 And I suggest that the only way to be increasingly liberated from the fear of man is to consciously feed yourself upon those concepts before you enter the pulpit. While you're preparing the sermon, turn to those passages and say, Oh God, help me to labor in the word in my study with an eye single to your eye and to your commission and to your presence. When you enter the pulpit, Lord, make me utterly insensitive. To the frowns or to the smiles of those to whom I minister.

46:22 Without that liberation, we'll never know if our words of comfort are merely sentimental fawnings aimed at placating some who may be angry with us because we've touched a vital nerve the week before. We'll never know if our gentleness is anything more than sickening weakness.

46:42 Our applications will be like buckshot on the hide of a crocodile because we're so timid. And we'll just dabble in generalities that never pierce a man and nail him to the pew with the truth of God.

47:04 Because we're bound. The mind is not free to follow out the implications of truth because it's got all these roadblocks up. Sister so-and-so, brother so-and-so, that situation and this situation and fear of man that ensnaring the mind ensnares the tongue. And there's little unshield, penetration, power in the ministry.

47:28 Brethren, if we can be made to quake before the frowns of men, and if they know we'll get drunk with the wine of their smiles, we'll not be instruments to bring God to them by our preaching.

47:42 This is one reason why I personally believe that effective popular preaching usually divides all of its hearers into two neat categories. Those who love the preacher far out of measure and those who hate him with perfect hatred.

47:58 Because what is said of our Lord happens in this kind of ministry. It's said he is set for the falling, and the rising of many in Israel that the thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed. And that's what happens in lesser measure under effective popular preaching from a man who is increasingly delivered from the fear of men. Listen to Bridges' penetrating words on this subject.

48:26 The independence that disregards alike the praise and the censure of men is indisputable. Indispensable for the integrity of the Christian ministry. Again, Bridges, Christian boldness awes the haters of our message and secures the confidence of the true flock of Christ and the approbation of our conscience in the sight of God. What more can you ask than that as a preacher?

Ingredient 3: Increasing Unfeigned Love for People

48:59 To be an instrument by which the haters of the message are awed, by which the flock of God become confident in you as a spiritual guide, and in which you have the approbation of your own conscience. Now the third essential ingredient of effective preaching in the heart and mind of the preacher is this. The expanding buried original life with God, the increasing liberation from the fear of men, thirdly, an increasing measure of unfamed love for people.

49:39 And I put this following hard upon the other principle, because on the surface they look like they wouldn't be found in the same room together. But I want to show that one is the necessary attendant of the other. Since we're speaking about the ingredients of effective preaching,

49:57 we should remind ourselves of 1 Corinthians 13.

50:01 If we speak as effectively as angels, if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I am become as clanging brass or a tinkling cymbal. The very man who could speak, say, I should not be the servant of Christ if I sought to please men, could also say, I seek not yours, but you.

50:27 And he could say to another body of God's people, we were willing to impart not the gospel of God only, but our very souls. Why? Since ye were become dear to us.

50:43 See what was fused in this man? Being utterly liberated from the fear of man, he could now genuinely, with unsamed love, be attached to men. Oh, how easy it is to forget that the congregation does not exist for us, but we for it.

51:07 Jesus said, I came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give. You can so easily think of the church as something that exists as a, as a situation in which we can exercise our gifts.

51:28 There's an element of truth in that. But when that's the perspective where we think the church is this entity that exists for me so that I may find my identity and express my peculiar gifts, we've lost this perspective.

51:43 Ephesians 4 says, Christ gave these gifts to the church, not the church to the gifts.

51:49 And it's reversing the biblical perspective.

51:53 He showed the relationship of love to effect the church. Effective popular preaching under the form of a few questions. Is effective preaching marked by its clear order and transparent structure? Well, you see, it's love that will make a preacher labor at capturing the minds of people by disciplining himself to a clear and transparent structure to discern it.

52:20 Some of us do not naturally have a mind that thinks in a way that spills out things that are not true. They're clear. Well, what's going to make a man labor against the natural bent of his own peculiar mental cast? Labor and sweat and pray and work until there's a structure and order in that sermon that will be clear to the average person in the congregation.

52:44 I say, unless he's motivated by some base desire for a good reputation, it's love for his people that makes him labor in that discipline.

52:55 Is effective preaching marked by its searching elements? That will not allow people to merely think that good things are being said in their presence, but essential things are being said to their hearts? I suggest it is love which will move the preacher to exert every legitimate effort to pry men loose from their couches of fatal comfort by searching application. And he must labor at it, but love will make him labor at it.

