Make the pulpit great again
"[THE GOSPEL] IS THE POWER OF GOD FOR SALVATION" ROMANS 1:16
This is a plea to preachers.
Your sermon matters. It matters more than you know, and more than anyone in your congregation is going to tell you. It is your chief task. Without it all your successes will be compromised.
Is God worth excellent preaching? What does a superheated soul poured out before sinners in holy exertion say about the living God? It says he's real. It says he means business with sinners today and calls them now. It says he loves his children with an everlasting love and will never ever forsake them.
Your people need the old fashioned gospel, and they need it every week. Do you give it to them? Or do you obscure it with the latest theological trend? Do you take away its gravitas by diminishing God's absolute standard of holiness expressed in his law? Do you place emphasis on what Christ did or what Christians must do? Both must be there but there's a priority here.
Are you afraid that preaching the free gospel will create antinomians? It will only expose them for what they already are. Do you fear it will make lazy Christians? Some will be tempted that way, but this I tell you: you don't have a chance of forming a single joyfully obedient believer without it.
So agonize over your sermon. You need the Lord not only to crack open the meaning of the text, but to help you organize the material and craft helpful illustrations for the people. Don't speak for the text, let the text speak for itself through you. Be succinct. Fast moving and hard hitting is the way to preach the gospel to this generation. What the world needs most is a fresh demonstration of God's power from the pulpit. So point the gospel in the right direction and get out of the way.