Preach in the Spirit

I was recently encouraged to consider what it means to “Preach in the Spirit”. Does it mean to just come to the pulpit and trust that the Holy Spirit will fill my mouth? Should I abandon preperation and notes and just “go with the flow”? What does preaching in the Spirit really mean? 

First of all I believe that “Spirit-Led” preaching and notes/preparation are not mutually exclusive. That is I believe that my preparation is just as much spirit led as the delivery of the message on a Sunday morning. I believe that God is outside of time and therefore not constrained by it. In his providence he has planned the content of each gathering of his church before the creation of the world and so I have no difficulty in believing that the Holy Spirit will, and does, inspire me and lead me as I prepare long before the delivery of the message in the meeting.

I have a high regard for BOTH the Word and the Spirit and it is my desire to see both honoured. My preparation is the direct result of my high view of Scripture. Since the Bible is the Word of God – inerrant, infallible, and inspired – then we must commit ourselves to a method of preaching that most honours God’s revelation in Scripture. Generally this means for me diligent study, reading, prayer and preparation.

In order for me to explain the scriptures I need to study, understand and prepare, but I do so in the power of the Holy Spirit. “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). We read of Apollos in Acts that “He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures” My preparation allows us to be competent in the scriptures. Paul instructs Timothy “from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” which I think again shows us the value of studying and preparation. We must be very careful of drawing conclusions from what the bible does not say. The bible does not say if Paul for example ever used notes. However, in 2 Tim 4:13 he does ask Timothy to bring “the books, and above all the parchments”. It is widely accepted by most commentators that these books were Pauls own writings (notes if you will) as well as some of the Old Testament, possibly the Septuagint (Parchments). Even in prison Paul was reading and preparing himself for what speaking opportunities might lie ahead.

Now all that said I think as preachers we do need to be flexible and not so tied by our preparation that we miss it when God says “well done for preparing, but I want to do this now” there is of course a fine line.

I have seen Mark Driscoll’s preaching notes and he has 2 post-it notes in his bible and preaches for an hour from just that. However, this is because of all of the time he has spent prior in reading, praying, studying the scriptures at length and writing books. “… out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45) Mark Dever, CJ Mahaney and other Holy Spirit anointed preachers tell us that they spend 30 hrs per sermon! (I think CJ works on one hour of prep for every 5 mins of talking).

I think too there are times of anointing that come, as we are attentive to the Spirit, and God leads us is different ways. In times of great outpouring we see this anointing to speak, examples such as Peter in Acts, Smith Wigglesworth, right up to John Arnott and other in more recent times where people preach without notes or preperation it would seem. In these times we see an abundance of grace and anointing to carry out Gods will in the most interesting of times (having to preach several times every day would certainly qualify J ). I would agree that in those exciting circumstances there is a special grace and anointing for those moments where one is lead “in that moment”. It is in those times that the Lord calls to mind all that we have stored in our hearts over the years in reading the scriptures, in diligent study and reading. We must be like Mary who pondered things in her hearts. – “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart“ (Luke 2:19)

I personally think that it would be irresponsible of me not to prepare but equally as irresponsible for me to ignore the Holy Spirit when he tells me to leave my notes and follow his lead. As I started off by saying … I believe that “Spirit-Led” preaching and notes/preparation are not mutually exclusive. This is why I believe that we must, and should prepare. We must be men given to prayer and the scriptures (Acts 6:4) so that we are able to declare the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:28), to teach with authority but also to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Both are important –WORD & SPIRIT operating together !