53:25 Is effective preaching marked by clarity? It is love which will constrain the preacher to labor at lucidness and transparency? Is effective preaching marked by earthiness? By the human element?

53:42 It is love which drives a preacher out of his study and the vocabulary of the library to speak where men live and love and labor, laugh and cry and die. It's love which makes him lay aside that vocabulary and cultivate the language of the common man.

54:04 When a mother sees her child trapped in a burning house, it's love for her own flesh and blood. It's love for the darling of her heart that will bring all of her faculties of mind and body to tap all of their resources to rescue the object of her love.

54:25 That's true in the rescuing of human life. How much more in the rescuing of the souls of man. When we think of the people of God, when you love a man, when you love a friend, when you love your wife, and you know that there are certain sights that will enrich him or her, certain experiences that will delight him or her, you'll employ all of your faculties of persuasion and description to convince them they ought to come to see this sight. They ought to go to behold this beautiful day.

54:58 And so when in the secret place we've been taken by the hand of God, he's pulled back the veil and he's pulled back and given us a new sight of the glory that shines in the face of his Son. When he has taken us to the depths and pulled back the veil and let us feel and see something of the awfulness of the groans of the damned, we'll employ all of our faculties to warn those whom we love lest they come to that place and to take all whom we love that they might behold those glories that God sets before us in the gospel of the Lord. And it's that increasing measure of unfeigned love for people as people where they live as people that will drive us to work at these elements of effective preaching which, as I will trust to demonstrate in subsequent lectures, are rarely just found in any man without diligent sweat and labor and no amount of the fullness of the Holy Spirit that we can bring these things into a man without that sweat and without that labor. This is why the Apostle Paul could say in 1 Corinthians 9, I become all things to all men. Why? That I might gain some places.

56:24 He says, I speak as a fool. He said, I'm just, as it were, I'm just having to stick my heel in all my sensitivities, those things that I was reared to think as elegant in the rest of the feet of Gamaliel. I speak as a fool. But I'm getting my message across.

56:40 Other places, he says, oh, I speak as a man. I speak after the human illustration of things. Why did he do it? Because he loved people and he wanted them to see.

56:49 What is pulpit elegance if men are not touched? What are flights of rhetoric if men are not moved? What is a lofty vocabulary if men do not see the truth? It's men with large hearts who will be used of God to move men in large measure.

Ingredient 4: Hearty Acceptance of One's Identity

57:14 Then the fourth indispensable requirement in the man himself that he would be owned of God in effective preaching is what I'm calling a hearty acceptance of his own identity as a man and as a preacher.

57:35 A hearty acceptance of one's own identity as a man and as a preacher. One servant of Christ has wisely said that the two cardinal rules for preaching are forget yourself and be yourself.

57:53 Forget yourself and be yourself. And effective preaching is marked by this element of self-forgetfulness in preaching. A thing impossible as long as a man is laboring under a burden of seeking to be something or someone other than that which God has made him both as a man and as a preacher. I think of two principles that I hope will help to establish this fact.

58:19 First of all, Scripture teaches that there is a great diversity of preaching excellence and effectiveness. 1 Corinthians 12, 4 and 5 speaks of diversities of gifts and diversities of administration. Let me ask you a question. Who is the ideal biblical preacher?

58:37 Peter? Paul? Amos? Or Isaiah?

58:43 I almost said Isaiah. Who is the ideal biblical preacher?

58:52 Well, if you answer none of them, you're right. And if you answer all of them, you're right. But if you answered any one individual of them, you were wrong. Amos was ideal.

59:03 Shaped and molded Amos for a particular ministry at a particular time to a particular people. And when Amos was Amos, talking in the earthy language of the field from which he came, Amos was a powerful preacher.

59:22 And Isaiah was the ideal preacher. God disciplined him by the courtly life. He spoke as a man who came out of that background in those lofty poetic imageries that spilled out of that mind under the illuminating light and fire of the spirit. Made Isaiah the ideal preacher as long as he was content to be Isaiah.

59:45 But now none of these men captures all that is useful in all men.

59:52 Each was put into a particular niche to meet a particular need.

59:59 I've often thought of this with regard to athletics. What's the right way to hold a cricket? In fact, in the States, our comparable game, of course, is baseball. I watched a little cricket last year.

