In his sermon, Brian Borgman explores the integral role of the Holy Trinity in the context of preaching, emphasizing that all acts of God are inherently Trinitarian. The sermon begins by referencing 2 Timothy chapter 3, highlighting the importance of Scripture as God's inspired word, which is both infallible and authoritative. Borgman asserts that the Trinity is not just a doctrinal formulation but is woven into the fabric of Scripture and our relationship with God. He discusses the distinct and harmonious functions of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in creation, salvation, and preaching. The Bible is described as a Trinitarian accomplishment, with God breathing out His word through the Spirit, centered on Christ. Preaching, therefore, is a Trinitarian redemptive event where the Holy Spirit empowers the proclamation of the Word, transforming it into a dynamic, living message that brings salvation and sanctification. Borgman warns against reducing preaching to mere human communication and underscores the importance of Spirit-empowered preaching, which should be both doctrinally sound and experientially impactful.

Good morning, brothers. I have some mixed emotions this morning. On the one hand, I feel like Saul, who's tried to put on David's armor. Scott's like, we're about the same size. I'm like, no, I wish.

And then I know that you guys probably never go to concerts. My wife and I love Vince Gill and you know how when you go to a concert they send some guy out that you've never heard of before to play a few songs to warm everybody up And I kind of feel like that Dr. Beeke is, when I say this, I say this with the utmost seriousness, he is a hero to me. I had him for a class in my doctoral studies in 1997 on experiential preaching. And it was that class that is now actually the book.

And so you're in for a real treat, and so we'll just pray for grace until he gets here. Alright. Well, let's go ahead and open our Bible. And each one of these sessions that that that I'm going to do actually are pretty full. And so I'll try not to get bogged down.

We're of course gonna look at one of the classic texts on preaching, Second Timothy chapter three. And we're gonna start reading in verse 14. And so we are about to read God's. Paul speaking to Timothy says, you however continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching and reproof for correction and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who has judged the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word, Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. Father in heaven, we pray for your help now, help for me, help for our fellow brothers who are here, and we pray that you do us good today by your Spirit in Jesus name, amen. So we are, we're Trinitarians, And we love the doctrine of the Trinity because we love God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And the Trinity is absolutely glorious, knowable, but incomprehensible, and it is amazing to me, I mean happily, of how we have woven our Trinitarianism into our hymnody.

And so we sing with great vigor, holy, holy, holy, God in three persons, blessed Trinity. Or we sing, Come Thou, Almighty King, come Thou, Incarnate Word, come, Holy Comforter, thy sacred witness bear, or to thee great one in three, eternal praises be, hence evermore thy sovereign majesty may we in glory see, and to eternity love and adore." So the doctrine of the Trinity actually is woven throughout the entirety of Scripture, right? So every every act of God is Trinitarian, so creation is a Trinitarian accomplishment and there is this marvelous sense in which the Father is creating through the Word by the power of his spirit. And then you go from creation to recreation and the Trinity in recreation or in salvation, if you will, is even more glorious than the Trinity in creation. And so there is this marvelous, and you see it in these triadic passages, whether it's Ephesians 1, 3 to 14, or Galatians 4, 4 to 7, on and on.

You have all of these triadic passages that teach us that the Father chose us, the Son came and redeemed us, and the Spirit actually comes and opens our heart and seals us. And those are the distinct and yet harmonious functions of the Holy Trinity. And we celebrate it. And so, but the Trinity is more than just the formulation of doctrine. Of course, formulation of doctrine is absolutely crucial, but we have to remember, and this gets right to the heart of experiential preaching, and that is that the Trinity is in, of course, a doctrine, but the Trinity is more than just theological formulation.

