If you are not excited about the One you are preaching about, then how can you expect the congregation to be? If the Word does not stir you, then why anticipate it will stir the people? Jared Wilson says this:
Every seasoned preacher knows the experience of unction. Every now and again, in the Spirit’s kindness, he allows us, even in the midst of going through our preplanned outline or manuscript, to find a sort of jet stream where he more or less takes over. We are speaking, but we sense his presence and feel his power. He is giving us the words to say, and every word is like an arrow to the hearts of our people—arrows that bring life and warmth! They are like the illuminating beams of the one who is the radiance of the glory of God. Never has this unction been dispensed to me when I am dryly reciting facts or covering some other perfunctory matter.
Never has it come when I, myself, remain unmoved by what I am declaring. It comes as I worship, as if I am chipping gleefully away at the dam of the congregation’s affections and my own, and suddenly the Lord simply blows the stones away himself. We feel that living water rush.
So, pastor: study yourself hot. Pray yourself full. Preach Christ passionately and gratuitously.” (Gospel-Driven Ministry, p. 54, Kindle edition)
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