Preachers come in all sizes, styles, personalities, languages, voices, backgrounds, and hairstyles. In infinite wisdom, God makes no two of us alike, and He loves the variety. But while this uniqueness is part of God's deliberate plan to reach various people, every preacher should have some non-negotiable, foundational elements of anointed preaching.

The Foundational Elements

First, we must preach God's Word. Paul's clear command to "preach the word ... in season and out of season" (2 Tim. 4:2 NASB) is not a suggestion but a calling. We must diligently study to cut it straight, not imposing our own ideas on the text but letting God impose His truth on us and our hearers.

Humanistic speeches may be suitable for some secular communicators, but the preacher is uniquely called to deliver God's message. We don't have to be original about our source material, because His Word is overflowing with limitless truth.

We must also preach in power. There is no excuse for God's man to stand before God's people not filled with God's Spirit. We can and should come "in weakness and in fear and in much trembling," but our fear should be that our message not be "in persuasive words of [man's] wisdom" or cleverness of speech, "but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that [their] faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God" (1 Cor. 2:3-5; cf. 1:17).

Such healthy apprehension drives us to cry out to God for His infilling presence, and makes us vigilant about holiness, so as to not abort His presence. It is criminal and non-productive to try to communicate God's truth in our own strength.

The Mystical Difference

But what is the mystical difference in some preachers? Why do some shake you to your core while others inform, at best? Why do some messages leave you pleasantly educated and others deeply transformed?

The great difference is being led to Christ alone. Study Peter's early messages. His one agenda was to walk people through the foyer of God's conviction and grace into His transforming presence. Peter knew that "there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

Paul also determined to know nothing "except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2). What did that really mean? I believe that if you had been under Paul's preaching, you would have left each message feeling that you had been in the presence of the living God. He intentionally ushered people to Christ.

This should be true not only of evangelistic preaching but of each sermon. Our direction in every message should be, as Spurgeon said, "a beeline to Christ." This doesn't mean a clumsily forced tagline on the end of the message, but a determination throughout the whole preaching moment to lead them to Christ's feet.

It is possible as we plan our preaching to be enamored with the message but not with Christ. We discover a great outline, a compelling illustration, and clear transitions. We should be wrapped up in the craft of exposition and delivery, but never to the exclusion of God's greatest agenda.

J. C. Macaulay said of our study something that should be true of our preaching as well:

I read Thy word, O Lord, each passing day,
And in the sacred page find glad employ.
But this I pray—save from the killing letter.
Teach my heart, set free from human forms,
The holy art of reading Thee in every line,
In precept, prophecy, and sign.
Till, all my vision filled with Thee,
Thy likeness shall reflect in me.
Not knowledge but Thyself my joy!
For this I pray.

Conclusion

It is actually idolatry if people leave a sermon looking at us—our skill in handling the text, our wonderful oratory, our creative sermon design, our humorous anecdotes. We should come down from the pulpit, fall on our knees, and ask: "Did people encounter Christ? Did I deliberately and faithfully usher people to the One who alone changes lives?" This should be our primary criteria and passion, and it is what separates nice preaching from powerful preaching.

It would be impressive to meet you, I'm sure, because you are "fearfully and wonderfully made" by God. However, if your hearers encounter Christ through you, in every message, they will never be the same.