What Is Good Preaching?

What is “good” preaching? And how can we know if we’ve done an adequate job in the pulpit?

We will discuss these questions and more in the next few posts, but I think the following qualifications are indispensible for a sermon to be a good one:

1.   The preacher must be in right relationship with God.

2.   The message must be rooted and driven by the text of Scripture.

3.   The main point(s) should be discernible and memorable.

4.   The illustrations and applications should be tailored to your audience.

5.   The people must see the heart of God and sense the love of Christ in the preacher as he or she presents the message.

For a sermon to be a good one, the preacher must preach with a heart full of love for God and for those to whom he or she preaches. To accomplish this, the preacher must also work hard at the tasks of exposition and communication.

Are there times when you will fall short of this ideal? You bet there are! But that being said, I think we should all strive to preach with these things in mind. What do you think? What would you add? What would you take away from the list?