And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you. I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. ----Corinthians2:1-5
Paul was a first-rate scholar and speaker; he said this not out of humble humility, but to say that if the Gospel is with beautiful words to attract people, it would obscure the power of God. Faith in Jesus is a miracle, but salvation works not by the magic of words, by flattery, by persuasion, but by the power of God alone. The creative power of salvation is brought forth by evangelism, not by the personality of the preacher. The true fast of the preacher is not the fast of food, but the fast of words, words of strange attraction, and everything that impedes the message of the Gospel of God. The preacher is God’s representative---“as if God were appealing to you through us.” He was preaching the Gospel of God. If people are motivated by my preaching alone, they will never get close to the Lord Jesus. If I preach the Gospel in any way that exalts myself, I make myself a traitor to the Lord Jesus, because I have hindered his redeeming creation and power to work. 迹 “If I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to me.”
Dear God, how I need you! When I come before you, give me new life graciously, until all my understanding, imagination, and speech are yours. What I seek today is your moving and uplifting grace.
信的神迹
我说的话讲的道，不是用智慧委婉的言语。（林前二1-5）
保罗是第一流的学者和演说家；他说这话并非出于下乘的谦逊，乃是说如果他传福音时，若用漂亮的言词去吸引人，就掩盖了神的能力。信耶稣是一项神迹，惟救恩的功效，不是靠话语的魔力、谄媚、说服，而是单凭神的大能。救赎的创造大能，是由传福音，而不是传道者的人格带出来。传道者真正的禁食，不是食物的禁食，而是在辞锋、出奇吸引的字眼，及一切阻拦神福音传送的东西上禁食。传道者是神的代表——「就好像神藉我们劝你们一般。」他要传的是神的福音。若人单因为我的讲道，而发奋向上，他们就永远无法接近主耶稣。我传福音若有任何高举自己，就必使我成了主耶稣的叛徒，因为我拦阻了他救赎的创造大能作工。
「我若从地上被举起来，就要吸引万人来归向我。」
祈祷◆噢，主啊，我何等需要你！我来到你面前，求你恩慈地将更新的生命赐给我，直至我的理解力、想像力和说话都全属于你。今天我所寻求的，是你的感动和振奋的恩典。
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