Our very relationship with God is Trinitarian. And so if you have not read John Owen communion with God, you need to read John Owen communion with God because Owen actually unfolds in one of the most, really one of the most majestic books in English at least, how to have communion with each member of the Godhead. And so it is this absolutely wonderful thing that the Father sends the Son, the Son comes into this world, redeems us, then sends the Spirit of His Son who then brings us to the Father through the Son, and it's the Spirit of the Son that brings us into that everlasting relationship with the Father through the Son, and then the Spirit experientially communicates to us the blessings and benefits of what it means to be a child of God. Think about that. You don't experience, in a sense, justification, but the Spirit does actually work in our hearts in such a way that we now cry, Abba Father.

And so as we think about the Trinity, we sometimes just kind of stop with creation and salvation. Maybe we might apply it to other areas, but I want to argue that the work of the Trinity in preaching is not only the foundation for experiential preaching, it is actually glorious and the foundation for all preaching. And I'm going to just I'm going to give you two perspectives this morning. And the first is the Bible, that which we preach, is a Trinitarian accomplishment. And then second, the preaching of the Bible then is a Trinitarian redemptive event.

So the Bible is Trinitarian accomplishment and The preaching of that Bible is Trinitarian Redemptive Event. Now, most of you are gonna be very, very, very familiar with the things we're about to say, but they're foundational. The Bible as Trinitarian Accomplishment, we just read in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16 that all scripture is God-breathed. Now we say God-breathed because that term theopneustos actually means for God to breathe out. Well, that's what happens when you speak.

You don't actually inhale when you speak. You are exhaling, and there is a sense in which the Word of God is God exhaling His words by His Spirit through human authors. And so, brothers, no matter what else we take away, let us remember that God has given us a kingly gift in the Holy Scriptures that are nothing less than the very words of God. The famous Greek scholar, Southern Baptist Greek scholar A.T. Robertson said one time that the greatest proof that the Bible is inspired is that it has withstood so much bad preaching.

Now there of course are massive implications for That declaration is actually God's words brought out through human authors and inscripturated for us. We don't have time to go through these, but let me just tick them off. It's very interesting that, Scott, you mentioned the Congress on Biblical Exposition. It's sort of interesting the way that in evangelicalism, how this happened, because in the late 70s, we had the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy, which was absolutely necessary at that time, by the way, it's still necessary, and it clearly articulated with the Chicago statement, biblical inerrancy, but you have to understand that it's not enough just to know what the Bible is. You have to know what the Bible does and what you're supposed to do with it.

And so the Congress on Biblical Exposition in a sense was a very natural follow-up. And so when we say that the Bible is actually the inspired Word of God, we're saying that it's infallible, that is it's completely reliable and trustworthy and cannot lead us astray. It is also inerrant. Boy, I think we actually need a revival of inerrancy today. Just pay attention to what a lot of evangelicals are saying.

You don't have to look very far. Inerrant. God's words are true words. They are pure words, and they are words that are without error. Now, there's a corollary, And that is if the Bible is infallible and inerrant, then it is also authoritative.

So there is no fundamental distinction between a person and their words. So when God speaks, since there's no higher authority than God, there's no higher authority than God's Word. And so when we say that, that the Word of God is authoritative, my goodness, that actually has massive sweeping implications for the church. What that means is that we have a document that is inspired and this is the way that Christ rules over his church. He doesn't rule over his church through the traditions of men.

He rules over his church through the scepter of his word. And so the Bible then is authoritative and then as church and family life is built on this very cornerstone, it is a sufficient word. And again, brothers, I will tell you that I think there are several areas where we thought sufficiency of Scripture was safe and it is not. And so let me just be absolutely clear that it's the Bible and the Bible alone that gives us everything we need to know God and everything that we need to trust Him and to obey Him and it is found in the Scriptures. And I'm not even talking about charismatics who would somehow inadvertently undermine the sufficiency of Scripture with their idea of ongoing revelation.

