In his sermon 'Preaching to Persuade,' Brian Borgman emphasizes the importance of preaching the Word of God with earnestness and passion. He argues that boring preaching is a crime because it misrepresents God and his Word. Preaching with passion means doing so with conviction, zeal, joy, solemnity, and intensity, having first experienced the power of the truth oneself. The key to preaching with passion and power is reliance on the Holy Spirit, who energizes, enlivens, and brings a heightened sense of God's presence during the preaching process. Borgman encourages preachers to pray for the help and power of the Holy Spirit, maintain close communion with Jesus Christ, and let the truth dwell with power within them.

It's a privilege to talk to you guys, and it's always a little daunting as a preacher to talk to preachers, but when we inquired about what this session was about, it was talk to them about what's on your heart, and what do you want to say to fellow pastors. And so Thought about it, prayed about it, and you know, in our circles, we value solid, faithful, Bible exposition. And so for me to get up and say, brothers, faithfully expound the word, that would be really preaching to the choir. So I want to preach to the choir on a different subject. And that is that in our faithful exposition of Scripture, I want to make a simple appeal, and that is that we do it with earnestness, that we preach the Word of God, that we preach the Christ-centered whole counsel of God with passion.

Because in my view, I think that I'm on good ground, Preaching should be earnest, blood earnest, and passionate, not dry, academic, and boring. Preaching that bores people with the Bible should be considered a sin. The reason why boring preaching is a crime is because it ends up being a treasonous misrepresentation of God and his holy word. The Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon, told his students, The world will suffer as well as the church if we are not fervent. We cannot expect the gospel devoid of earnestness to have any mighty effect upon the unconverted around us.

The whole outside world receives serious danger from the cold-hearted preacher. The whole outside world, excuse me, If the prophet leaves his heart behind him when he professes to speak in the name of God, what can he expect but that the ungodly around him will persuade themselves that there is nothing in his message and that his commission is a farce. And so brothers, if boring people with the Bible is a sin, then I want to tell you that the fix is not to be found in the trite or the entertaining. The fixed, boring preaching is not a joke book. The fixed, boring preaching is to preach as if you've been set on fire with the truth.

And I want to say that that's not just a matter of froth and volume. Anybody can work up a good sweat and spit a little bit, scream, okay? But real passion in preaching is actually rooted in the glory of God, fixed on the beauty of Christ, and flows out of the power of God's Word having first affected us and then affecting others. And what do I mean by preaching with passion? I want to just just...

So our brother John Snyder this morning preached... What a beautiful sermon, right? Earnest, passionate, but different than our brother Jeff's last night, which was also earnest and passionate. So I don't want you to think that earnestness or passion and preaching just looks the same in everybody because it doesn't. But when we talk about preaching with passion, we're talking about preaching with a sense of conviction.

If somebody hears us preaching the Word and they sit there and they say, well I don't believe it, at least let them say, well I don't believe it, but I'm convinced that guy believes it. Preaching with a sense of earnestness and zeal, realizing that you're talking to people that one day are going to stand before the judgment bar of God and give an account for their lives and face an eternity. To preach with joy, to preach with solemnity, to preach with gravity, to preach with intensity, to preach because you yourself have felt the power of the truth and been overwhelmed by the greatness of God. The apostle Paul says in second Corinthians 4.13, he says, but having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, I believe therefore I spoke, we also believe therefore we also speak. Just a little later, he says to the Corinthians, he says, and if this is an example of earnest preaching, our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians.

Our heart is opened wide. You're not constrained by us, but you're restrained in your own affections. Now in like exchange, I speak as to children open wide to us also." There is a...by the way, there is a contagion with earnest preaching. When people start to open their hearts back to you as you're opening their heart to them, it fuels you. It empowers you.

So John Angel James in an earnest ministry the want of the times which I think is out of print is that correct dr. Biki if I could just make a small plug I think it would be a fine project. Okay? Okay, well we'll start praying. So John Angel James says, That man must be a stone and destitute of the ordinary feelings of humanity who can see another interested, active, and zealous for his welfare while he himself remains inert and indifferent.

