Sow Good Seed: Holy Spirit, Preach

Nobody ever was or ever will be converted merely by the preaching of the Gospel. It is the Gospel applied and enforced by the Holy Spirit that saves men.

1 Corinthians 2:4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:

Without the Spirit's unction no convincing power will attend to their wording.

The more gifts the better, if all are supported and sanctified by the Spirit of God; but apart from absolute reliance upon Him, human ability may become a snare. The late Mrs. Booth said, "When the Church has ceased to have faith in the supernatural."The numbers and standing decline, how often do we resort to all kinds of external aid and gadgets, instead of seeking to have restored the lost power of God! Our work is spiritual, and only spiritual power can accomplish it.

1Cor 2:5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

No preacher can be inspired to the maximum of possible service who has not received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Christian life begins at Calvary, but effective service begins with the baptism of fire. Peter is this example: Acts 2:14-47

It was this Pentecostal baptism that prepared the Apostles for their work. Before Pentecost there was not much service rendered by them that was worth the name, but with the Spirit's baptism they entered upon a new phase of life and service. The visible tongues of fire were only a symbol of what had passed within. What new creatures they then became! How their overall conception of Christ's Kingdom were purged away, and how they were raised from fleshly to spiritual.

Their tongues spoke so wonderfully of the things of God that all who had known them previously were amazed, saying, “What does this mean?”Act 2:12
They were raised to a new height; a new energy and force possessed them. Each became strong as an iron pillar.
They met together as the sincere but timid and partially enlightened followers of Christ, but they left the upper room full of light and power and love.
There was no limit to their hopes, because there was no limit to their power. Their strength was not "as the strength of ten," but as the strength of the Almighty. Nothing could resist the wisdom and Spirit by which they spoke. Multitudes were pricked to the heart, and cried, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Within one generation Paganism was shaken to the center, and Christianity had spread throughout the known world.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit was, and still is, a sort of initiatory rite to the life of Pentecostal service and victory. The analogy of the Sacrament of Baptism connects the baptism of the Spirit with a new era in Christian life.

Jesus went out into the wilderness of life full of the Spirit, (Type of Sanctification) only to return in the Power of the Spirit. Luke 4. This is when He begins to preach.

Some of the first apostles were not profound thinkers, or powerful speakers, but they were wholly devoted to God and full of desire for the salvation of souls. When they spoke they seemed surcharged with an energy which could not be called their own.

It is like the holy oil poured on Aaron's head, and which, running down to the skirts of his garments, communicated to the whole man a charming fragrance. This was before the sin offering sacrifice.

Lev 8:12

And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head, and anointed him, to sanctify him.

We have felt at a loss to account for their influence, and have been compelled to confess that the power they possessed was not human, but Divine. They had received that Divine endowment which is called unction

No words can describe the gift, but it may be known and felt by all.

Nothing else can make a man so powerful and glorious in his life. We know nothing else that is needed to make any preachers and teachers all that God meant them to be, but this baptism of fire. Nothing finds its way through all obstacles like fire. It consumes forests, melts metallic barriers, and marches on with the pace of a conqueror. Nothing can stand before it. Give us men on fire with the Holy Spirit, and nothing can prevent Christianity from becoming the all-conquering power in the world it is destined to be.

Prayer and faith are the conditions. "There in the heavens is the residue of the Spirit; prayer taps the reservoir, and the outlet widens as we pray." The disciples continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.

There is no blessing which the Father is so ready to impart upon those who ask Him for this very gift. More willing is He to give the Holy Spirit to each believer than a mother to give milk to her baby, or a father to give food and clothing to his soldier-son who has just returned from the war.

Matthew 7:11

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?