I'm talking about good evangelical and sometimes even reformed people who actually are saying things that undermine the sufficiency of Scripture and so when so if you're gonna preach the Bible you better know what it is and you better be fully convinced in your own heart and your own mind and your own conscience that what you are about to do is not to give some lecture from a book of history and wonderfully inspiring stories, you are actually coming up to what the old timers called to the sacred desk to open the sacred word. And there is absolutely no higher privilege than that. Now the Bible's God breed, let me just say one one quick thing about 2nd Peter 1 20 to 21 because there's been a lot of mischief made of that text. Peter writes, but know this first of all that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of, and this is the way the NAS does it, is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." Now, the problem is that that word interpretation that you see in 1 Peter 1, 20 and 21 is only used here in the New Testament.

And I would argue that the best way to understand that is actually the idea of not interpretation, because when we think of interpretation we think of hermeneutics, but rather the idea of origination or imagination. So no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own origination or even imagination and I would argue that there's two reasons. If you're interested, send me an email. I'll send you a paper that I wrote trying to convince whoever would read it that this is true. So first there are several, maybe two to three dozen if my memory serves me correctly, which texts that tell us in the Old Testament that the mark of a false prophet was that his words came not from God but from himself.

The words of a false prophet are self-originated. By the way, if you want to just see an example of this, We won't have time to look right now, but just look at Jeremiah chapter 23, and you will see at least a half a dozen times where that is indeed the case that the one who has not been sent, the one who has not been sent from God and does not speak from God speaks from his own imagination. The second reason I would argue for origination or imagination is the next line in contrast to the first. So the true prophet's words originated with God and that prophet then was carried by the Holy Spirit. So if you just listen to it again, no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own origination, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will.

Okay, so I think that actually is a good argument, but what really happened? Men who were moved or carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. And so, when we think about the Bible, we think about God, God the Father, as we're breathing out His words by His Holy Spirit. And then what are those words about? Well, those words are about his son.

Now, there is a sense in which Christ is the very incarnate word. But here's the thing, is that all scripture is pointing us in one way or another to Jesus Christ. So that's why Paul tells Timothy, you however, continue in the things that you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you've learned them and that from childhood, you've known the sacred writings. So what sacred writings would Timothy have known since childhood? The Old Testament scriptures, which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.

And so as God is breathing out these words through his Spirit, he is speaking to us about his Son. So think about the way that Hebrews actually opens up. In the past, in many ways, many portions, God spoke to the fathers through the prophets. Right? That is Old Testament revelation.

It's inspired. It's an errand. It's all the things that we just said. But in these last days, He has spoken to us in Son. The lack of the article is to emphasize the qualitative nature of Christ's sonship.

So the prophets brought the Word. Jesus is the Word. He is the very incarnation of the self-disclosure of God Himself, and so the whole story of redemptive history actually culminates in the Son. And so Think about the disciples on the road to Emmaus. What does what does Jesus tell them?

Beginning with Moses and the Psalms and all the prophets he showed them how the Christ must first suffer then enter into his glory and so I Hope that there are like reruns of redemptive history in heaven in Whatever heaven is gonna have I bet it's better than high definition. And I want to hear Jesus' exposition starting with Moses about Christ, right, about himself. Think about Jesus' words to the Pharisees. You search the scriptures because in them you think you have eternal life, but it is these which speak of me. If you had believed Moses, you would believe me, for Moses spoke concerning me." So, the first perspective that we are bringing out here is that the Bible is the objective revelation of the triune God, which is Christ-centered, Trinitarian and Christ-centered.

And so the Bible is Trinitarian accomplishment. The Father breathes out the revelation through the Spirit, which is about the Son. And this is what we are called and commanded to preach. Now, that brings us to the second, which is the preaching of the Bible is a Trinitarian redemptive event. So, when we come to the Scriptures, in our study, we're not coming to some sort of static some sort of static book that's a dead letter that stuck either in 1500 BC or the first century.

The book that Scott was referencing to, I always thought has a great title, Between Two Worlds. Between Two Worlds. And so there is the world in which biblical revelation took place. It has, there is a culture, there is a history, there is a time, there is a context, but because the Word of God is actually the living Word of God, that Word which is given in either 1500 BC or the first century, that word is just as relevant and alive today as it was when God gave it. And so to be sure, truth is in fact unchanged and unchanging, but the Word of God is also a living, active, powerful Word.

