This was the testimony of a song leader by the name of Mel Swan in Barron, Wisconsin, when I asked him about his salvation testimony nearly fifty years ago. Mel was in his eighties then, but he could recall in vivid detail the mighty workings of God through those revival campaigns.
“The preaching went on for weeks. Night after night, under the tent in the town square, crowds would gather to hear the evangelists. We were farmers, but every night we would finish the chores, pile into the car, and head to town. As a small boy, I was smitten by the power of God’s Word and came to know Christ as my Savior. But it wasn’t just under the tent each night that God’s Spirit worked. One day my father and I looked over the fence and saw our neighbor kneeling in the furrow behind a team of mules, crying out to God in repentance. Like a mighty monsoon, the Spirit of God had swept over our little community and the surrounding area.”
Every summer, he told me, an evangelist would set up his tent and for weeks would simply but powerfully preach God’s Word. Those meetings would sometimes extend for two months. They didn’t dare stop them, he said, for fear that God would judge them if they did.
“That was another era”… or was it?
It is easy to relegate testimonies like these to a different era. God must have chosen to work differently on the day of Pentecost when Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, stood and boldly declared God’s truth. The messages preached by D. L. Moody, R. A. Torrey, Billy Sunday, Mordecai Ham, R. G. Lee, and others must not be relevant in today’s culture. Surely no one is capable of seeing church growth like Lee Roberson, G. B. Vick, or John R. Rice did in their ministries.
But perhaps we should look beyond an era, a man, a culture, or a methodology. While preachers vary in personality, and cultures change from generation to generation, there are two indispensable elements to preaching in every age and culture.
The record of Jesus’ ministry
“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:16–21).
Those two indispensable elements are manifested in the audience’s response in verse 32:
“And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.”
The indispensable elements
The Word of God and the power of God are absolutely indispensable for the work of God.
Questions we shouldn’t dodge
Dare we call something preaching that has not these two elements?
Is reading, quoting, or explaining the Bible without the Spirit of God’s power really preaching?
Does someone who is filled with the Holy Spirit but never uses Scripture accomplish the task of preaching?
Hydrogen without oxygen is not water.
Oxygen without hydrogen is not water.
Likewise, preaching that does not possess both God’s Holy Word and God’s Holy Spirit is not preaching. Scripture and the Holy Spirit work hand in hand to produce effective life-changing preaching in the heart of the hearers.
“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).
Methods have changed— The Need For Spirit Filled Preaching Hasn't
I have observed many changes in how we do ministry over my lifetime. In my early years of evangelism, a pastor didn’t want me to come unless I could stay at least eight days, including two Sundays. I’ve watched churches go from four regularly scheduled services a week (Sunday school, Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening) to Sunday morning only. I would have met a premature death had I brought even a piece of candy in my pocket to church as a kid. Now it seems impossible to draw a crowd without donuts and coffee.
Quite frankly, I am weary of quibbling over the merits of individual services or finer points in methods. Every local church is autonomous, and every pastor must follow the Lord’s leading as to the activities and services of the church.
But whether you preach once a week or several times a day; whether you preach ten minutes or two hours; whether you use a pulpit, a PowerPoint, or have a potluck while you speak—
—don’t call yourself a preacher and don’t tell folks you have preaching at your church, if you are not proclaiming God’s Word in the power of the Holy Spirit.
A lack of either or both does not fit in God’s definition of preaching.
Biblical, Spirit-filled preaching will draw a crowd in any culture.
More importantly, it is preaching with those two elements that will change that crowd in any culture.