60:11 It was quite painful for me to do so over the television. Frankly, I find it rather boring. They go on for hours and break for tea and come back and three days later they're still at it. For we Americans, that's a bit too long and drawn out.

60:24 But I noticed something. Here were the best cricket players in the world. And no two of them stood up there at the wickets in the same way.

60:34 Has the best style. Who is the best cricket batsman? The one who can hit the thing in the direction he's supposed to when he's supposed to and get the runs. That's the one.

60:45 In the States, in baseball, the same thing. Hank Aaron, one of the veteran ball players, breaks one of the cardinal rules of a batsman. You're never supposed to hit off your front foot. Your power foot is your back foot.

60:58 And yet he's number three in the all-time home run list. He's at the top batters, top five or ten batters year after year. And if anybody tried to get him to hit off his back foot, they'd ruin his genius. You see, there's this diversity.

61:10 The object is to hit that ball, to deliver the goods as we say. And if you tamper with those individual characteristics within the framework of excellence, you destroy the excellence. And this is true in the realm of preaching. There's a great diversity of preaching excellence.

61:27 And if we have in our minds some model that we say this is the epitome of preaching excellence and we're pressing to that, we may be doing the very thing that will keep us from an effect in ministry because we have put ourselves into a pattern or bold or seeking to do so for which God, the Holy Spirit, has not equipped us and is not molding us.

61:51 The second principle is, and it flows out of this, the Holy Spirit does not work in the context of the unnatural.

61:59 John 8, 36, our Lord says, Whom the Son sets free is free indeed. Free to do or be what? Free to do what God commands me to do and to be what God commands me to do. That's what God intends I should be.

62:13 Such things as basic temperament, the laws of the mind, these were settled when you were knit together in your mother's womb. Read the 139th Psalm when David admires the wisdom and the sovereignty of God in the way he was fashioned and knit together in his mother's womb.

62:32 And how unthinkable then that we should write books on homiletics and say, this is the right way to gesture. This is the wrong way to use the voice. It's ridiculous. Now, if you've got grotesque things, common sense, says you ought to listen to your wife or people if they tell you you're scratching your ear while you're preaching or doing some other distracting thing, granted.

62:53 Granted.

62:57 But you make some observations this week, will you? When there is animated, involved parlor conversation around, you watch the diversity expressed in these men. Some men in animated parlor conversation where a subject has really gotten hold of them and it's bigger than themselves and they've totally forgotten themselves, you watch them. They're leaning on the edge of the seat.

63:17 Their brow may be all screwed up and their hands may be going a mile a minute. Others, you may find them just gripping the side of the chair and just their hands getting white and they grip it and they let it go. Different expressions. But each one in that conversation, if he's involved in something that's bigger than he is, that's gotten hold of him, a thing of real interest, whether it's sports or something spiritual, I care not what it is.

63:41 And there you see the man in his native environment. You see him being what he should be. And that's the best, the closest thing I know to what should carry over into the realm of our preaching. The Holy Spirit does not work in the context of the unnatural.

63:58 Our natural abilities, the formative influences, our past training. And something that struck me in recent days, and I throw it out for your reaction if we have any time for some feedback later on in the week. I would appreciate your comments on this. What was the highest, most sacred work of the Holy Spirit in communicating truth to men?

64:24 Was it not in the inscripturating of the words of God?

64:34 His most sacred ministry, his highest work was in communicating those words which have become the words of Scripture. And yet, in that highest work where the very words he gave are God's words,

64:50 there is full latitude of all the diversity of the individual writers. I shall never forget the thrill as a first-year Greek student when I could see the difference in the style of John and Peter and Paul. It just did something for me. And when I was reading any of the Joannine Rite, I knew I was reading John.

65:09 And when I was stumbling through Peter, I didn't do too much reading there because the vocabulary was so much more complicated than the grammar. But when I was stumbling through Peter, I knew I was in Peter. And when I was in Paul, I knew I was in Paul. I believe every word that God gave was his word.

65:25 Which things we speak in words which the Lord has given us. Which things we speak in words which the Lord has given us. The Holy Ghost teacheth. I believe in plenary verbal inspiration in the original autographs.

