Father, there's no hope for accomplishing any of the goals of preaching without your sovereign

intervention, including this moment. And so we turn away from ourselves, our self-reliance,

our preparations, our mind, our heart, and we lean on you.

We acknowledge you.

We ask you to come.

We need your help.

We always need your help.

Help to speak, help to listen.

And so please, don't leave us to ourselves.

Draw near and show your power

to meet every need in this room, Lord.

They are so diverse and only you know them

and you know them so well and you care.

So tend your shepherds, I pray, bless them,

empower them for their preaching.

I ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

So that's our theme in this session,

and then later this afternoon,

the privilege of preaching.

And my aim is that if God would be pleased

that having listened to this message, you would preach with greater power.

And what I mean by that is that you would be used with greater effectiveness in bringing about the Christ exalting,

...