A Word for Preachers...DeYoung on Preaching With Authority

"The only hope we preachers have for success in the ministry is the  power inherent in the word of God. We can have no other confidence. The  only things really worth happening in your church will only happen by  the power of the word. The word may seem slow or foolish or irrelevant,  but it will not disappoint. It cannot return empty.
"Critics like to say about evangelicals, “You worship the Bible, a dead letter, words on a page, blah, blah, blah.” Don’t mind those  critics. Satan uses their critiques more than God does. The devil wants  you to think there’s no power in the word, that it’s not living and  active, that it’s not sharper than any two-edged sword, that it’s not  the imperishable seed by which men and women are born again. The devil  wants you to believe you are fruity and fruitless for wasting your time  in study and wasting your breath on Sunday. The devil wants you to voice  your cynicism, your skepticism, and your sophisticated reasons for  supposedly worshiping Jesus by revering the Scriptures less than he did.  Don’t buy it. Look at every preacher worthy of emulation from any  century and you will find a man preaching with authority.

"So preach with confidence and conviction this Lord’s Day. Preach as  if you were utterly and completely dependent on the word of God to do  the work of God. “Declare these things;  exhort and rebuke with all  authority. Let no one disregard you” (Titus  2:15). Preach like you mean  it."

Kevin DeYoung