...of this world, for after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require
a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified unto the
Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."
So according to the Bible, when we preach the Gospel, that is the way in which people are
saved. God is chosen by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. People
don't just get saved by reading the Bible on their own. The Bible says the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness unto him, neither
can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. So the Bible teaches that somebody
who is not saved because they're a natural man, because they're not regenerated, because
they don't have the Spirit of God, they can't understand the Bible. So the lost
person out there, they can't just read the Bible by themselves and understand it
by themselves, so that's why the Bible says that God has manifested or revealed
his word through preaching. The way that people understand the word of God is by
somebody with the Holy Spirit who is saved, going to somebody and preaching them the
Gospel so that they can believe and be saved. And to the world this is foolishness.
Just getting up and either from a pulpit or just at somebody's door or just in somebody's
house or wherever, just opening the Bible and explaining it to them and just saying
this is what the Bible says, this is what God says. To the world that seems foolish.
But to us who are saved it is the power of God. We've seen examples just outsole
and everybody here is a sole winner. We've all seen examples of you go to somebody
who is just a complete unbeliever. They just don't believe the Bible at all, they have
no Christian background, they're just an agnostic or an atheist or whatever, and in
ten minutes you show them what the Bible says and in ten minutes it can
cause them to change their mind and to believe in Jesus Christ. That's the
power of the Bible. So to the world it seems foolish, but to us which are
saved it is the power of God. And so as Christians we need to be out there
preaching the Gospel with the word of God because even though if people
might make fun of you they might say that's foolish, that's stupid, it's a waste of time,
it's not. And we know as Christians that the Bible has power to get people
saved. The Bible says in Romans chapter 1 verse 16, For I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. So again the
gospel is powerful and the gospel is preached using the Bible. So let's bow
our heads and pray. Father in heaven we pray God that you please fill
every preacher with your spirit and help them God to be able to preach
your word and thank you Lord for the chance to be here tonight in Jesus' name
we pray, amen.