Even the apathetic and indolent have been kindled into ardor and led to make efforts for themselves by solicitude manifested by others for their welfare." Presbyterian pastor and educator Thomas Murphy wrote, "...to preach in a cold unfeeling manner, to preach without earnestness, is sinful. It shows in the preacher a heart that is hard. Deep is the guilt of handling the Word of God in an unfeeling manner. What? Speak coldly for God and for men's salvation?

Can we believe that our people must be converted or condemned and yet speak to them in a drowsy tone? In the name of God, brethren, labor to awaken your hearts before you come to the pulpit. Remember, they must be awakened or damned, and a sleepy preacher will hardly awaken them. We should not be afraid of enthusiasm here. Like, footnote, my goodness, what if somebody thinks I'm a charismatic?

We should not be afraid of enthusiasm here. Enthusiasm is surely excusable when life and death and the souls of men and the glory of the Son of God are at stake. Charles Bridges, the minister that does not manifestly put his heart into his sermon, will never put his sermon into the hearts of his people. Richard Baxter, nothing is more indecent than a dead preacher speaking to dead sinners the living truth of the living God. John Murray, preaching is a personal, passionate plea.

To me, preaching without passion is not preaching at all. And so brothers, what is the key to preaching with passion and with power? It's the Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit. Everything that we do needs to be done in conscientious dependence upon the Spirit of God, and when the Spirit of God lays hold of us, there will be a zeal and an earnestness.

It's said, and I don't know if this is true or not, but it is said that as Spurgeon ascended the pulpit at the tabernacle with every step, he would say, I believe in the Holy Spirit. How many of us actually take time before we step behind that sacred desk and ask the Spirit of God to actually fill us and empower us and to use us in supernatural ways. I hope that you believe that preaching is a redemptive act from God who will do supernatural things through preaching. If that's not true, let's just become Bible lecturers. But if it is true, let us preach and to preach earnestly in utter dependence upon the power of the Holy Spirit.

That was Paul's desire as he spoke to the Corinthians. You remember, I didn't come to you with persuasive words of wisdom, with all of the magical tricks of the rhetorician, I came to you in the spirit, in the power of the Holy Spirit, and the demonstration of that power. And so brothers, we need the Holy Spirit in order to preach with power. We should desire above all else to preach in the power of the Spirit. By the way, that doesn't happen just as soon as you step behind the pulpit.

That happens through the process of the week. And so as you're in your study laboring in the Word, you need the Holy Spirit just as much there as you do when you stand behind the pulpit to deliver the Word of God. And so as that sermon is gestating inside of you and growing, it needs to be done so under the power of the Spirit of God. So I am just as dependent as when I open my books and open my Bible and open my text and look at this and that as when I stand behind the pulpit. And so it's, Lord, help me, give me your spirit, fill me with your spirit, empower me with your spirit, Enlighten this text.

Some of you guys are so super smart and you had like a 4.0 in seminary and you got little stickers on your diploma to show how smart you are and I just want to tell you that If you rely on being smart to go and preach the Word of God, you'll have people go, That guy's pretty smart. But if you go filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, you know what they'll say? Hallelujah, what a Savior. And so when the Spirit of God is at work in the preacher, what is he doing? He's energizing, he's enlivening, he's quickening, he's bringing a heightened sense of God's presence.

He's bringing to bear the weight and the gravity of the truth. What is the Spirit of God doing when he's using a preacher? He is filling him with the power of unseen realities. Do we not long to proclaim the living Word of God in the power of the Spirit in such a way that people taste the powers of the age to come? And so brothers, pray for the help and power of the Holy Spirit, preach in the power of the Spirit, be gripped by the truth.

Remember, Owen has that statement where he says, the truth of God will never pass with power from us until it dwells with power in us. So don't preach by hearsay. Preach by first-hand experiential knowledge of the truth because you maintain close communion with Jesus Christ. And as you do that, you'll be able to say with the prophet Micah, on the other hand, I'm filled with power, with the spirit of the Lord, with justice and courage to make Jacob know his rebellious acts, even Israel his sins. And brothers, when we preach with earnestness, with passion, when people know that we're serious about their souls and we're serious about the glory of God and we're serious about the truth of God they will be able to say God was here God spoke to me God changed me and he did it for his glory.