65:35 But even at that highest ministry of the Spirit, full attitude to Peter's fisherman's mind and vocabulary and grammar. To Paul's trained mind, vocabulary, and grammar. To John's cast of mind, vocabulary, and grammar. And should we not expect that that will be true in this lesser ministry of the Spirit, when through human instruments who claim no infallible proclamation, who do not claim to have infallible understanding of the infallible words of God, that there should be that latitude for that which is truly a part of you as God made you in the first work of creation and as he has remade you in the new creation. Now you see, when we can be done with laboring to be, quote, great preachers in some artificial or classical or limited sense, and we are committed to fully giving ourselves to helping men in love, then we're God's free men. Then when we're laboring at some aspect of a technical part of preaching, order, structure, illustration, our motive is pure. Not because we want to become great preachers who are known for our ability to hold people spellbound by our illustrative powers.

66:55 That's a prostitution of preaching. But we will nonetheless labor at being good storytellers because we love people and we want to punch holes in the massive walls of our sermons made of the substantial walls of truth. We want to punch some holes in, let some light in, and we just find naturally we're not given to illustrations but we know people need them if they're going to understand. So we labor at illustration, not because Whitfield illustrated his sermons and we want to become Whitfields, but because there was a principle of effective communication which came through Whitfield as Whitfield and I'm going to have come through me as me.

67:39 And all the blessed liberty that comes when there's this hearty acceptance of one's own identity as a man and as a preacher. As I move then to the last thing, let me just give this one practical instruction. Beware of getting all your formative influences through one basic channel.

68:01 That's a great danger.

68:04 You follow what I'm saying? Either in your reading, or in the ministries to which you're exposed, beware of having your formative influences come through one channel and preaching is in great measure imitative. So if you're in the habit of listening to other preachers, make it plural. Preachers.

68:21 Not one preacher. And in your reading, don't just confine yourself to reading the Puritans. I hope you do. There's a volume of Owen on my desk continually.

68:30 My goal is before I lay down in my coffin, I've read through all of them and mastered a few of those volumes. By reading and reading and rereading until my mind and spirit are steeped in them. But brethren, you're a rare man if you can cultivate a popular style if you only read the Puritans. You're a rare man because what happens is when you give your mind to their minds, they're putting the stand not only of the substance of the truth upon your mind, but the structure in which they say it.

69:05 And lo and behold, you get up to talk and you find yourself in this big circumlocution and parenthetical and ellipsis and all the rest. And, you're like the man that said, well, I've gotten my modifier mixed up and my subject has lost its object, but he said, I'm on the way to the kingdom anyhow.

Ingredient 5: Conscious Dependence on the Holy Spirit

69:25 But your people may not be, you see, if they get lost in the process. Well, then, let me conclude our study tonight with this fifth essential ingredient in the heart and life of the preacher, if there would be effective popular preaching. And it's what I'm calling a cultivation of a conscious dependence upon the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit. And again, I've chosen my words carefully.

69:54 The cultivation. This is not something that comes natural to us, even in a state of grace. For those tough, fibrous roots of self-confidence are yet in us, even though we have cast ourselves upon God's mercy in Jesus Christ. And so there must be the cultivation of a conscious, not a theoretical dependence upon the Holy Spirit in his person and ministry.

70:21 It's easy to use the language of humility. Oh, I need the Holy Spirit.

70:26 But how often, brethren, when you go into the study to labor, and I trust you do this, to labor in your exegesis, to study words, to look at form and structure in the scripture, and to lay... How often do you dare to do this without, not just going through some little rigmarole, or bless my sermon preface, no, no, I don't mean that.

70:46 Without really consciously spreading your helplessness before God and saying, Lord, unless the Spirit who wrote this book comes and opens to me its meaning, I shall not understand. I'll be a blind guide to my people. Oh, Holy Spirit, gift of the Son and of the Father, come and illuminate my mind. Come and give grace to know and then to appropriate and feel and obey until this word takes hold of me.

71:21 How often my own heart has been smitten when I've labored on sometimes for hours, and the text is not broken open and there's been no real coming to grips with the thing, and I've just had to acknowledge that I was reaping the fruit of my own profane self-doubt, that I had dared to attack the text with my Greek text in my lexicons and my commentaries without consciously prostrating my heart before God in humble dependence upon the Holy Ghost.

71:54 And I would be surprised if there would not be many of you brethren who would have to echo that confession.

72:01 If we would have effective ministries, brethren, they must be ministries couched in the context of conscious dependence upon the Holy Spirit even to open up the text. Then as we labor on the application, he knows who's going to be there at Lord's Day morning. He knows that saint who's passing through deep, deep waters who needs that word of comfort that will be geared directly to his need. He sees that proud, bald-faced hypocrite that's going to be sitting there.