It is a dynamic Word, and so think about it this way. When we think about the Bible, we cannot just simply think about what it is. We have to do that, and we have to be careful in the way that we articulate that, even as we've done briefly this morning, what the Bible is, but we also need to remember what the Bible does. And so even in that classic text that we looked at, the apostle says all scripture is breathed out by God and it's profitable and it's profitable for doctrine, correction, reproof, and instruction in righteousness. In other words, it not just is something, it does something.

It teaches us truth, it teaches us doctrine, it actually corrects us, reproves us. Have you ever been sitting under the preaching of the word and you felt rebuked or reproved or corrected. Okay? Have you ever actually just been reading your Bible in the morning and you feel feel reproved and corrected? Okay?

Now you don't sit there and just say, well, my goodness, this is really an unpleasant experience. I wonder, I should probably just move on. I want to tell you that God's Word is a God's Word is a dynamic Word and it is living. When I was a when I was a brand new Christian I thought that that I had lost my salvation And I don't know if any of you had that experience being a young Christian, I'm like I lost my salvation. And the only Bible that I had was a living Bible.

You remember this is in the hippie days, The Way, and it was a Catholic edition on top of that, all right? And so I thought, man, I lost my salvation and so I'll just start reading the Bible until I get saved. Well, where I had left off in my reading was the book of Hebrews. That didn't help. Okay, especially in the living Bible, right?

And, but here was the thing. And so I just kept reading, right? And of course, James doesn't help either. And so, but you're reading and as you read, you know that this is more than a mere book. It does something and so how does how does the word usually work?

All right, so here's where sometimes evangelicals have sort of fallen into, let's just say, not piety but pietism, all right? So how does the word usually work? Well, the word usually works through preaching in the power of the Spirit. In fact, if you take all of your favorite texts about the Word, you will find that almost all of them are connected to preaching or to hearing. Even the classic text that we just read in 2nd Timothy, remember there's no chapter breaks.

And so what does Paul say? After all, Scripture is God-breathed. He turns around and tells Timothy, preach that word. Preach that word. And by the way, as far as application goes, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction are all applicatory words.

And so preaching is not the exclusive vehicle through which God uses His word, but it's the primary means through which God uses His word. So I was, by the way, I was converted reading that living Bible Catholic edition. Now I would never give anybody a living Bible let alone a Catholic edition, but God is free to work in whatever way He pleases. And So the primary way is that just as the Spirit is in a sense distinct in His work of inspiration of the Scriptures, I would argue so His role in the proclamation of those scriptures is also unique and this is where in a sense we get the idea of of experiential preaching. Experiential preaching is is is in a you can boil it down in a sense to this experiential preaching is preaching the Word of God which is empowered by the Holy Spirit.

And so the Bible actually tells us in so many places, we're just going to look at a few of these. If you want to just listen, that's fine. If you want to keep up, that's fine. First Corinthians chapter 2, the apostle says, when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or wisdom Proclaiming to you the testimony of God now What's what's vital here to know is that when Paul says superiority of speech or wisdom? He's talking about two two expressions that would have been well understood in the first century Greco-Roman world.

You didn't have, you didn't go to the movies or subscribe to Netflix or something in the first century for entertainment, what did you do? Well you went and saw plays or you went and heard a rhetorician. And rhetoricians were actually people who had great skill in persuasion. What Paul is saying is, when I came to you, I did not come and use the rhetorical arts of persuasion. I didn't come with the Sophia of the age and then just simply try to persuade you.

In fact, sometimes the fame of a Rhetorician was wrapped up in how absurd of a proposition he could persuade his audience to believe. I mean that sounds like TBN, right? I mean how absurd, how absurd can we make this and people still believe it? Paul says I didn't do that. In John Flavel's expression, I preached Christ, a crucified Christ, in a crucified style.

