I have been reminding you that preaching narrative is different from preaching, say, a Pauline Epistle or the writer to the Hebrews or a gospel like John’s. It demands a different style. And in narrative preaching, doctrinal points are not made, therefore, in a formal sense, rather you see the doctrine worked out in the ebb and flow of people’s circumstances and real life experiences. This book of Esther has taught us something about the Providence of God. We can state the doctrine of God’s providence in a very formal way. Do that in our catechism. “God’s works of Providence are his most holy, wise and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, ordering them and all their actions to his own glory.” That is our confession about Providence. But my question is, as we start, how is it that we come to recognize God at work in the world. Because Providence involves knowledge of God and is only known as God is known. So we need to know God before we can know Providence. And that involves, what? Well, it involves faith. Faith is the gift of God. The gift of God comes by the activity of the Holy Spirit in the human heart, renewing the human heart, and giving to each human being who is regenerate, renewed by the Spirit, the gift of faith. It is this gift of faith, and along with it the work of the Holy Spirit in our minds and hearts that transforms our intelligence, and makes it possible for us to see what, before, we blinded our eyes to seeing.
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Dr. Liam Goligher was Senior Minister of Tenth Presbyterian Church from May of 2011 until December of 2023. He previously pastored churches in Ireland, Canada, England, and his native Scotland.
Dr. Goligher has been closely involved in Bible teaching and evangelistic ministry...
