If a preacher is not being convicted of his own sin while preaching under the power of the Holy Spirit, his message is useless.
_________________Fifi
God is so good, thank you all for your insight because I find I agree with you all. I definitely see the pitfall of trying to be perfect before pearching a message. Perhaps an example may help focus this topic.I am blessed with the ability of public speaking, not because I am anything special but because God has graciously blessed me with His wonderful Grace. My main reason for this question is looking at Christ He was preparing and training for 30 years before ever preaching a message, or at least one that we have record.What I have seen in me and others is the temptation to preach with zero authority or credibility to the topic, meaning there are some who like the Pharisees, who put great weight on the people but they themselves don't lift a single finger to lift the load, such as Prayer, to me it would be quite foolish for a man to stand in the pulpit and proclaim his concregation should be on their faces before the Lord 8 hours a day and then Him only spend 5 minutes a day with the Lord in prayer. I guess the question is one of Authenticity rather than anything, when I preach on certain topics I am completely and utterly humbled by it because I know my own folly and I let it be known that I struggle with the topic but this doesn't exclude us from doing it or preaching it. I believe a quality a good preacher has is a great deal of humility and gentleness.
_________________Matthew Guldner