72:29 He knows that tender reed that is bent but he'll not break. He knows all of that. And as we consciously depend upon the Holy Spirit and ask him for wisdom in the working out of our application, I'm convinced there would be many an arrow that would go to the heart, many a dispensation of comfort and gracious encouragement given in our sermons that otherwise will not be there unless there is this conscious dependence upon the Holy Spirit. Could it be that the absence of true spiritual energy in our preaching is due to a subtle form of creature confidence which grieves and insults the Holy Spirit?

73:14 I would commend to you for your careful reading and your prayerful assimilation the chapter in Spurgeon's lectures to his students on the Holy Spirit in connection with our ministry. Let me just read a paragraph and give you his heads. That's all time will permit.

73:35 Having pronounced that sentence, I believe in the Holy Ghost as a matter of creed, I hope we can also repeat it as a devout soliloquy forced to our lips by our personal experience. To us, the presence and work of the Holy Spirit are the ground of our confidence as to the wisdom and hopefulness of our life's work. If we had not believed in the Holy Ghost, we should have laid down our ministries ere long this. For who is sufficient for these things?

74:07 To us as ministers, the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential. Without him, our office is a mere name. We claim no priesthood over and above that which belongs to every child of God, but we are the successors of those who in olden times, were moved of God to declare his word, to testify against transgression, and to lead his cause. Unless we have the spirit of the prophets resting upon us, the mantle which we wear is nothing but a rough garment to deceive.

74:37 Unless we have the spirit resting upon us, the mantle which we wear is nothing but a rough garment to deceive. We ought to be driven forth with abhorrence from the society of honest men, for daring to speak in the name of the Lord, if the spirit of God rests not upon us. And then Mr. Spurgeon goes on to say that he is the spirit of knowledge, drawing out some of the thoughts I have already mentioned.

75:04 He is the spirit of wisdom. He is the spirit of freedom of utterance. He is the spirit who anoints us for our entire delivery. He is the spirit who produces actual spiritual effects in the hearts of men.

75:16 And then he goes on to say he is the spirit of supplication in the hearts of men. And then he goes on to say he is the spirit of meditation, enabling us to pray even as we preach. He is the spirit of discernment. He is the spirit by whose power alone the truth can be rightly proclaimed.

75:32 The lack of distinctly recognizing the power of the Holy Ghost lies at the root of many useless ministries. The forcible words of Robert Haller is true now, as when he poured them forth like molten lava upon a semi-Socinian generation, quote, on the one hand it deserved to be destroyed, on the other hand it deserved to be destroyed, on the other hand it deserved to be destroyed. The spirit of supplication, which preserves attention to the most eminent and successful preachers of the gospel in different communities, of Brainerd, of Baxter, of Schwartz, have been the most conspicuous for simple dependence upon spiritual aid. Oh brethren, if we would be effective preachers, we must cultivate a conscious dependence upon the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit. And so I lay before you tonight these five Five ingredients of effective preaching as they relate to the heart and life of the preacher-pastor himself. An expanding, varied, and original life with God. Can it be, dear brother, that you've been trying to get by on the borrowed capital of bygone days?

76:45 Can the stale manna be sprayed with the lacquer of ministerial verbiage? Can people not smell the stench and see the worms?

77:00 Secondly, there must be an increasing liberation from the fear of man.

77:07 How can my preaching, your preaching, be like the flight of a soaring eagle if we're chained to earth by the frowns and smiles of our people? Thirdly, there must be an increasing measure of love to men. Will people attend long to a ministry of an amazing word machine in which they...

77:28 Will they sense no heart and no compassion?

77:33 Will they receive rebukes and the sword of conviction? Unless dipped in the oil of love.

77:42 Fourthly, there must be a hearty acceptance of our own identity as men and as preachers. Will the spirit speak powerfully through the man who has a controversy with God about this basic issue of who he is? Will the spirit of truth work through one who is artificial?

78:01 Last of all, there must... There must be this cultivation of a conscious dependence upon the Holy Spirit.

78:09 For Jeremiah said, Cursed, cursed be he that trusted in man and maketh flesh his arm. For he shall be like a heap in the desert and shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit a parched place, a salt land, a wilderness where no water is. Is that a description of your ministry? Could it be because...

78:34 Because there is this element of self-confidence in the light of these essential ingredients? I'm sure you cry out with me, Lord, who is sufficient for these things?