Lloyd-Jones on Preaching

"Any true definition of preaching must say that that man is there to deliver the message of God, a message from God to those people. If you prefer the language of Paul, he is 'an ambassador for Christ'. That is what he is. He has been sent, he is a commissioned person, and he is standing as the mouthpiece of God and of Christ to address these people. In other words, he is not there merely to talk to them, he is not there to entertain them. He is there-and I want to emphasize this-to do something to those people; he is there to produce results of various kinds, he is there to influence people. He is not merely to influence a part of them; he is not only to influence their minds, or only their emotions, or merely to bring pressure to bear upon their wills and to induce them to some kind of activity. He is there to deal with the whole person; and his preaching is meant to affect the whole person at the very center of life. Preaching should make a difference to a man who is listening that he is never the same again...It does something for the soul of man, for the whole of the person, the entire man; it deals with him in a vital and radical manner."

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching & Preachers