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After all our preparation, general and specific, for the conduct of public worship and for preaching our dependence for real success is on the Spirit of God. (John A. Broadus)
Let the minister learn to see himself less as the appointed agent of the church, spokesman of a tradition, or enabler of the inadequate, and more as the vehicle of the divine Spirit, dispensing life. (James White)
He [Paul) realises that divine power is most perfectly in evidence when the instrument, the vehicle, is at its weakest, neither obstructing the flow of grace to others by getting in the way, nor drawing attention to its own prowess and efficiency. (Samuel Chadwick)
God can accomplish more through one message in the fulness of the Spirit than through hundreds given in the energy of the flesh.
When it comes to preaching with results, power is always involved (Acts 1:5, 8). Power is needed for boldness in testimony and service (Acts 4:31). Through power, cowards can become heroes. Peter denied Christ yet in Acts 4:8–12, he was a different person straightaway, magnifying God, after the Holy Spirit come. (see also Acts 4:8–10; 19–20; 31–33; 5:29–32; 9:17, 20; 10:44–46).
Aware of a Presence and a power, something has come upon them and has happened to them and they are lifted up out of themselves and out of time, they scarcely know where they are, and phenomena take place . . . great power and liberty , great authority follows in preaching.
There is not always the noise, but there is always the sense of glory, the sense of awe, of the majesty of God; a sense of power, an assurance of salvation. It always leads to great joy, and always gives boldness in witness, whether from a pulpit or in private, a convincing and converting power.
A man of God, speaking in the name of Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, may be broken and incoherent sentences, ill-assorted thoughts and clumsy expression, accomplish wonders for the kingdom of God—not because of his inadequacy, nor doing it the better for want of skill, but in spite of it. (James White)
When the Spirit of God comes into a man with power so as to fill his soul, He brings to the man’s soul a joy, a delight, an elevation of mind, a delightful and healthy excitement that lifts him up above the dull level of ordinary life and causes him to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. I commend this exhilaration to you. It is a safe delight because it is a holy delight, holy delight because it is the Holy Spirit that works in you. (Charles Haddon Spurgeon)
This ‘unction’ or ‘anointing,’ is the supreme thing. Seek it until you have it; be content with nothing less. Go on until you can say, “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”
Some years ago, the Malaysia Baptist Theological Seminary organized a National Preaching Conference for Protestant Churches. The theme was “Reclaiming the Preaching Ministry for the Malaysian Churches Today.” I was one of the three keynote speakers. My message was titled, “The Holy Spirit and Human Preaching.” After the conference, which was attended by about 100 people, I returned to the hotel not realizing that an Indian pastor was following me on his motorbike. The pastor was waiting for me when I alighted from the taxi. When he saw me, he rushed toward me. I was shocked, thinking I might have done something wrong. With tears in his eyes, he grasped my hand tightly and said with a choking voice, “Today I felt the touch of the Lord when you spoke. My preaching will never be the same again.”
A Few Observations about Unction
One, unction enables a preacher to preach with power and gets results.
Two, you can’t use yesterday’s unction to preach today and expect the same results (e.g., like manna from heaven).
Yesterday’s anointing is important; today’s anointing is essential. If I do not experience a fresh anointing everyday it is only a matter of time before I will become yesterday’s man. (R. T. Kendall)
Three, fresh unction is needed each time a preacher preaches. R. T. Kendall asked, “Are you a yesterday’s preacher?” Many of us are. It means we have ceased to be relevant. We continue to say the same thing we said years ago but without power.
A classic example would be Saul who, in spite of being the king, has lost the power yet was the king for the next twenty or more years. God had rejected him (1 Sam. 16:1). David had to wait twenty more years to become the king though he was anointed by Saul. When David was anointed, we read, “From that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power” (1 Sam. 16:13).
Saul maintained his kingship publicly, although secretly, God had rejected him. He retained his gifts which he was endowed with. In 1 Sam. 10:9, we read that Spirit of God came upon him. In 1 Sam. 19:24, long after God had rejected him, he still had the same gift and people were saying, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” (Cf. Rom. 11:29). Saul is an example of how a person can exercise influence and power publicly and secretly. On the other hand, David illustrated how a person can have no platform yet God’s approval. It could happen to anyone of us. We may be using our gifts and talents but the anointing is not here. The greatest fear is to be put on the shelf (1 Cor. 9:27; cf. Acts 13:22; 1 Sam. 13:14).
Four, there is something mysterious about this unction. If it can come and it can go. Unction in one place does not mean unction in another place even though the message may be the same. Hence, the need for all preachers to be prayer-dependent. “It is impossible to minister without the anointing. When God’s Spirit descends, the whole atmosphere changes and things happen that would not occur.”
Our preaching will be accompanied by power when we have the unction. Not only is there freshness in our preaching like the morning dew but there is also authority in our preaching. There is also boldness and liberty in our preaching. There will also be results in our preaching. Demaray says, “[The] mark of anointed preaching is authority. It is preaching with authority. When you have unction in your preaching, you sense power and authority that you have never felt before.”
The preacher becomes a burning and a shining light; burning within and shining without. The commonest bush becomes extraordinary when aflame with fire. People will turn aside to see any preacher ablaze with God. (Unknown Christian)
There is an unusual sense of the presence and power of God in your preaching. There is that immediate awareness of the glory of God. The congregation senses God’s presence and there is awe. On one hand, you feel the greatness and majesty of God in your preaching but vileness and unworthiness in your personality. When confronted by God’s presence, our immediate response would be like Isaiah: “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips” (Isa. 6:6).
Your ordinary preaching becomes extraordinary. Preaching is accompanied by boldness and freedom, presence and power, authority and assurance, freedom instead of fear, courage and conviction.
There is that unspeakable joy because of the accompaniment of power in preaching. Paul is described by others as physically weak and speech contemptible (2 Cor. 10:10) but there was power! (see 1 Corinthians 2).
Lives are touched and changed. Carnality transforms to spirituality when preaching is accompanied by unction. When your congregation departs, it will not be, “Pastor, what a great sermon,” but, “What a great God!”
With reference to the people, Lloyd-Jones remarked, “They sense it at once; they can tell the difference immediately. They are gripped, they become serious, they are convicted, they are moved, and they are humbled. Some are convicted of sin, others are lifted to the heavens, and anything may happen to any one of them. They know at once that something quite unusual and exceptional is happening.”
When preaching is accompanied by unction, the listeners will feel there is something special about it. At the end of the preaching, the listeners will be touched in one way or another. It may even lead to a renewed personal encounter with God accompanied by repentance of sins and tears of remorse. Just like in the Old Testament, when the fire fell the people recognised it is the work of God (1 Kings 18:36, 39).
To preach with unction is to preach with fire. Just as fire burns, kindles, and glows so do preachers who are aflame accomplish great things for God. Fire that is kindled in us by the Holy Spirit achieves awesome results. When Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, he told the people that the way to differentiate between a true God and a false one: “The god who answers by fire, he is God” (1 Kings 18:24).
Unction is desperately needed in today’s preaching if we want to impact people’s life, behaviour and beliefs. Unction is something that if you have it, you don’t need anything else. But if you haven’t got it, nothing else will do you any good. A preacher without unction is like a barren rock. But with unction, streams will burst forth that will water the desert of human lives.
Do you all remember a chorus we used to sing a long time ago when we were children? “Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning, burning, burning.” There is another verse that says, “Give me unction in my gumption to keep me function.” Whoever wrote that chorus may or may not have realised that he/she has captured a profound theological truth which is applicable for preaching. No unction, can’t function. No unction in the pulpit, no action in the pews.