Then Paul says, for I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is the heart of the message. I'm proclaiming to you the crucified one. I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my message and my preaching." By the way, both of those things, my message and my preaching, the content and the means. You can't separate the content from the means.

And for 40 years now, evangelicalism has been trying to figure out how to separate the content from the means so that they try to present the content in ways that are more palatable than some guy standing up behind a pulpit giving a quote monologue. Well, you have to understand that preaching is never just simply an act of human communication. There is a variable in preaching that the communication experts cannot factor in, and it's the Holy Spirit. And so Paul says, my message in my preaching were not, again, in persuasive words of wisdom, but notice this, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. And Paul says, So you know that if I came and preached the gospel to you in Corinth, that I didn't get up and have all of the gimmicks and then try to flatter you and then use all of the fancy tricks of the rhetorician.

But rather, what I did is I came and I had a simple message, Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and it was through that message that the Spirit came with power. You know, you don't have to try to improve what God has told us to do. You just preach the Word. You preach it in the power of the Spirit, and I would argue you preach it experientially. When we talk about how to put your sermons into the hospital or the morgue, I'm going to tell you, don't bore people with the Bible.

This is the greatest message ever. It's the message that we all need. And so the Spirit comes with power. And so Paul could say to the... Actually love this in 1 Thessalonians.

The apostle had only been there for three Sabbaths. So he's there such a short time and this is what he tells the Thessalonians by the way the the Thanksgiving section in 1st Thessalonians I would argue actually extends through the first three chapters up to the prayer at the end of chapter three. And so Paul says, knowing, brethren, beloved by God, His choice of you. So when people come to you and they go, Pastor, how do I know if I'm elect? Paul says, here's how you know you're loved by God and he's chosen you.

Our gospel did not come to you in word only. Now the gospel has to come in words. Okay, I don't know if St. Francis of Assisi ever actually said, preach the gospel wherever you go and if necessary use words, but if he did say that, that's the dumbest thing anybody's ever said. Okay, You have to use words to preach the gospel, all right?

But here's the thing is that in Spirit-empowered preaching, the words are not simply the words of men. There's something else going on. So our gospel did not come to you in word only but also, now notice this, in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction, just as you know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake. And so here's this beautiful picture where Paul says you you remember what happened when we preached the word to you. You became convinced.

There was a sense of conviction. The Spirit came with power. I remember that my family was Catholic, my dad's side, for as long as anybody could remember. The first time, the first time I ever went to a Protestant church, I was 13 years old and my mom and dad didn't know anything, okay, nothing. All we knew was, you know, Pope John Paul, you know.

All we knew was, you know, Pope John Paul, you know. All we knew was, you know, Hail Mary. I mean, that was our orientation. And my mom and dad had become converted and they took me and my sister to a church. They didn't know anything, and so they took us to an assembly of God church.

I've got to tell you, there was stuff that happened there that I had no clue what was going on. But I'll also tell you this, brothers, when that pastor stood up, he opened up to Luke 16 to the rich man in Lazarus, and as I sat there as a 13-year-old boy, I knew that what he was saying was not just simply the words of men. It's the Word of God, right? And so here is this marvelous sense where have you ever actually sat under preaching where you've had dealings with God, where God has dealt with your soul. And so here's my fear for us Reformed types, and that is that we can become so academic and so intellectual in our preaching that we think preaching 18 sermons on the doctrine of divine impassibility is really going to edify our people.

And we have quotes by this guy and that guy and all we're doing is giving rabbinic lectures. Preach the word in the power of the Spirit. Now there are other things and I don't have, I've got less time than I'd like, but that's not Scott's fault. It just is, I'm wearing Scott's clothes, and so I just, there's an unction. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Let me just, one last one, and of course when a preacher says that, he never means it. So in Hebrews chapter 3, the writer to the Hebrews does something really interesting. He says in 3-7, Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says. It'd be different if he said, just as the Holy Spirit said, right? Just as the Holy Spirit says, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me as in the trial in the wilderness, etc.

