​What does it take to preach? I'm sure that's open to debate and would be answered in many different ways by different preachers. What I'm about to share doesn't apply to style or structure. The following are the things that are important to me, four corners of the 'building' of preaching a message from God's Word. To me, they are non-negotiable, they are mandatory if we intend to connect the people of God with His heart.  And after 30 years of preaching, I've found every preacher that has impacted my life demonstrates these as well.

​A - the Anointing. It is first and there is no substitute. The anointing is the touch of the Spirit, and it only comes from spending time with Him. While every preacher studies and prepares to preach in his or her own way, the anointing on the message preached is always conveyed to, and received by, the hearers in the same way. It convicts, encourages, reveals Jesus, instills hope, lifts the human spirit, empowers, thrills, builds faith, and a thousand other things. The anointing can't be duplicated by great public speakers, or actors, because it is entirely of the Spirit.

  Usually, you have to break things in order to make things. This is the tough part of building anything and the part we most often avoid. Instead, we'd rather put new stuff on top of stuff that no longer works or that we don't use. The Lord is able to make everything out of nothing, we can't. We can only make things out of other things.

    If something, a system, program, or strategy isn't working it's going to have to be torn down. Here's the thing: either we do it by faith or something else will do it by force. That's why we hate it so much. Systems and the like involve people. So when we go to "break" it apart, we will have to make some difficult decisions. But if it's going to be repaired or replaced, it has to be done.

    The great thing as Believers? The Lord is in control as we submit to Him. He helps us as we wrestle with faith, decisions, building, and all things life. And He can be trusted.