It is not merely speaking according to Scripture, an all-important and essential matter. A man may rise and address the brethren for an hour, and, from beginning to end, not utter so much as a single unscriptural sentence, yet, all the while, he may not have been God’s oracle for that time—he may not have been God’s mouthpiece or the present channel of His mind to the souls to whom he is speaking.
This demands the grave consideration of all who feel exercised to minister in the midst of God’s beloved people. It is one thing to utter a certain amount of true sentiment, and quite another to be the living channel of communication between the heart of God and the souls of God’s people.
It is this alone that constitutes true ministry. A man who speaks as an oracle of God will bring the conscience of the hearer so into the very light of the divine Presence that every chamber of the heart is laid open and every moral spring touched.
“Moreover He said unto me . . . all My words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears. And go . . . unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them” (Ezek. 3:10-1110Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears. 11And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear. (Ezekiel 3:10‑11)).
C. H. Mackintosh (Gems From My Reading)