Unless one is a crucified person, he cannot preach the word of the cross and cannot give to others the life of the cross. It is also not hard to make others accept our teachings in their mind. Paul came to Athens to satisfy the anxious questionings of mankind by revealing the God whom they had failed to find. However, if you want him to gain life and power and to experience what you preach, there is no other way except for God to dispense through you the richer life into him. What he preached was the word of the cross. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.” – 1 Cor 3:10When we consider that Peter was given authority to lay a foundation in Matthew 16:18-19, this is a very bold statement. Weakness, fear, trembling, being void of self-confidence, considering oneself as totally uselessâthese are the characteristics of a crucified man. We should remember that the goal of our work is to give life to people. We can hear deep words about various aspects of the cross or read from books about the meanings of substitution and co-crucifixion. However, do we not have the experience of having a good message yet being unable to dispense life to others? We should know that our only work is to be the channels of God’s life, conveying life into others’ spirits. May this thought be planted deeply into our being so that we would repent of the vanity of our previous work!The reasons why no one gains life through our preaching of the cross are: (1) we ourselves do not have the experience of the cross, and (2) we do not use the spirit of the cross to preach the word of the cross.Living Stream Ministry publishes the works of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, providing the authoritative and definitive collections of treasures from these two servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. We can gain some knowledge from books about the word of the cross which we preach. It comprised the basics, the milk of the Word of God to the Corinthians. Therefore, our goal is neither to make people repent by themselves nor to influence them in their mind, but to dispense God’s life into them so that they can have life and be saved. 2:20) and "I die daily" (1 Cor. Consider some of the subjects covered in Paul’s letters. We preach the substitutional death of the cross in order that God can give His life to those who believe.
Only a crucified man can preach the crucified word. We must consider that either Paul was arrogant beyond reason [When compared with Peter’s appeal to what was ‘spoken by the prophets since the world began’, there can be no doubt that there should be a distinction made with a message which had been ‘kept secret since the world began’ (Romans 16:25, Acts 3:21).Paul considered what he taught to be a new revelation not spoken of before, and the beginning of something new. It is not uncommon to speak about the historicity or tradition of their message.Teachers in the Bible used these methods for credibility: quoting Scripture, quoting other prophets, and recognizing the promises made to ‘the fathers’.John the Baptist began his ministry preaching the authority of the prophet Isaiah: “For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” – Matt 3:3During his earthly ministry, even Jesus came to ‘confirm the promises made to the fathers’ (Romans 15:8). When we preach the word of this foolishness, we should have the form of "foolishness," the attitude of "foolishness," and the speech of "foolishness." The message Paul preached was the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Concerning himself, he said that he was "in weakness and in fear and in much trembling." Even if the speaker understands the audience’s mind, has a loud, sincere voice, and urges them not to understand the doctrine only but to pursue after the experience, his audience can only be stirred up at that moment. There would be much to gain from an understanding of the distinctive content of this further revelation given to Paul. Only a dead Paul could preach a word on crucifixion. He refers to this message as the ‘mystery’ and the ‘dispensation of the grace of God’. Fourteen of the letters —from Romans to Hebrews— were penned by the apostle Paul. By Missy Crane June 30, 2020. So did Paul focus solely on preaching the gospel, or was there more to his message? He himself was a crucified man, and he preached the cross by way of the cross. He begat many people through the gospel of the cross. The failure of our work comes because we love to give the cross to others before we know whether or not we have the cross in ourselves. He was a crucified man! With what kind of spirit, word, and attitude do we preach the cross? The message he preached was not in vain because he was a living channel of life. Those who have clever minds are more dangerous than others. “ – 1 Tim 1:16In another place Paul claims authority over the disciples’ ministry as he pronounces himself to have laid the foundation.“According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. It was a man of the cross preaching the message of the cross with the spirit of the cross.