The Mark of Unction

"When the unction of God is upon the preacher of Word, people will go away saying, not "What a great preacher!" but rather, "Truly God is in this place! How great and glorious He is!" (Eric Alexander in What is Biblical Preaching?)

True Gospel Preaching

"The Reformation was a revival of true gospel preaching, and such gospel preaching always comes down to the point of decision. Good preaching is aimed at the will; all good preaching aims at conversion. If the people are not converted, they need to be. If they are, then a message aiming at true conversion will encourage them, not beat them up. As Luther put it, we are called to a lifetime of repentance.

Good preaching reminds every Christian soul that we live before the God who sees and knows the heart, and who will sift those hearts in the great day of judgment. The problem arises when the need for true conversion is moved from the declaration of the gospel to the membership interview. The former declares the truth with the understanding that only God can see the heart. The latter, in the name of God seeing the heart, pretends that the minister and elders can see the heart." (Douglas Wilson)

The Center of True Preaching

"If we are truly to understand Christian preaching, we must see Jesus Christ as its center. First we must see Jesus as the fulfillment of generations of preaching and teaching that went before him, and second we must see Jesus as the type, or perhaps prototype, of generations of preaching that have followed him. He is both the pattern of preaching and the gospel to be preached" (Hughes Oliphant Old, The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures, Vol. 1, p. 8)

HT: Doug Wilson

The Preacher's Qualifications

"A good preacher should have these qualities and virtues: first, to teach systematically; second, he should have a ready wit; third, he should be eloquent; fourth, he should have a good voice; fifth, a good memory; sixth, he should know when to make an end; seventh, he should be sure of his doctrine; eighth, he should venture and engage body and blood, wealth and honour, in the world; ninth, he should suffer himself to be mocked and jeered of everyone." (Martin Luther, Table-Talk)

This is just the sort of list that provokes us preachers to cry out with Paul, "Who is sufficient for these things!?" And remember, if your preacher lacks any, or all, of these "qualities and virtues" please pray specifically for him. For as someone once noted, "We can do more than pray. But we cannot do anything until we have prayed."