The Power of Personal Integrity in Preaching

By Ray Ortlan--good stuff.

There is, thirdly, a personal aspect to sermon preparation.  "Out of the overflow of the heart his mouth speaks."  That is very profound.  Observing preachers through the years, I am convinced this is the secret "genius," so to speak, of great preaching.  A man of authentic humaneness, goodness, Jesus-like-ness, might not be a doctoral-level exegete, he might not be rhetorically sophisticated, but that man's preaching will be compelling because he is compelling.  Something is flowing out of him, something of Jesus himself.  The preacher's good heart, his core being, is well stocked with insights into and personal experiences of the living Christ.  He is therefore able to speak out of both the biblical text and his own intuitive knowledge of the Lord into the hearts of the people where they really live.  And they are helped, freed, lifted, saved.