Now what I want to point out to you is that the writer of the Hebrews takes Psalm 95 which is a Davidic psalm which is a contemplation about Meribah and the wilderness. All right so it's David Psalm 95. David's reflecting on Old Testament history. He writes the Psalm a thousand years before the writer to the Hebrews quotes it and then the writer to the Hebrews says the Holy Spirit says, Do not harden your heart. But did you get the first part?

Today, if you hear his voice. In other words, just as sure as the ancient Israelites would have heard the voice of God in the wilderness or at Marabah, and just as sure as David is the mouthpiece for the word of the Lord a thousand years before, the writer to the Hebrew says that scripture, that scripture, which is a reflection on other scripture, is what the Spirit is saying to us today. And here's the thing, sometimes sometimes we let those in the charismatic movement sort of rob us of some things. So is Jesus Christ prophet, priest, and king? Was he the great prophet in that he fulfilled the prophecy of Moses that there would be a prophet like him that God would raise up?

The answer is yes. Is he the great prophet of God in the sense that he is the very incarnation of that word in the answers yes but the ascended Christ is still the great prophet of his church he's moving among the candle stands, Revelation 2 and 3, and what is he doing? As the great prophet of the church, he is speaking to the church through those that open his word in the power of the Spirit. This isn't some ecstatic utterance, this is Bible exposition, but as that Bible is faithfully expounded, it is the resurrected, ascended, reigning Christ who is actually speaking to His church through His Word by the Spirit. And that is part of our great inheritance as those who believe in the Bible.

Now, the Spirit takes the word of the Father, which is about the Son, and uses it to bring us into new life and into a new relationship with the Father through the Son. So the Spirit uses the word as it is preached as the voice of Christ to His elect. Think about this. So we love to quote Romans 10 And we say, and faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God or the word of Christ. Okay, and I would argue that when Paul says that in Romans 10-17, He's not saying faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word about Christ, but faith comes by hearing and hearing comes through Christ's word, Okay?

And so here is this wonderful sense. Luther has this, I don't have the quote with me, but Luther says, what is it that I see and hear? I see a man and I hear his voice, but I hear another voice. So here's the Apostle Paul and he says to the Galatians, you foolish Galatians who bewitched you before whose very eyes Jesus Christ was placarded as crucified. Now what do you think the chances are that any of those Galatians would have happened to be in Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified and actually saw the crucified Jesus?

And the answer is is very very very slim that there was even one. And so what is Paul talking about? Well, Paul's saying that when I came to you and I preached Christ to you, you know what happened? Is that Christ was placarded by the power of the Spirit as the crucified one who's mighty to save and he was put on display and he turned your ears into an eye. And you saw that by faith, saw that Christ crucified.

When Jesus says, my sheep, hear my voice, and I know them, and I give eternal life to them. What ends up being the grand conclusion of such text and many more? It's this. Preaching the Word of God about God's Son in the power of the Spirit is a redemptive act. It is a redemptive event.

So, you know, one of the things that we do that just cheapens everything so much is that we try to always, are always trying to do events, events, events, events, drama, drama, drama. I wanna just suggest to you that the preaching is the drama event. Now, Sidney Gray Donis, modern preacher, ancient text, he says, God uses contemporary preaching to bring his salvation to people today, to build his church, to bring in his kingdom. In short, Contemporary biblical preaching is nothing less than a redemptive event. Now my wife and I and at that time two kids we moved to the Carson Valley in northern Nevada in 1993.

We planted Grace Community Church in 1994. All right, I was about 12-13 years old. Anyway, we started the church. I'm 26 years old. I can't believe it.

I can't believe anybody would go listen to somebody that was 26. We had a guy that was the wife of, or the husband of one of our members, and he was a godless man. His name was Doug Bushousen. He was Bill Harrah's entertainment manager for 30 years. Now, I know we're on the East Coast, but Bill Harrah was a big deal in Nevada because of Harrah's casinos.

