The Role Of The Holy Spirit In Preaching -- By: David M. Doran

Journal: Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal
Volume: DBSJ 03:1 (Fall 1998)
Article: The Role Of The Holy Spirit In Preaching
Author: David M. Doran


The Role Of The Holy Spirit In Preaching

David M. Doran*

David M. Doran*

* Dr. Doran is Chancellor and Professor of Practical Theology at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, and Pastor of the Inter-City Baptist Church in Allen Park, MI.

This topic is of vital importance because preaching is the God-ordained means for accomplishing His purposes in this dispensation (1 Cor 1:18–25), and the work of the Holy Spirit is essential to make preaching effective (1 Cor 2:1–5). A defensible statement of the local church’s mission might be that it exists to honor God by making and maturing disciples who are becoming like the Lord Jesus Christ. This mission statement contains three components: a doxological aim (to honor God, Eph 1:12; 3:21) expressed in discipleship activity (make and mature disciples, Matt 28:19–20; Eph 4:11–16) which should result in Christlike attributes developed in individual believers so that the church forms a pure bride for the Savior (Eph 5:25–27).

The Primacy Of Preaching

Biblical preaching is crucial to the fulfillment of each element of this mission. The Scriptures reveal that the aim of honoring God is supremely accomplished through Christ-centered preaching because it is a method which is foolishness to the world, and God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise (1 Cor 1:26–31). The preacher is charged with a message that declares that the Creator God who has revealed Himself in His Son and in the Scriptures reigns (Rom 10:14–17; cf. Isa 52:7). That message declares “the glory of God in the face of Christ”1 (2 Cor 4:6). Such preaching calls for surrender to this great God, and such surrender is a confession that Jesus Christ is Lord (Rom 10:9) which results in the glory of the Father (Phil 2:11). As Piper has rightly observed, “the goal of preaching is the glory of God reflected in the glad submission of the human heart.”2

The record of Acts is clear that the fulfill...

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