Power and Glory
1
Corinthians 2:1-5 “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not
come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of
God. For I determined not to know anything among you except
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in
fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of
human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that
your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
In
the first days of the church, the Apostles came not with fine words but with a
demonstration of the Spirit and of power. When they spoke healing, people were
healed. When they spoke to demons, the demons obeyed. When they spoke at all,
the power of God’s Holy Spirit was manifest in that place. When people were
baptised in water, they came up out of the water speaking in tongues and
prophesying.
What
have we done with all that?
We
speak wise theological words and people fall asleep – bored. We pray with little
expectation for healing rather than speaking it out and folk are unchanged. We
avoid talking about demons at all and the subject of deliverance is met with
disbelieving looks.
What
a sorry plight we have grown into. Out of all the faith, hope, and zeal of the
first church, what a disappointment we would be to them. I just heard a very
relevant comment, “Why are politico’s not afraid of the church? Because the
church is going to meetings and not coming out in power.”
For
those among you who think the power and the glory have disappeared, I have news
for you. God has not changed one iota these past 2000 years. It is we who have
changed. We have watered down our gospel message and with it our faith and
belief in God’s promises. It is time for the church to once again “not come with excellence of
speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For
I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much
trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”
It is time for us to apprehend once more the power
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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