By Arthur Vess
Preach Holiness with joy and gladness, not sorrow and sadness. "For the kingdom of heaven is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." While the world shouts over nothing, we should be able to preach so that people can shout over everything. So many of our preachers and teachers brand every spiritual manifestation as "emotionalism." When the fire of God burns in the soul, the waves of joy are sure to roll. The business world, and all sales are run by emotional appeals. Where there is life, there is feeling and movement. During the times of greatest persecution in the past centuries, God's saints have had the most joy and peace. If you are filled with the Holy Ghost, the Third Person of the Trinity, all the fullness of God, your divine victory should certainly manifest itself in mighty power and glory.
Most of our modern services are so dead and formal that God no longer comes on the scene. We are learning to repeat prayers, etc. while we stand to pray like the dead, formal churches. New York papers commented on stiff-kneed Methodist.
While we must condemn sin and worldliness on every hand, we must not preach holiness with the blue side of life all the time. If outsiders come in, they will wonder if there is anything to it after all. Even our radical holiness preaching should be filled with holy glory and unction, which rebukes sin and hypocrisy, and blesses and inspires the saints and convicts the sinners.
We must not harp on the blue side all the time, for this is not holiness. I used to say that I wanted to preach so that they could not shout unless they had it; now I want to preach so they can shout if they do have it -- holiness. If we do not shout in the church, we shout on the ball diamonds.
