Preaching & A Higher Form Of Culture

We have no right to preach unless we present the Gospel; we have not to advocate a cause or a creed or an experience, but to present the Gospel, and we cannot do that unless we have a personal testimony based on the Gospel. That is why so many preach what is merely the outcome of a higher form of culture. Until men get into a right relationship with God the Gospel is always in bad taste. There is a feeling of silent resentment, “Don’t talk about being born again and being sanctified; be vague.” “Do remember the people you are talking to.” “Preach the simple Gospel, the thing that keeps us sound asleep.” If you take the people as a standard, you will never preach the Gospel, it is too positive.^* Our obligation to the Gospel is to preach it.

-Oswald Chambers

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^* positive: independent; unrelated to anything else.