Gospel Power

1 Corinthian 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.

Where does the power to change a heart of stone to flesh come from? From our words and witness or the Holy Spirit? Many fail to share the truth of God's word fearing they will drive people away instead of drawing them to God. While it is true we can at time run people out of the congregation, we should never be foolish enough to believe we can run them from the church. This would be like saying we have more push than God has pull, for one cannot come to God unless the spirit draws them.

Here we have Paul speaking of his preaching or speaking, Paul spoke solely of Christ and him crucified, and trusted the holy spirit to do what Jesus said it would do. As he determined, so he acted. The subject matter of his ministry was not any of the liberal arts and sciences, or the philosophy and dry morality of the Gentiles, but salvation by a crucified Christ. His style, his diction, his language followed this in his preaching, He didn't try to entice man or impress man of his knowledge or how smart he was with technical words, words of art, contrived by human wisdom to captivate the affections. Nor did Paul come with bare probable arguments, but he spoke in the power of the spirit
partly by making use of solid proofs out of the writings of the Old Testament, indicted by the Spirit of God, and which amounted to a demonstration of the truths he delivered. Besides all these, the Spirit of God wonderfully assisted him in his work, both as to words and matter; directing him, what to say, and in what form, in words, not which human wisdom taught, but which the Holy Ghost taught. The Holy Spirit accompanied his ministry with his power, to the conversion, comfort, edification, and salvation of many.

The Spirit of God directed Paul, and he under the Spirit's influence chose, and by his assistance pursued this way of preaching. He pursued it with this view, and for this reason, that faith in Christ and in the doctrines of his Gospel, which comes by hearing, might not be attributed to the force of human effort but solely on the power of God.