Or this post could be titled Power in Preaching 5 (Addendum)

I have noted the interesting correlation in my ability to preach with my personal sense of holiness. Not that I necessarily think that I am holy, (although that matters as well, but on a different level) but that I have a sense that I have laid aside those things that I desire in my flesh in order to be prepared to preach.

Often, I am not very “holy” at all as the outworking of Sanctification has varied at times in my life from very much to very little control of my thoughts, actions, desires and motives. When preparing to preach, I am very aware that if I allow something I know to be sinful in my life, it will weigh me down and has the potential to destroy whatever message might have been given.

It is destructive in several ways. First it destroys my peace of mind. I wrestle with a sense of unworthiness when I evaluate my holiness. I know that some would take that to mean that I wrestle with some particularly gruesome sin or sins, but it is not that simple. The fact is that all my sins are particularly gruesome, for all of them have the power to enslave and destroy. The same is true for all of us.

Another way the presence of sin is destructive in preaching is that haunts the mind. As I try to think through what I am to say, remembrances of that which I willfully have harbored in my heart spring to mind, distracting me from the task at hand and rendering me into a stuttering fool, with no power.

Ultimately, it is destructive of my ability to preach because I cut off sensitivity to the Holy Spirit by rejecting His divine conviction in favor of separation from Him and union with my fleshly preferences. Without the Holy Spirit’s power, what good is preaching? Orators are not preachers. Too often those are easily confused.

That did not happen yesterday, by the way. I have taken some personal baby steps in furthering God’s control over my life by eliminating some things that I felt were dragging me down. Under personal conviction, I have struggled against them and have met more success than failure.

It is not that I am more holy now than I ever have been, either. It is more that I am winning some of the battles or, rather, that God is winning them in me. They are important battles, too. Well, they all are, but I have a sense that this is the key to my relationship with God and His ability to use me in leading my church. For me, this is the focus of the holy Spirit, as He speaks to me.

So I find myself with more “junk” in my life than I have had at other times of my life, but feeling so good about God’s victories in my life, I sense great power in His work in me and in the church. Therefore, I approach the pulpit with both confidence and sensitvity to the Holy Spirit.

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