We can evangelize or socialize. It all depends on whether you are saved or not.

Demonstration of the Spirit's Power

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power. ~ 1 Corinthians 2:1-4

Paul got it right. So did the other Apostles. They defaulted to what Jesus had told them: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1: 8). Just previous to our text, Paul said, “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power” (1 Corinthians 1:17).

Unfortunately, we moderns turn to gimmicks, even ostentatious presentation, to try to attract congregants. It is a contemporary phenomenon, for the most part, but not so contemporary that C. S. Lewis did not miss that “To judge from their practice, very few Anglican clergymen believe this [reliance on Holy Spirit] view. It looks as if they think people can be lured to go to church by incessant brightenings, lightenings, lengthenings, abridgements, simplifications, and complications of the service.”

I do not discount all modern trends, unless they are trendy. Though they would never state it thusly, many by their emphasis on method, programs, and glitz must think, “Poor, poor Apostles. All they had was the power of Holy Spirit. If they only had what we have.”

“So (God) said to me, ‘This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.’”

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