Is it not clear, as you take a bird’s eye view of church history, that the decadent periods and eras in the history of the church have always been those periods when preaching had declined? What is it that always heralds the dawn of a Reformation or Revival? It is renewed preaching(Martyn Lloyd-Jones).

But we preach, that is, our task as Christian preachers is not subserviently to answer all the questions which men put to us; nor to attempt to meet all the demands which are made on us; nor hesitatingly to make tentative suggestions to the philosophically minded; but rather to proclaim a message which is dogmatic because it is divine. The preacher’s responsibility is proclamation, not discussion. There is too much discussion of the Christian religion today, particularly with unbelievers, as if we were more concerned with men’s opinions of Christ than with the honor and glory of Jesus Christ Himself. Are we to cast our priceless pearl before swine to let them sniff at Him and trample upon Him at their pleasure? No. We are to proclaim Christ, not to discuss Him. We are heralds, charged to publish abroad a message which did not originate with us but with Him who gave it to us to publish(John RW Stott).

​When you mount the steps to the pulpit and are about to speak God’s Word on His behalf, let these exhortations come to mind:

- ​Preach to honor God’s Word

- Preach to reach the unconverted

- Preach to please God

- Preach to equip Christians for the work of the ministry

- Preach to lift up the downhearted

- Preach to be more effective this time than last

- Preach to bring conviction of sin and repentance

- Preach to compete with no one but yourself

- Preach to refresh the spiritually weary

- Preach to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ.

You have to believe that the power of God’s Word will be more effective than any human drama or communication gimmick. Nothing is as dramatic as the explosion of truth on the mind of a believer through powerful preaching (John MacArthur).

It must be understood that the preacher does not share, he declares. It is for this very reason that small group Bible studies can never replace the preaching of the (Word). Preaching is not a little talk. It is not a fireside chat. To substitute sharing and discussion for preaching is to risk the integrity of the Gospel itself  (Arturo Azurdia).