The True Minister:
Man of God Speaking to Men

By A. W. Tozer

But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions,
do the work of an evangelist,  make full proof
of thy ministry.                  - 2 Timothy 4:5

  The Christian minister, as someone has pointed out,
is  a  descendant not of the Greek orator but of the
Hebrew prophet!

  The differences between the orator and the prophet
are many and radical, the chief being that the orator
speaks for himself while the prophet speaks for God.

  The orator originates his message and is responsible
to himself for its content. The prophet originates nothing
but delivers the message he has received from God who
alone is responsible for it, the prophet being responsible
to God for its delivery only. The prophet must hear the
message clearly and deliver it faithfully, and that is
indeed a grave responsibility; but it is to God alone,
not to men!

  It is a dubious compliment to a preacher to say that he
is original. The very effort to be original has become a
snare to many a young man fresh out of seminary, who
rejects the pure wheat of the Word and tries to nourish
his congregation on chaff of his own manufacture. It
may even be golden chaff, but chaff nevertheless that
can never feed the soul.

  The true preacher is a man of God speaking to men;
he is  a  man  of  heaven  giving  God's  witness on
earth.  Because he is a man of God he can decode the
message he receives from heaven and deliver it in
the language of earth!

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Yours in Christ,
Paul N. F.