Speaking God's Word in today's world

We have to speak to today’s world – but we must make sure that it’s God’s Word that we speak.

What are we to say to the world? We must begin with another question: What is God saying to us?

If we are to hear what God is saying to us, we must make time for studying His Word. We can only speak the Word of God to others if we have heard Him speaking to ourselves. If our words are to bring something real and relevant to today’s word, they must be an echo of “the living and enduring word of God” (23).

In themselves, our words have no power to change the lives of those who hear them. There is, however, a greater Power at work when the Lord’s servants proclaim His Word. In Ephesians 6:17, Paul describes “the Word of God” as “the sword of the Spirit.” Whenever we are bringing the Word of God to men and women, we must pray for the presence and power of the Spirit . We must remember this: “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). When our preaching is grounded in the the Holy Scriptures, empowered by the Holy Spirit and centred upon our Holy Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, men and women will be set free from the clutches of Satan and will begin to glorify God through His Son, Jesus Christ, who is “our righteousness, holiness and redemption” With Christ as our Saviour, let us join, with Paul, in saying, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31). Let us “preach Christ crucified” (1 Corinthians 1:23), praying that there will be “a demonstration of the Spirit’s power” (1 Corinthians 2:4). This is what today’s world needs more than anything else!