"Christ Sent Me To Preach"

I Corinthians 1:17

If examined by the standards of the religious world today, the Apostle Paul would be a miserable failure as a pastor or an evangelist. He was not impressive to look at, or to hear. He conscientiously avoided oratory (I Cor. 2:4-5). He was not an entertainer, promoter, or church growth expert. Though he was a brilliant, well trained man, he had no "credentials" to "open doors" for him in the religious world. And Paul was not an accredited "pastoral counsellor." He did his counselling from the pulpit and with his pen.He knew what he was sent to do. He writes, "Christ sent me to preach." He refused to use the commonly accepted practices of men to build, or pretend to build, the kingdom of God. He would not use the arm of the flesh to do,or pretend to do, the work of the Lord. His weapons and tools were not carnal, but spiritual. He simply preached the gospel of Christ, both with his pen and his lips, and waited upon God the Holy Spirit to make his preaching effectual to the hearts of men. He never sought a name for himself, or fame among men, and never had it. As long as he lived, men looked upon him as a man whose radical doctrines and methods doomed him to failure. Yet, there has never been a man more greatly used of God than Paul, the preacher!

Don Fortner