[256 words]
Many years ago, at a congregation I previously served, some visitors attended our worship services. They had been brought by a couple of new Christians. They wanted to share their faith with their friends.
We had an amazing service. The songs were joyous celebrations of our Lord. The prayers were deep and heartfelt. The Lord’s Supper and Contribution were both deep expressions of our gratitude toward our Lord.
The sermon that morning was on the mercy and forgiveness of our Heavenly Father by the sending of Jesus Christ.
I was surprised to learn, later, that the visitors told our friends “we’ll never come back to this church. Your preacher didn’t mention the Holy Spirit once.”
Certainly, the Holy Spirit is worthy of our attention and study. He is, after all God the Spirit – the third part of the God-head and is given to those who become Christians (Acts 5:32).
But the subject of our preaching should be Christ. “We preach Christ crucified” (1 Corinthians 1:23). It is the gospel of Christ that is “the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).
Even when we are teaching an Old Testament theme, we should never forget that God’s dealings in those early days were meant to point to Christ. After all, the Old Testament was the schoolmaster that taught us of the coming of our Lord’s salvation through Christ (Galatians 3:24). And so, we “fix our eyes on Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our salvation” (Hebrews 12:2).
Larry Fitzgerald
Woodlawn church of Christ
Abilene, TX