0717 信的神跡
我說的話，講的道，不是用智慧委婉的言語…《哥林多前書 2:4》
保羅是一位最高水平的學者和演說家，他在這裡並不是出於極深的謙卑才這樣說，他是說當他傳福音時，如果他以卓越的演說給人們留下深刻的印象，他就會遮蓋了神的大能。信耶穌，乃是神跡，只能通過救贖的效力所產生，不是通過令人印象深刻的演說，也不是通過爭取和說服，而只是通過神十足獨立的力量。救贖的創造大能來自於傳講福音，永遠不是因為傳道人的人格。
傳道人真實及有效的禁食，不是禁食物，而是禁雄辯口才，禁令人印象深刻的措辭，禁一切可能阻礙神的福音被陳述的事物。傳道人在這裡是作為神的代表——「…就好像神藉我們勸你們一般…」（哥林多後書 5:20）；他在那裡陳述神的福音。如果人們僅僅因為我的講道而渴望變得更好，他們永遠無法接近耶穌基督。
在我傳福音中，任何我的自信都會導致我成為耶穌的叛徒，並且我會阻礙了祂救贖的創造大能作工。去發揮作用。
「我若從地上被舉起來，就要吸引萬人來歸我。」（約翰福音 12:32）。
來自章伯斯的智慧
我們在黑暗中才是真實的我們；其他一切都是名譽。神看的是我們在黑暗中的所是：我們思維中的想象，內心的思想，身體的習慣；這些是在神眼中標記我們的事情。《神的愛——不被注意的事工》
0717 The Miracle of Belief
My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom… —1 Corinthians 2:4
Paul was a scholar and an orator of the highest degree; he was not speaking here out of a deep sense of humility, but was saying that when he preached the gospel, he would veil the power of God if he impressed people with the excellency of his speech. Belief in Jesus is a miracle produced only by the effectiveness of redemption, not by impressive speech, nor by wooing and persuading, but only by the sheer unaided power of God. The creative power of redemption comes through the preaching of the gospel, but never because of the personality of the preacher.
Real and effective fasting by a preacher is not fasting from food, but fasting from eloquence, from impressive diction, and from everything else that might hinder the gospel of God being presented. The preacher is there as the representative of God— “…as though God were pleading through us…” (2 Corinthians 5:20). He is there to present the gospel of God. If it is only because of my preaching that people desire to be better, they will never get close to Jesus Christ.
Anything that flatters me in my preaching of the gospel will result in making me a traitor to Jesus, and I prevent the creative power of His redemption from doing its work.
“And I, if I am lifted up…, will draw all peoples to Myself” (John 12:32).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are only what we are in the dark; all the rest is reputation. What God looks at is what we are in the dark—the imaginations of our minds; the thoughts of our heart; the habits of our bodies; these are the things that mark us in God’s sight. The Love of God—The Ministry of the Unnoticed, 669 L