Doug was his entertainment manager, so that means that Glenn Campbell and Frank Sinatra and on and on and on worked for Doug. He'd hire them. We were praying for Doug that he'd come to church. Hear the word. So one day, one of the elders in our church who saw Doug with some regularity said, Doug, why don't you come to church?

He goes, I have a lot better ways to waste an hour on a Sunday morning than go to church. Hardened heart. Well one day there I am and we're meeting in the Carson Valley Middle School and Doug comes walking in kind of walked with a shuffle and he always had a scowl on his face and He just looked at me and I said hi Doug and he just grunted So I'd preach and Doug would sit there and he'd sit in the back, okay? This is no condemnation on those of you sitting in the back, but I will be pointing to the back. And there I was preaching my heart out, praying that God would do something in Doug's life.

And he sat there, and he sat there with his arms folded, and then he would do one of these and just stare at me. One day, after about two months of this, one day I got so frustrated with Doug and his scowl that I said, I stopped and I said, some of you look like you were weaned on dill pickle juice." The next Sunday, Doug comes walking up and you know what he said to me? I had my pickle juice preacher. So we announced that we're going to have a baptism class and I looked to see who signed up and I noticed Doug signed up. Now I want to tell you his demeanor did not change.

One iota. From the first day he was there till the day he signed up. So I'm thinking he's just a hardened, rebellious sinner. And I was so carnal that I took a little bit of delight of knowing that Doug was going to be in the baptism class because then I could tell Doug, I can't baptize you, you're not a Christian. So Doug comes over to the house with about a half a dozen other people, and we go through the material on baptism, takes us about an hour and a half or so.

And I give everybody a little pad of paper and I said what I want you to do is write down your testimony and then is then is when you're done one of the elders will talk with you. So Doug went off and about 16 seconds later he comes and I'm thinking that's right you don't have a testimony who could write their testimony in that short of time and he hands me the pad of paper and these are the very words I still have this note Having led a very sinful life for many years, I found my life very empty. I had enough of a Christian background that I knew I had to come back where I belong. I feel I am now committed to Christ, and I intend to live the rest of my life following him." How does that happen? That happens when you take the God-inspired Scriptures and preach them in the power of the Spirit in such a way that the Spirit breathes life into a dead sinner.

You talk about a redemptive event. This is this is the Spirit of God who is who is creating new life through the word. And so the Spirit loves to put on display the redeeming love of the Father, and the Spirit loves to placard Christ as crucified, and the Spirit delights to bring the conviction of sin, and the Spirit loves to come with regenerating power as the Spirit comes to that valley of dry bones. The Spirit loves to come and to open our hearts to God as Father and Christ as Lord and the Spirit loves to take that in God-breathed book and use it to make men and women, boys and girls new. And so as we come to church, as we gather as Christ's assembly, Lord's Day by Lord's Day, whether you're little, whether you're big, whether you're somewhere in between, let us remember, Number one, we are people of the book.

We gather to hear the Word of God, which has been given through the Spirit, and it's all about the Son, and there's nothing more important for us or for our people to hear. And so don't just come to the Bible as if you're gonna give some sort of really fascinating lecture on the Amalekites and the Bronze Age or something. Come to the Bible as if it's your life and your people's life because it is. And so brothers, there's nothing more experiential in preaching than the Father speaking to us through the Son, through the Spirit about the Son, creating salvation, sanctification, and bringing glory to His name. Let's pray.

Our gracious God, we thank you so much for the Bible. We think of that hymn, blessed Jesus, at Thy word we are gathered all to hear Thee. We pray Father that you would renew our zeal in proclamation reminding us what the Bible is, what it does, and the and the indispensable role of your Holy Spirit in showing us Christ. Help us we pray. Lord, we want to be better preachers for the sake of Christ.

We want to be more effective preachers for the sake of Christ. And so we pray that you would mold us and shape us and Father even use these these thoughts over these next couple days to do that in Jesus name amen