I am enjoying and learning from this thread. It seems to be very much "without guile", and simple, in a way that provides clarity.
The scripture that was quoted, in 2 Timothy however, has to do with teaching; instruction. not necessarily Preaching. We often forget that the early Church would look at you in bewilderment if you drug a pulpit in front of them, and began to speak down from it, and would be astounded if you implied that one man would consume 95% of the time of their gathering together.
It seemed that when the Holy Spirit was present, the entire [i]Body[/i] participated, with those considered weak, often, as the primary ministers. "One has a testimony,, one has a revelation, a prophesy[...above all, I desire that you would prophesy!], one has a teaching!....it was a body affair, men and women orchestrating the living hand of God Himself, as the holy Spirit moved upon all.
Of course, scripture proves out that their were instances when the Apostolic voice did dominate, as when the young man broke his neck after falling in sleep, as Paul went on and on.[ Paul was leaving soon, and had a lot to say with little time to do it in.] This was probably teaching and warnings, not necessarily Preaching.
The Word speaks of those who have an ear, let Him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches. Preaching is not necessarily directly from specific scriptures, at all. When A man or a woman testifies of the absolute Lordship of Jesus of Nazareth, and instills faith in the listeners about His Glory, perhaps hundreds of scriptures would be applicable, and perhaps a Bible would never be opened, but yet, it would be entirely and completely inspired and anointed by Jesus Himself.
This is how I see Preaching, myself. Yes, there may be a scripture, or a burden expressed within my heart, yet the outward expression of this Word, or "unction" of it, is up to me, as he leads. An illiterate man can be of the Irk of an Appollos, or a Spurgeon, for the unction, or anointing is of God alone, not squeezed into a carton of man's parameters. Remember, one half of the world is functionally illiterate. Are they doomed never to preach? Of course not. [I returned from China last winter, and all of the farming villages are mostly illiterate, in terms of our standards.
In every instance in India, as I preached , I waited on the Lord to give me that word, that unction. I never prepared as one may do so in a traditional sense, with notes, and sub notes, but wanted to grasp His Heart. Mostly, my burden for the Churches there was; "Christ in you, the hope of Glory!"...That each and every soul, from child to the elder, could be as close to Jesus, as anyone who ever lived. I believe the Lord desired this, to break off of them the idea of the Priesthood.[very strong in Hindi and super religious India.], and to prove His love for them as the individual...that God loved them very much as a person; WHOEVER they happened to be, or their social status.
I purposely waited, often not knowing what or how I would say anything, until after I was introduced, and I had to begin expressing my burden. The Bible was secondary to the unction. The Bible was paramount in Spirit, and I often quoted many scriptures as I spoke, and I don't believe I once contradicted it. [i]The Word and the Spirit agree.[/i].
I have stood upon a rock, and opened my mouth to preach to crowds that have never heard the Gospel; not once. I began with Genesis, and somehow got to a Godman, that took our sins away. I would, after a while, ask those who believed, to stay, and to come forward, to confess their new faith in the Godman, Jesus. Some would, some left. As they confessed their desire for Him to come, He did, and often with visible Holy Ghost Power, with signs. These weak did, and were born again. They were given Pastors to nurture them.
This was, and to date the purist form of preaching I've ever done. All with no Bible, but I did have the living Word within. The Spirit and the Word agree. I love the Bible, and to hear anointed exposition of it, yet in itself, without the Spirit, can be sounding brass; it can even kill.
In the early church there wasn't the idea of sitting silent waiting to get, but to participate in what was given, by God Himself. It was all Christ centered. The meeting, that we call Church, wasn't Church at all to them. Church was the unseen union and love with those who also had been redeemed in their local area, with whom they depended on, served, and lived with, as a child serves his parents. They loved to eat together, and be with each other. The idea of the handshake and hug in the hallway each Sunday when departing was preposterous to them, as much as we would say to our babies after we tucked them in. The meeting followed the union, not the other way around.
Our idea of someone preaching to us all of the time, would be just as odd.
[b]Preaching is the proclamation and emission of Faith and Truth from the lips of men.[/b]
