by Chadwick Brewer<\/p>\n
“For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.…And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom…I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, … so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God<\/em>” (I Corinthians 1:17; 2:1-5).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
People find many things impressive and alluring about certain preachers. Many will talk about these qualities with awe and equate them with their status as preachers. An abbreviated list might include eloquence, charisma, the ability to memorize, possessing an eidetic memory, quoting all the scriptures in their sermons, preaching without an outline, and strong and powerful rhetoric. In short, we often equate these qualities with a preacher’s quality or power.<\/p>\n
However, Paul said that he was sent to preach, and when he preached, he was not eloquent or powerful. He did not have any gimmicks or flash about him. He preached Jesus Christ and him crucified. The cross is the power of the gospel, not Paul’s words or talents. It was God who saved them, not Paul.<\/p>\n
Preachers are merely stewards of God and workers in God’s kingdom. Their power, if they have any true power, is not in their public speaking, their charisma, their recall, or any other personal attribute, but is rather it’s in accurately proclaiming Jesus as the Christ and Him crucified.<\/p>\n
Preachers do not deserve your allegiance; God does. Respect the man; if he is a good steward, help him and send him, but revere the word of God. Regard him as merely the steward of the one who has the power to save. Never empty the cross of its power, and never confuse and confer that power to a man.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Chadwick Brewer “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.…And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom…I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1511],"class_list":["post-83854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-preachers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":63489,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-power-of-god-in-i-corinthians-24-5\/","url_meta":{"origin":83854,"position":0},"title":"What is the power of God in I Corinthians 2:4-5?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 18, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In I Corinthians 1:17 \"For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel - not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power\" and I Corinthians 2:4-5 \"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56925,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/higher-learning\/","url_meta":{"origin":83854,"position":1},"title":"Higher Learning","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bryan Matthew Dockens A common question visitors seem to think appropriate of preachers, at least in this writer's experience, is \"Where did you go to school?\" But folks just never seem to know how to react when I tell them about my year at Moorpark College, the community college\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8820,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-i-need-to-know-to-become-a-preachers-wife\/","url_meta":{"origin":83854,"position":2},"title":"What do I need to know to become a preacher’s wife?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I know that I could become a preacher's wife. I want to be a good virtuous wife because I have, well, kind of seeing a preacher. I want to do the right things in God eyes and not my eyes. I don't want to mess it up. I have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":84557,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-beautiful-are-the-feet-romans-1015\/","url_meta":{"origin":83854,"position":3},"title":"“How Beautiful Are the Feet” (Romans 10:15)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Tom M. Roberts via Truth Magazine, Vol. 43, 1999 God did not entrust the gospel to angels, to supernatural beings, to higher life forms without foibles and feet of clay. Indeed, he entrusted the gospel to men. As an objective fact, this is rather astounding. The message of salvation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/feet-225x300.avif","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":84124,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/called-preachers\/","url_meta":{"origin":83854,"position":4},"title":"Called Preachers","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Joe Warlick, March 1904 via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 14, No. 3, September 30, 1988 A called and sent ministry is the pride and boast of some religious people, and the experiences of the preachers who claim to have been called in a direct way and especially sent to preach\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Joe-S-Warlick.avif","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":542,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/preachers\/","url_meta":{"origin":83854,"position":5},"title":"Preachers (Article)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 9, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Among the duties or roles within the church listed in Ephesians 4:11-12 is the work of the evangelist. The word is translated from a Greek word which referred to a person who brought joyous news of victory from the battlefront. When the same word is used\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83854\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}