Why I believe in such a foolish thing as preaching

Word and worship belong indissolubly to each other. All worship is an intelligent and loving response to the revelation of God, because it is the adoration of his Name. Therefore acceptable worship is impossible without preaching. For preaching is making known the Name of the Lord, and worship is praising the Name of the Lord made known. Far from being an alien intrusion into worship, the reading and preaching of the Word are actually indispensable to it. The two cannot be divorced. Indeed, it is their unnatural divorce which accounts for the low level of so much contemporary worship. Our worship is poor because our knowledge of God is poor, and our knowledge of God is poor because our preaching is poor. But when the Word of God is expounded to its fullness, and the congregation begin to glimpse the glory of the living God, they bow down in solemn awe and joyful wonder before his throne. It is preaching which accomplishes this, the proclamation of the Word of God in the power of the Spirit of God. That is why preaching is unique and irreplaceable.

John Stott--From "I Believe in Preaching" (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1982), p. 82.

Athanasius contra mundo

The real secret of expository preaching is not mastering certain techniques, but being mastered by certain convictions. --From 'Biblical Preaching is Expository Preaching', in "Evangelical Roots", ed. K. S. Kantzer (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1978), p. 159.

Living as a christian is hard, living in Christ is easier

Probably at no point does the Christian mind clash more violently with the
secular mind than in its insistence on humility and its implacable hostility to
pride.
--From John Stott "Issues Facing Christians Today" (London:
Collins/Marshall Pickering, 1990), p. 37.

When we veiw Christianity as nothing more than sin management, we delude
ourselves. Firstly because the onus is then on us to live the perfect Christian
life and secondly to the onus is on us to overcome sin. Both these are
impossibilities. Only Christ can do this. We struggle so hard to overcome sin
when we try to do it in our own strength, but when we rest in His power and
ability, and allow his loveing hands to wash our feet, so that we are clean,
then we are just that, clean.

We forget that it was for freedom that we are set free. Its like the convict who is exonerated and yet is so institutionalised that he cannot adjust to life outside prison. It takes adjustment, time, and struggle.

The glorious thing is that we know that when Christ truly returns in,
through and to his Church, the very real possibility for transformation is birthed. The old has gone, the new has come.

I praise God for honest preachers, who don't say that your life when you
become a christian becomes a bed of Roses, your lambourgini arrives at the door
and all your problems dissappear.
Quite the contrary, if we are to be Godly in this life, we will face
challenges, we will face opposition. But praise God, he sustains us, strengthens
and encourages us, and promises us we will not be tempted beyond our
endurance.