1 Corinthians 2:4-5“And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
Have you ever wished you hadn’t done something in church? Several years ago I was preaching on this passage and my main point was trust God’s dynamite and pitch Jesus. My object lesson consisted of throwing fire balls to people randomly in the church to illustrate how we should “pitch the gospel” to others. I lobbed one fire ball towards a member who I quickly found out couldn’t catch. Yep, you guessed it. The individual gazed into the sky and the fire ball hit the member right on the head. Ouch! (And I wonder why I don’t often get asked to preach in other churches!)
Twice in our passage the word “power” is used. In both instances it derives from the same Greek word, which gives us the English term “dynamite.” This word speaks of God’s “achieving power” to accomplish His will by saving the souls of all those who embrace by faith the gospel. Paul lays out the gospel beautifully in 1 Cor. 15:3-4. He writes, “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received; that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” That is the message that needs to be believed upon for salvation and subsequently to be tossed to others.
Another key verse that houses the same Greek word for dynamite appears in Rom. 1:16. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power (“dynamite”) of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. My dear friend, make sure that you have believed on Jesus’ finished work for salvation. Then, trust God’s dynamite and pitch Jesus. Why? Imitate Paul who wrote, “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God (1 Cor. 2:4-5).