The preacher of God’s Word spends much of his time in preparation for the preaching hour. He studies, he prays, he searches, he digs out, he anticipates, he practices, he meditates, he even dreams about the moment when Sunday comes and he mounts the pulpit with the Bible in his hand. But on occasion, the preacher should walk away from the pulpit and sit on the pew. I do not mean he shouldn’t attempt to preach, I just mean that he should try listening to himself from time to time with his audience.

We, as preachers, are so engrossed with …